Malton

Image credit: Ian Ward

Known as Yorkshire’s food capital, Malton is an award winning food town located in the grand Yorkshire countryside with a population of 4,888 according to the 2011 census. Although part of North Yorkshire, it was once part of the North Riding of Yorkshire and lies on the historic boundary between the North and East Riding.

Shopping in Malton

Malton has a thriving community run by many local independent businesses including shops, places to eat and drink, and local farm produce. It was even named the dog friendliest town in the UK by the Dog Friendly Awards, associated with the Kennel Club, in 2019, and one of the top dog friendly staycation spots in the UK in 2020.

Market Place

At the heart of the town is the Market Place. There is a range of independent shops, cafes, and restaurants in old fashioned styled buildings. This is the area where the towns festivals are held and people travel from all over Yorkshire to attend. St Michaels Church is also in the Market Place.

Market Street

Until recently, Market Street wasn’t one of the most popular however this has been recently transformed. There are now shops along the streets and cafes. It also has an extremely popular gin and whiskey shop which has a range of different flavours.

Talbot Yard Food Court

The Talbot Yard Food Court is the heart of the food scene and has made Malton the food capital of Yorkshire. Originally a coach yard, it’s now home to popular cafes and restaurants including the Master Patissier Florian Poirot who is famous for his macarons and voted the UK Pastry Champion.

Saville Street

This is the place people go to kit out their house and wardrobe. Saville Street is home to independent interior design and clothing shops.

The Shambles

Like the world famous street in York, The Shambles in Malton was originally a street filled with butchers shops. Now locals and visitors come here to find curiosities, antiques, and crafts. There are candles made from the honey of local beehives and others that smell like booze. Visitors can also find 3D artwork made from needlework or wool. Arguably, The Shambles is thought to be the quirkiest street in Malton.

Wheelgate

Wheelgate is a high street with a mixture of independent shops and services, it’s also one of the busier spots in the town. Along here is an interior shop, a popular pizza restaurant, and a green grocers that’s been voted “The Chef’s Choice”. There are also a multitude of restaurants and a florist.

Events in Malton

Being the Food Capital of Yorkshire, Malton has many festivals throughout the year which are of course based around food.

Monthly Food Market

The Malton monthly food market takes place on the 2nd Saturday of every month. There are specialist food stalls and street food made with local produce, and music to entertain the attendees.

Food Lovers Festival

Held for two days in the spring and summer, this is one of the bigger events to take place in Malton with people travelling all over the county to visit. Besides food stalls, there are also talks, celebrity chef demos, music, and a festival bar.

MeadowFest

MeadowFest is a music festival located in the garden of The Talbot Hotel. It hosts a mixture of bands including headliner Chesney Hawke in the 2023 festival. There is plenty of food and drink on offer, including family entertainment with bouncy castles and rides. It’s a 12 hour festival so remember to bring your comfy dancing shoes.

Marathon Du Malton

Inspired by Marathon Du Medoc in France’s wine region, Marathon Du Malton is a gourmet ‘wineathlon’. People in the marathon make their way through a 10k course while stopping off for bits to eat and drink. There are three races which range from running while stopping off for food and drink, walking while enjoying the refreshments, and those who want to race against the clock with no food or drink involved. Throughout the event there is live music and entertainment for the whole family.

Things to do in Malton

Malton Museum

Malton Museum first opened in 1935 located in the Milton Rooms which is now an art centre and hub. In 1982 the collection expanded and relocated to the Old Town Hall where it was run by volunteers. The museum moved again in 2013 and can now be found in The Subscription Rooms.

The towns museum contains nationally important Roman artefacts. It follows Malton’s history through a timeline which unearths the Roman occupation of the town, settlement, war, and the industry expansion and innovation which has led to Malton becoming what it is today. Throughout the museum there are interactive activities for children to get stuck into.

Malton Museum also holds temporary exhibitions such as the iron age shield exhibition shown throughout April 2023. This showcased a unique iron age shield around 2,400 years old and is a brilliant example of Celtic art. It was originally found in a chariot burial in Pocklington before being shown in Malton.

Public and Guided town tours are guided by the museum and focus on the town’s historic centre and the site of the Roman Fort. Malton Museum also hosts events such as talks with guest speakers that delve deeper into specific areas of Malton’s history such as Roman buildings.

Eden Camp

Eden Camp is one of the biggest attractions in Malton. It’s a family owned and run museum which was a prisoner of war camp. Originally, the site featured a barbed wire enclosure with pop up tents for Italian prisoners of war that had been captured by allied forces in North Africa.

The first people at Eden Camp were 250 Italian prisoners who helped to construct a bigger camp made up of 33 huts. At its largest point, the camp housed 1,200 prisoners.

