Seaton Ross

 ( Villages In The East Riding Of Yorkshire ) 

One of the oldest buildings in the village is St. Edmunds church, whose current structure dates from 1789 and is built on the foundations of an earlier church which can trace its records back to 1653. The church also has a Norman font attesting to an even earlier origin. The church was designated a Grade II listed building in 1967. Another site of historical note is the Lady Well, a natural spring located in fields south of the village. Not much is known of the history of this spring, but as with other such Holy Well in the county it is likely to be a place formerly dedicated to the Freya and re-appropriated by early Christian missionaries as a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Crop markings dating from the Iron and Roman ages have been identified in fields near this natural spring. The village had always been a farming area, with several large farms which survive to the present day. However, by the 18th century the village was also noted for its production of bricks that went into the construction of many of its current structures, such as the brick parish church. The village's prosperity was becoming more obvious, with a large proportion of its original dwellings re-built in brick by the Everingham Estate and new buildings springing up; the Wesleyan Chapel, the Methodist Chapel, the Post Office, the two mills and the Village School (now the village hall). The village also became home to one of Britain's largest Sundials, measured at 12 feet in diameter and built by local surveyor William Watson, as well as another two located at Watson's family home and on his memorial at St Edmund's church.

The celebration of Seaton Ross's prosperity as a parish culminated in the beginning of the famous Seaton Ross Show, which began as a village feast and grew into an annual two-day fair of produce, livestock, crafts and country sports. It continued as Seaton Ross Feast which was celebrated annually until 2007. After a break of 7 years Seaton Ross Fest, a small music festival, was started to create a community event in lieu of the Feast. The village currently maintains a children's play area, playing fields, the village hall, the village nature plot and its public house; The Black Horse.

The airfield had a large impact on the village, which named one of its public houses after the inhabitants of the station (The Bombers) and had a bench erected in memory of the association in 1986, and at one time the restaurant ceiling to the public house was formed from DH Mosquito wing skins. There is also a memorial outside the village dedicated to the crews of the 109 aircraft that were lost from the airfield.

The airfield ceased operations in 1945 and stopped flights in 1946, it is now owned by Melrose Farm Ltd who rent the old runways to York Raceway throughout the summer.