Thirsk

Thirsk, known as ‘Thresche’ in the Domesday Book, grew from a medieval hamlet into a market town at the centre of the Vale of Mowbray in North Yorkshire. The valley lies between the Hambleton hills and the Pennines, and is renowned for its breathtaking scenery, woodlands, fertile land and abundant pastures. Nineteenth-century travellers commented on the beauty of the landscape, of “farmhouses nestling amongst ancestral trees” and of “mind-beautiful and retired churches, each a little centre of civilization, keeping alive all the human sympathies in those parts, and filling the souls of their charge with the love of God and heaven”. The idyllic rural scene on Thirsk’s banknote conveys the same message.