I meant to add to my 9th Aug 0753 posting that the derivation of the name Osmotherly given by Halliwell is, not unexpectedly, spurious. The Oxford Dictionary of Place Names gives: "Asmudrelac (1086 DB) and Osmuderle (1088) 'Woodland clearing of a man called Asmundr' (OScand personal name + OE leah". (A pleasant village - as a child I occasionally used to go fishing in a little beck between there and Swainby).

Mick