Great Ayton History

Most famously Great Ayton is known for its maritime connections to Captain Cook, the world famous circumnavigator, as the village became his boyhood home in 1755.  Captain James Cook was born on 27th October 1728 in Marton, just a short drive from Great Ayton, and was killed at Owythee on February 14th 1779.  When his Great Ayton house was dismantled in 1934 and moved to the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, an obelisk was erected in its place from stone taken from Point Hicks, Australia, and not to forget the famous Captain Cook's Monument erected in his memory situated on Easby Moor.  

Great Ayton also boasts the beautiful and mystifying Roseberry Topping formed from sandstone and dates back to the Middle and Lower Jurassic periods between 208 and 165 million years ago.  The village has also been noted in the Domesday Book, a great land survey from 1086, commissioned by William the Conquerer.