Bilton-in-Ainsty is a village in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire in England. It lies about east of Wetherby and west of York. It is part of the civil parish of Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton. Bilton had a population of 147 in 2006. Geography and communications The village is situated on the B1224 York to Wetherby road. The soil is primarily loam. The village is surrounded by farmland. The nearest villages are Long Marston to the east, Tockwith to the north and Bickerton to the west. There is no road access to the south of the village. The village has a church and a pub, The Chequers. There is a bus service between York and Wetherby running through village. There are public footpaths to Tockwith to the north, Healaugh to the south-east, Wighill to the south and Syningthwaite to the south-west. Governance The village is part of the Selby & Ainsty Parliamentary constituency. It is also part of the Marston Moor ward of Harrogate Borough Council and of the Ainsty Electoral District of North Yorkshire County Council. The Parish Council has seven members. Heritage Historic buildings St Helen's Parish Church is a Grade I listed building. Standing at the crossroads with the main road, it was built in the Norman style in 1166. It was associated with the Syningthwaite Cistercian nunnery founded about the same time and dissolved in 1535. The church underwent restoration around 1870 under the direction of George Gilbert Scott. It contains two medieval sheela na gig figurative carvings, as well as a carving of a mermaid pulling her tresses, several corbels, a cross from the Anglo-Saxon period, and other carved fragments. Bilton Hall became a Grade II listed building in 1966, cited as a "small country house. Early-mid C18 with extensions and alterations c. 1865." Also listed Grade II at that time was a private house known as Bilton Brow. It has a style similar to the additions to Bilton Hall. One building converted to residential use is an 1845 Wesleyan chapel and Sunday school. The village school, likewise Grade II listed and converted to residential use, was founded by Hall Plumer in 1801, closed in 1928, and then served as a village hall until 1973. History A Bronze Age hoard was discovered on Bilton Moor, pointing to prehistoric habitation. Bilton is an Anglo-Saxon name meaning Bilo's or Billa's Homestead. Ainsty was the name of the wapentake.