Great Asby is a large village, situated in the townships of Asby Coatsforth and Asby Winderwath, 4½ miles S. of Appleby, having a beck running through it, and forming the boundary of the two townships. The Church is a small ancient fabric, dedicated to St. Peter, and having a tower with three bells. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £23 13s. 4d. Sir F. F. Vane, Bart., is the patron, and the Rev. Hugh Atkinson the incumbent. Robert de Askeby founded a chantry in the church, in 1229, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. A little east from the church is St. Helen's Well, which has had some stone seats round it, and, in ancient times, like many other holy springs, did not want its miracles. Near it is St. Helen’s Almshouse, founded in 1811 by Wm. Fairer, who endowed it with £500, of which nearly £250 was expended in erecting the building; but in 1824 it received an additional endowment of £200, left by Joseph Fairer. The trustees afterwards borrowed money to make up the sum of £850, with which they purchased an estate worth £30 a year. The money borrowed will be re-paid by instalments, after which the whole proceeds of the estate will be divided amongst the four alms-people, who are to be aged and poor widows or widowers. Asby Free School was built in 1688 by George Smith, of London, who endowed it with 20s. a year, besides leaving the interest of £10 to the poor of the parish. Bishop Smith, a native of this parish, left to this school in 1702, the sum of £100, with which four acres of land was purchased at Asby. Land at Raisbeck has since been purchased by subscription, so that the present master, the Rev. Henry Guy, has a yearly income of upwards of £50 from the school endowment.

Asby Coatsforth township stretches eastward from Great Asby, and forms a manor, of which Mr. James Park, of Asby Hall, is lord, but the tenants are nearly all enfranchised. It was held for many generations by the family of Cottesford, by 4s.2d. cornage; but it subsequently passed to the Musgraves, Bouchiers, and Pindars.

Asby Little, a village 2 miles SSE. Of Great Asby, and 5½ miles E. by N. of Orton. Its township forms a manor, held of the Earl of Thanet, by tenants who pay 20d. fines. It was formerly called Old Askeby, and was long held by the family of L'Engleys, or English, from whom it passed to the Sandfords, and Honeywoods. Here was a chapel, dedicated to St. Leonard, and endowed by Richard le English, with a messuage and six acres of land, for "establishing a chantry therein."

Asby Winderwath township extends westward from Great Asby, and contains the greater portion of that village, with the church. It constitutes a distinct manor, which was long held by the knightly families of Askeby and Pickering; the latter of whom sold it to the Fletchers, of Hutton, so that it is now possessed by Sir Frederick Fletcher Vane, whose tenants here pay 20d fines. Garthorn Hall, now a farm-house, was some time the seat of a branch of the Bellingham family, who sold it to Col. James Graham, an ancestor of the late Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire.

Asby Parish Directory - marked 1 reside at Asby Coatsforth 2 Asby Winderwath 3 Little Asby those unmarked live at Great Asby.

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