In 1985, a man called Stan Johnson purchased the land and huts which were left in roughly the same condition. He originally planned to build a potato crisp factory on the land however, when ex-Italian prisoners of war asked Stan if they could look around, he had the idea to create the world’s only modern history theme museum and invested around £750,000.

The camp now has many exhibits about the wars. Topics featured are the blitz, the outbreak of war, animals at war, and The Bevin Boys.

Palace Cinema

This family owned art deco cinema shows blockbusters and live streams cultural performances. Within the cinema there are 3 screens with the 3rd only having 12 seats.

It’s an intimate venue that’s known for its friendly and welcoming staff, cosy atmosphere, and being a tastefully old fashioned cinema. Palace Cinema sells locally produced ice cream and serves drinks in proper cups and glasses to create a truly unique experience.

Flamingo Land Resort

In 1959 The Yorkshire Zoological Gardens opened with a colony of flamingos which were among the first animals to be housed here. In 1960 a small funfair was added and in 1963 it became the home to the UK’s first captive bottlenose dolphins.

Five years later in 1968 it was renamed Flamingo Park Zoo. The amusement rides became a permanent fixture in the 1970’s and became the first place in Europe to combine a zoo and rides.

Shortly after in 1974, it was renamed again to Flamingo Land and revamped to focus on the family day out experience. The park was then sold to Robert Gibb before being passed on to his son and two daughters in 1995 who still run the park.

It’s now home to many animals such as camels, hippos, lions, and parrots. There’s also a holiday village with static caravans, log cabins, leisure centre, swimming pool, cafe, kids club, bar, small supermarket, and an entertainment venue.

Royal Visit

On the 5th of April 2023, King Charles III and Queen Camilla paid a royal visit to Malton. They met food and drink producers, and the owners and staff in Talbot Yard. The King and Queen learnt about local crafts, products, the economy, and tasted some food. Some of the shops they visited were the Rare Bird Gin Distillery, Florian Poirot, Groovy Moo Gelato, Food 2 Remember, Bluebird Bakery, and Roost Espresso Bar.

Travelling In & Out of Malton

Malton is served by a bus and train station which is located in Norton-on-Derwent. The town is bypassed by the A64 which runs from Leeds and York to Scarborough.

Malton Railway Station is part of the Transpennine Route and has trains which run every hour. Currently there are plans to re-open the old rail link between Malton and Pickering.

The bus service is run by Coastliners which has buses from Leeds and York that pass through Malton and then travel to Pickering, Whitby, Scarborough, and Bridlington. There are also regular buses which travel to Castle Howard and Hovingham.

Religion in Malton

Malton has two churches – St Michael’s Anglican Church, and St Leonard and St Mary’s Church.

St Michael’s Anglican Church is often referred to as St Michael’s or the church in the market place. It’s a welcoming and friendly place that became a Grade II listed building on the 29th September in 1951.

St Leonard and St Mary’s Church also became a Grade II listed building on the same day as St Michael’s. The building dated back to the mid to late 1100’s. Since then, in 1988 to 1989, it was restructured inside and the alter was placed in the middle of the church with seating around it.

Education in Malton

The town of Malton has numerous schools for different ages. There are three primary schools which are St Mary’s RC Primary School, Norton Community Primary School, and Malton Community Primary School. Within Malton there are also two secondary schools, Malton School which was founded in 1547, and Norton College. The nearest independent school to the town is Terrington Hall Prep School which is around 9 miles away.

History of Malton

The first established building in Malton dates back to the late 1st century AD. The Romans inhabited the area and around 71 AD built an auxiliary fort. It soon became a large civilian area that had been developed on the south of the river at Norton. This establishment remained the home to many throughout the Roman era.

It’s believed that Old Malton was founded around the 1100’s when the St Leonard and St Mary’s Church was built. During the 11th century, a Norman Castle was built out of wood, and Malton Castle was built in what is now the Castle Garden where its ruins remain.

Lord William Eure inherited the site of the castle in 1544. After being passed to Ralph Eure in 1569, he decided to build a much grander house on the castle site in 1602. This was demolished in 1674 after Ralph had died and the house was inherited by his two daughters Mary and Margaret. They argued over the inheritance and in order to settle it the house was demolished and the stones were divided between the two.

The much loved Talbot Hotel dates back to the early 17th century. It contains remnants of the medieval town wall and over the years was used as a hunting lodge and a coach stop. This Grade II listed building was once known as Kimberley’s Hotel during the Victorian Era. In 1809 the Talbot Hotel was extended and modernised with a third floor and new stables added.

In 1749, the town hall was commissioned and was first used as a butter market before later being extended and changed.

During the mid 1800’s, a railway network was created with a line from York to Scarborough opening in 1845. In 1853, a line was added between Malton and Driffield. Since 1986, Malton Railway Station has been Grade II listed.