LOWER DUNSFORTH. partly in the North Riding, is a township, village and ecclesiastical parish formed in 1857 from the parish of Aldborough, 2 ½ miles south-east from Aldborough and 3 from Boroughbridge, in the Eastern division of the Riding, upper division of Clow wapentake, union of Great Ouseburn and county court district of Knaresborough, rural deanery of Boroughbridge, archdeaconry of Richmond and diocese of Ripon. The river Ure here separates the North and West Ridings. The church of St. Mary, rebuilt in 1860, is in the Middle Pointed style, and consists of chancel, nave, spire and clock; there are also four stained windows. The register dates from the year 1841. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £200 with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Aldborough and held by the Rev. Frederick Galland Sykes M.A. of St. John’s College, Cambridge. The Wesleyans have a chapel here. The principal landowners are Major II. M. Stapylton, who is lord of the manor, and R. Abbay esq. The soil is loam and clay; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats and barley. The area is, of the township 1,048 acres; and of the ecclesiastical parish 2,057 acres; the entire population in 1871 was, of the township 127, of the ecclesiastical parish 215.

National school, Mrs. Rolleston, mistress.