Malton Yorkshire Universal British Directory 1791

Malton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, in the road from York to Whitby and Scarborough, is 215 miles from London. It is a populous borough, though not incorporated, but only governed by a bailiff, and was heretofore famous for its vent of corn, fish, and country utensils. It has a stone bridge over the Darwent, which was made navigable to this town, and from hence to the Ouse, by an act of parliament in the 1st year of Queen Anne. On the 12th of Jan. 1785, during the sitting of the general quarter sessions of the peace, the centre beam of the building gave way, and upwards of 300 persons fell into the area beneath, upwards of twelve feet, but no lives were lost. The town is four furlongs in length, and divided by the river into the old and new towns, which have three parish-churches. Its markets are on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the latter the best in the county for horses and black cattle, and other commodities, especially tools for husbandry: fairs, on Saturday before Palm-Sunday, the Saturday before Whit-Sunday, and Oct. 10 and 11. It had a castle in the reign of Henry I. of which some remains are still visible, and a monastery, a great part of which was blown down in 1782; the church of which is still standing, though ruinous.

Hoveningham or Hovingham, on the west side of Malton, had a market one on Saturday.

Source: The Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce, and Manufacture 1791. Vol. 5.