| Drax | |
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  Drax shown within North Yorkshire |
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| Population | 382 (Census 2001)[1] |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Parish | Drax |
| District | Selby |
| Shire county | North Yorkshire |
| Region | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SELBY |
| Postcode district | YO8 |
| Dialling code | 01757 |
| Police | North Yorkshire |
| Fire | North Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| European Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| UK Parliament | Selby |
| List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire | |
Contents |
Geography
Drax is a village in Selby District, North Yorkshire, about 10 kilometres (6 miles) south-east of Selby.
History
Drax has a Church of England parish church, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. In the reign of King Henry I (1100-1135) William Paganel founded a priory of Augustinian Canons at Drax. In 1868 it was reported that traces of the priory could still be found [2] but field work in the 1980's and 1990's has failed to find any physical remains of it.[3]
In 1667 Charles Read (1604-1669) founded Drax Free School as a grammar school. Read was born at Darlton, Notts. and became a wealthy shipper in Kingston upon Hull. Two years later, Read's will endowed the school at Drax and founded further grammar schools at Tuxford in Notts. and Corby Glen in Lincolnshire.[4] The school at Drax is now called Read School[5] and is an independent boarding school.
Read also funded the building of six almshouses in Drax for elderly people, stipulating that they should be for three men and three women.[6]
Drax had two railway stations: both are now closed. Drax Hales was on the North Eastern Railway line linking Selby and Goole: British Railways closed it in 1964. Drax Abbey was on the Hull and Barnsley Railway: the London and North Eastern Railway closed it in 1932. In 1974 British Rail reopened about 5 Km of the H&BR from Gowdall Junction and a short length of the NER through Drax as a freight-only branch line to supply coal to Drax power station.
Drax today
The former Central Electricity Generating Board commissioned Drax power station in two phases in 1974 and 1986. It is the largest power station in the United Kingdom, producing around 8% of Britain's electricity, and is the second-largest coal-fired plant in Europe. It has a potential consumption of 36,000 tonnes of coal a day and produces 1.5 million tonnes of ash a year. It is both the United Kingdom's largest producer of carbon emissions, and one of the UK's most carbon dioxide-efficient power stations.
Drax has a Community Primary School. The village has a public house, the Huntsmans Arms. Drax had a village shop and sub-post office. The shop was closed and converted into a private home, then converted back into a village shop, and closed down again in January 2007.
References
- ^ "Neighbourhood Statistics - Area: Drax CP". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
- ^ http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Drax/Drax68.html
- ^ http://pastscape.english-heritage.org.uk/events.aspx?a=0&hob_id=57907&type=priory&class1=Religion&period=None&county=North%20Yorkshire&place=&yearfrom=ALL&yearto=ALL&recordsperpage=20&source=text&sort=1&nmr=&defra=
- ^ http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=193-dcs&cid=0#0
- ^ http://www.readschool.co.uk/
- ^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50926#s25
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