1 Museum Street, York - 01904 550 099 info@visityork.org

Pocklington gets its name via the Old English "Poclintun" from the Anglian settlement of Pocel's (or Pocela's) people and the Old English word "tun" meaning enclosed land, but though the town's name can only be traced back to around 650 AD, the inhabitation of Pocklington as a site is thought to extend back a further 1,000 years or more to the Bronze Age. Pocklington appears on the 14th century Gough Map, the oldest route map in Great Britain.

In the Iron Age Pocklington was a major town of the Parisi tribe and by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 it was the second largest settlement in Yorkshire after York itself.

Pocklington developed through the Middle Ages while many similar places fell into dramatic decline. Pocklington owed much of its prosperity in the Middle Ages to the fact that it was a local centre for the trading of wool and lay on the main road to York, an important national centre for the export of wool to the continent. Wool was England's principal export in the earlier Middle Ages.

The Town's coat of arms shield is based on that of the Dolman family, founders of Pocklington School. The arms were granted to the town council in 1980. The crown at the base of the shield is the emblem of the saints, along with the gold cross, symbolises the town's historic connection with Paulinus of York and the Archbishop of York. The town's motto is "Service with Freedom".

Pocklington is bisected by the largely culverted Pocklington Beck, a small brook that feeds into the Pocklington Canal. The beck and canal are usually good fishing grounds but a sewerage overflow in 2003 killed thousands of fish and severely damaged the ecosystem, from which it is now recovered.

Near the centre of Pocklington is Burnby Hall Gardens. These gardens are home to the National Collection of Hardy Water Lilies - the biggest such collection to be found in a natural setting in Europe. The Burnby Hall Gardens collection of water lilies has been designated as a "National Collection" by the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens.

Day trippers also visit Millington Wood (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) and Pocklington Canal Head, with footpaths along the canal. The canal has been named one of the top ten places to see aquatic wildlife in Britain. Nearby Allerthorpe Lakeland Park has parkland for walking, a lake with watersports facilities, a separate lake for fly fishing, and a BMX trail. There is also a large caravan park for visitors.

Kilnwick Percy Hall is a Grade II* listed country house built around 1845. It is now a Buddhist meditation and retreat centre.

The grounds of the hall include a lake and a small church in the Norman style dedicated to Saint Helen. The church is designated a Grade II listed building and is now recorded in the National Heritage List for England, maintained by Historic England.