of the wapentake of Barkston Ash in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Battle of Towton was fought nearby in 1461 and local legend tells that King Edward IV, who won the battle, used the church tower as a point for surveying the battle lines. In fact the battle, the main action of which occurred between 3 and 4 miles away, could not have been seen with any clarity from the church tower, which was not then as tall as it is today. During the English Civil War, the village was garrisoned by the Royalists for King Charles I; it was close to their stronghold at Selby and the northern capital of York, and commanded the approaches from both the south and the west. In 1645, the Parliamentarians attacked Sherburn and defeated the garrison. On 15 October 1645 the Battle of Sherburn-in-Elmet took place. A Royalist force commanded by Lord Digby and Sir Marmaduke Langdale attacked and initially defeated the Parliamentarian garrison now based in the village. However, another Parliamentarian force, under Colonel Copley, counterattacked and routed the Royalists. Thus was defeated the last significant Royalist force in the North during the First English Civil War. Culture and community Sherburn in Elmet is often referred to locally as simply 'Sherburn'. It has Leeds as its post town and an LS25 postcode, but is in the Selby District in North Yorkshire rather than the City of Leeds, which is in West Yorkshire. The village has four supermarkets: Spar, Tesco Express, Aldi and Co-op. Until 2018, a market was held in the village centre. Squires Cafe just outside Sherburn is a long-established meeting place for motorcycle riders, particularly on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. The roads leading into Sherburn-in-Elmet are known nationally for the varied and pleasurable rides they offer for motorcyclists. The village is now home to a major industrial site attracting large businesses such as Eddie Stobart Ltd. The former Gascoigne Wood mine, which was part of the Selby coalfield project, is to the south-east. Home to Sherburn-in-Elmet Airfield which is currently the base for the Sherburn Aero Club, Sherburn's links with the air industry go back to the Second World War when the Blackburn Aircraft Company built the Fairey Swordfish in the village. Production ended in 1945, and by then 1,699 such aircraft had been built in Sherburn. The airfield also saw the first flight of L. E. Baynes's