grounds. At the end of the First World War, the estate was without any heir and was auctioned off, except for the hall which did not find a buyer until 1927 when it was dismantled entirely. The grounds are now used for holiday accommodation in the form of cottages and static caravans. Prisoner of war camp number 108 was built at Sandhill (on Low Road at the southern edge of Little Thirkleby) as a working camp for German prisoners during the Second World War. It has been used as a pig farm for many years but the water tower and many of the buildings have survived. A Roman fort was discovered at Thirkleby in 2018, through the study of aerial photography. The fort is considered to date to the Flavian period on the basis of its layout. Governance The village lies within the Thirsk and Malton UK Parliament constituency. It also lies within the Stillington electoral division of North Yorkshire County Council and the White Horse ward of Hambleton District Council. Geography The parish is in size. The parish consists of the villages of Great (or High) Thirkleby, Little (or Low) Thirkleby and the scattered hamlet of Osgodby. Thirkleby Beck divides Great and Little Thirkleby and runs south as part of the tributary system of the River Swale. The A19 road passes north westward through the southern part of the parish. The two villages are linked by Arden Bridge which is a Grade II listed structure probably built by John Carr in the 18th century. The nearest settlements to the centre point of the two villages are Bagby to the north-west, Kilburn to the east, Carlton Husthwaite to the south-east and Hutton Sessay to the south. Demography In 1881, the UK Census recorded the population as 261. In 2001 the UK Census recorded a population of 224 of which 47.8% were male and 52.2% were female and 191 were over the age of sixteen years. The 2011 UK Census recorded a population of 266, of which 47.4% were male and 52.6% were female and 232 were over the age of sixteen years. Population density was recorded as 0.2 per hectare. Religion The church is a Grade II* listed building, dedicated to All Saints. It was designed by Victorian architect Edward Buckton Lamb and built in 1851 for Lady Frankland-Russell of Thirkleby Park, in memory of her husband Robert. The burial