Welcome to the East and West Rountons website.

East Rounton is a model village near Northallerton in Yorkshire constructed for Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, the ironmaster on his estate near Rounton Grange designed by Philip Webb. East Rounton church of St Lawrence contains a splendid Strachan window and another side window celebrating the life of the scholar, explorer, and arabist Gertrude Bell now popularly known as Queen of the Desert. The village hall designed by George Jack is at East Rounton and there is a War Memorial in front of it. East Rounton now has a farm shop called Roots which has its own butchery and sells fresh local produce and home baked food in their cafe. West Rounton has its own website and is about 1 mile away from East across the fields and has the church of St Oswald and two pubs, The Grey Horse and the Horse Shoe Inn. West Rounton also contains Whitegates plant nurseries and is home to Stamfrey farm organic clotted cream. This website is maintained by East Rounton village hall committee as a service to local residents in the Rountons.

The origins of the name Rounton and its spelling are open to some debate. One of the more fanciful explanations on GENUKI claims it is derived from the the Anglo-Saxon for prince: "The name has been variously written at different times Roughton, Wroughton, Rungeton, Rouncton, and Rounton as at present, and may possibly have some connection with the Saxon Rinc,a prince, though there are no traditions of its having been at any time a royal residence." However, I think that the East and West Rountons may have a twin in North and South Runcton (near King's Lynn) and the name derives from a particular type of bridge between the two places.

This description taken from the Runcton website: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Place Names says that the first part of the name is from the Old English "hrung" meaning a rung or pole. This is likely to refer to a primitive bridge over marshy ground formed by placing poles close together at right angles to the direction of the road. Such bridges are still seen in Sweden today, where they are called "kavelbro".

On the subject of bridges the fight for a bridge across the A19 after the closure of the Black Swan junction in 2004 was worthwhile. The new bridge was lifted into position on Saturday 19th July 2008 exactly 4 years to the day after the junction was closed. A small crowd of villagers watched the bridge lifted into position. Some pictures of our new bridge being lifted into position on a rather damp and cold evening are online.

The next village hall event will be the Rountons Roast Hog on Saturday 7th August 2010 from 7pm - with food and licensed bar (proceeds to village hall funds).

The next Parish Council meeting will be on Monday 13th September starting at 7.30pm in the village hall at East Rounton. The Agenda will be online.

The Rountons Festival 2005
Festival Photo Gallery 2005
East Rounton Village Hall
News
Links
Parish Council
Living Guide

Adjacent village websites: Welbury, Picton, Appleton-Wiske, Crathorne

Local 5 day weather forecast (Leeming)

Travelling to Rounton by car from Middlesbrough or Northallerton and Local Road Detail