NESS is a township in Kirby Moorside union, 3 miles north from Hovingham, and 2 ½ west-by-north from Slingsby station. By a “Local Government Order,” March 25, 1887, the township of West Ness was amalgamated with East Ness. The names of residents are given with Stonegrave. Ness is on the direct line of the Roman road from Malton towards Cleveland. In 1816 a sarcophagus containing human bones was found in a ploughed field near the village, and covering it was a stone with a Latin inscription. Marcus Kendall esq. is the lord of the manor and a landowner. The township consists of 1,391 acres of fertile land, principally on limestone and redstone, but some portion of clay, and 14 of water; rateable value, £1,708; the population in 1911 was 85.