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HISTORY
The history of the name "Guisborough" is an interesting one, dating back to the year 1086, when it appeared in the Domesday Book in such forms as Chigesburg, Ghigesburgh, Ghigesborg and Ghigesbore, and in a record of a grant made to Robert de Brus at Giseborne. The registers of the Church date from 1661 and reveal yet another variation. In this instance Gisbrough. The actual derivation of the name is still somewhat obscure, but according to expert etymologists, means "the town of Gisi" or "the fort of the Watchman. Although the name first appears only in Domesday Book, several historians have come to the conclusion that Guisborough was in existence before the compilation of that great record, quite probably in Saxon days.
The town is set in a fertile valley, approximately two miles wide and 300 feet above sea-level, (amid the rich ironstone hills which characterise this district.) Prior to the Norman Conquest, under the ancient name of Ghigesburgh, it was made up of three manors; one a Royal Demesne, the second of Uchtred and the third of Lesing, but after the Conquest William bestowed the three properties upon his follower, the Earl of Moreton, from whom they passed to Robert de Brus, ancestor of the Scottish House of Bruce and already owner of a vast amount of land in the north of England.
A point of historical interest is that the first alum works in England were set up here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the guiding spirit of this venture being Sir Thomas Chaloner.
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