The name Huby is derived from the Old Norse hu
and bi, meaning settlement of Hu", and has been written as Hobi, Hebi,
Hobey and Hubi. The Domesday Book says, "in Hobi Sasford and Siward had
2 carucates of land to be taxed. There is now in the demesne half a plough and 6 villeins
with 1 plough. Value in King Edward's time 4 shillings, now 3 shillings".
At the time of the Domesday survey Huby was part of the royal demesne of the Forest of
Galtres. The parish of Easingwold and township of Huby were granted to Edmund Plantagenet,
the Earl of Lancaster, before 1276. They stayed in the ownership of the Duchy of Lancaster
and then passed by marriage to the Earl of Westmoreland, where they remained until the
time of Elizabeth 1, when they reverted to the Crown.
Under Charles 1 the manor of Easingwold was granted to Thomas Belasyse, Lord Fauconberg.
In 1630 Galtres ceased to be a forest and in the 1640s large areas were enclosed.
At the north end of Main Street, which is the old village, Gracious Street branches off
and is said to have been named when the street escaped infection from the plague, perhaps
the outbreak of 1625-6. Tradition has it that the village was deserted and 'people left
the town and camped on meadows - so-called Cabin Lands", still so named today. In
1626 Robert Bossall of Huby brought from London goods believed to have been infected. He
sold them throughout the area and is thought to have infected Huby and other villages.
After abusing the justices and refusing to get rid of his stock, he was fined at York
Assizes and made to sit with a paper round his head which said, 'For bringing downe,
receivyinge into his house, and utteringe goods infected with the plague, and for
contempte of the authorities seekinge to suppresse his insolences".
The Inclosure Act for open and common land for Huby was passed in 1841. The remains of
Huby Hall can be seen in Gracious Street, now incorporated into a house and the fishponds
associated with it behind Main Street. On the east side of the street is the site of the
chapel built in the 13th century, now occupied by a house called Ty Garth, a name which
recalls the area around the chapel where stood the tithe or tein barn.
Huby also contains two Methodist chapels, a Wesleyan, which is well used today, and a
Primitive, which is now the WI hall.
A Friends Meeting-house, erected in 1712, now stands on private property. The school,
built over a hundred years ago on Tollerton Road, has long transferred to a modem
building, and is for mixed infants and juniors. Huby is a lively village, with clubs and
societies catering for a wide range of interests.