Marishes parish occupies a swathe of low-lying land, bordered on three sides by watercourses; the
River Derwent to the east, the
Costa Beck to the west and the
River Rye to the south. The name derives from the
Old Norse Mersc, meaning
The Marshes. The land was mostly marsh until it was drained. The area was mentioned in the
Domesday Book as
Loft Marishes, but no population was recorded. At the
Dissolution, Loft Marishes/Loftmarish belonged to
Rievaulx Abbey (along with Deerholme, a named place in the modern parish). It was last mentioned in 1649. The size of the parish has changed over time; in 1872 it was , and by 1890, it was . At the 1901 census it covered , and at the
2011 census it was . A
Wesleyan chapel was erected in 1848, and an Anglican church in 1863.
St Francis' Church, Low Marishes is still a place of worship (as a chapel-of-ease) in the Benefice of
Pickering with Lockton and Levisham. The structure is a grade II listed building and is noted for its unusual spire, being prominent in the flat landscape. In 2004, an application was made to allow for automatic licensing for weddings, and it was found that the church had been running for 140 years without a licence for public worship. It was at this time that the dedication to St Francis was approved. In 1893, the parish was described as a "township and chapelry in the Whitby Division of the [North] Riding." The school, which had been built in 1830, had an enrolment of 23 pupils, but could accommodate 45. An ecclesiastical parish profile in 2020, found that most of the current residents are employed in agriculture, and are scattered across the parish, with almost 20 houses in High Marishes, and 16 dwellings in Low Marishes. The parish is bisected by the
A169 road, which connects Malton in the south, with Pickering in the north. The parish used to have a railway station on the Malton to Pickering line, but this closed in March 1965. The station was known as , and was on the road between the A169 and
Thornton-le-Dale, outside of both Marishes hamlets. Public transport is now provided on the A169 by the
Coastliner buses (number 840) between Leeds, York and Pickering.
Gas field Marishes parish sits atop a gas field, which produces hydrocarbons for a gas-fired power station at
East Knapton. Drilling in the area was first undertaken in 1937, and gas fields under the parish were first discovered in 1988. Production from Marishes started in 1998. The gas is from a field known as the Kirkham Abbey Formation, which is known to be heavy with hydrogen sulphide (
sour gas). == Governance ==