How the name 'Monk Fryston' came about ...
The name of Monk Fryston occurs as Fryssetune in the year 963 when a grant of land was made by King Edgar to Aeslac.

Thomas of Bayeux, Archbishop of York 1070 - 1100, granted Fryston to the monks of Selby (William 1st founded and endowed Selby abbey in 1069)

It would appear that with the Selby Abbey ownership of the land and quarries this gave rise to the prefix Monk and the most likely derivation of the name Monk Fryston is Monks Freestone.

The ancient document in the British Museum dated 1320 records that at Monk Fryston Manor there lived the "Agent" of the Abbot of Selby, and also the "Master of the Works" with other Benedictine Monks.

The "Master of the Works" was probably involved with the stone quarrying. As well as the church, Selby Abbey was built of the stone obtained from the Fryston quarries, a canal being cut from the village to Selby to enable the stone to be floated down on rafts. When the same abbey suffered considerable damage by fire in 1906 the interior restoration was undertaken using stone donated by the Hemswoth family estate.

Here is a transcript of the entry of "professions and trades"
for MONK FRYSTON in Baines's Directory of 1822.

Miscellany of trades
Richard Burden, vict. Chequers ............................William Dixon, wheelwright
James Linch, shopkeeper ......................................Benjamin Ramsden, vict. Blue Bell
Henry Roadhouse, quarry owner ...........................Richard Turner, draper
William Todd, portable thrashing machine maker
Rev. John Walker, curate .....................................Joseph Wheatley, vict. Crown
Farmers
Richd. Beardshaw ................................................John Bromley
Mrs Dennison ......................................................Mrs. Hemsworth
John Hill ...............................................................Henry Moore
Charles Overton ...................................................Thomas Ringrose
Joseph Tomlinson
Grocers etc.
John Askham .......................................................Richard Turner
Stone-masons
Samuel Blackburn ...............................................Henry Roadhouse

For more detail on Monk Fryston at the Genuki website click here...