Thimbleby Estate, North Yorkshire
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Shooting Ground
Clay shooting for beginners and experienced guns alike, with lessons from the ground's instructors, an indoor air rifle range, and a clubhouse and café to finish in. Everyone is welcome, and members can manage their membership online.
Game Shoot
Driven game shooting on the estate through the season, over the moor edge, the woodland and the farmland below. Days are arranged directly with the estate.
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Holiday Cottages
Self-catering cottages and apartments in Thimbleby and Osmotherley, from Blue Beck and Sugar Hill to the woodland cottages and the flat above Top Shop, with the North York Moors on the doorstep.
thimblebycottages.com (opens in a new tab)Farm
The working farm at the heart of the estate, on the land that runs from the vale up to the moor. Everything else on this page sits within it.
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Simulation
Simulated game days run from the Shooting Ground: the drives, the pace and the hospitality of a driven day, with clays in place of birds, at any time of year. Days are run with Roxtons.
thimblebyshoot.com (opens in a new tab)Shop
Top Shop, the village shop in Osmotherley, a few minutes from the estate. Everyday essentials for the village, and a stop for walkers on the Cleveland Way.
Enquire by emailCricket Ground
The estate cricket ground, kept for the game through the summer. Enquiries about fixtures and use of the ground by email.
Enquire by emailHistory
Nine centuries on one hillside.
Thimbleby is in the Domesday Book, held with the manor of Northallerton and later by the Bishops of Durham, who gave part of it to Rievaulx Abbey. In the late twelfth century Bishop Hugh Pudsey granted it to his steward, Philip Colville, and the Colvilles kept it for two hundred years. From them it passed to the Peirse family, who built the Georgian hall that still stands a mile above the village.
The estate has never left private hands. Today the family run it as a working estate: moor, woodland and farmland, with the places on this page.
Next: TimelineTimeline
Marks along the way.
- 1086Thimbleby is recorded in the Domesday Book, held with the manor of Northallerton.
- 1100sBishop Hugh Pudsey grants Thimbleby to his steward, Philip Colville.
- 1418Sir John Colville is executed at York. In time the estate passes to the Peirse family.
- 1782The year on the estate's roundels, from the Georgian decades in which the Peirses built the present hall.
- 1988Thimbleby Shooting Ground opens on the estate.
- 2005The Shelley family buy the hall and its 3,000 acres, and run the estate today.
Dates and stories to be checked and added to with the estate.
Next: The landThe land
Moor edge, woodland and farmland.
Thimbleby sits where the Vale of Mowbray meets the North York Moors, just south of Osmotherley. The estate runs from farmland near the A19 up through plantations such as Thimbleby Bank and Big Wood to the moor edge, with becks such as Howl Beck and Oakdale Beck running down to the vale. Every August the Osmotherley Show comes to Hall Farm in the village.
See the estate map Next: Footer