a market-town of England, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in a valley near the Aire, 38 miles W. of York. It is an ancient town, for the most part well built of stone, and consisting of one main street of considerable breadth. The principal public building is the town-hall, in which the quarter sessions for the West Riding are held. The parish church is a large substantial building, some parts of which are of great antiquity. A district church was erected in 1838; and there are also places of worship for Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, Independents, Swedenborgians, and Roman Catholics. The Free Grammar School of Skipton, founded in 1548, had, in 1854, upwards of sixty scholars, and an endowment of L600 a year. There are also in the town national and British schools, a mechanics' institute, library, and savings' bank, as well as several charitable institutions. Many of the inhabitants find employment in the cotton factories of the town, but not a few of them are employed in agriculture. At the weekly markets there is a considerable traffic in corn; and numerous fairs are held for cattle and sheep. The general trade of the place is facilitated by the Leeds and Liverpool canal, which passes near the town. The old castle of Skipton, still used as a residence, is a large quadrangular edifice, the most part of which dates from the reign of Edward II. First founded in the time of William the Conqueror, it was a place of great strength in the seventeenth century, and held out for three years against the Parliamentary forces. In 1649 it was dismantled, but subsequently rebuilt by the Countess of Pembroke. Pop. of the town, 4962.