Harpham is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is located just south of the A614 road

A614 road

The A614 is a main road in England running through the counties of Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire.Beginning at Redhill, near Calverton in Nottinghamshire at a roundabout with the A60, the road meets the A6097 at a junction which looks like a roundabout but...

, approximately 5 miles (8 km) north east of Driffield

Driffield

Driffield, also known as Great Driffield, is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The civil parish is formed by the town of Driffield and the village of Little Driffield....

 and 7 miles (11.3 km) south west of Bridlington

Bridlington

Bridlington is a seaside resort, minor sea fishing port and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a static population of over 33,000, which rises considerably during the tourist season...

.

The civil parish is formed by the village of Harpham and the hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

s of Lowthorpe

Lowthorpe

Lowthorpe is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north east of Driffield town centre and south west of Bridlington town centre....

 and Ruston Parva

Ruston Parva

Ruston Parva is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately south west of Bridlington and lies just north of the A614 road.It forms part of the civil parish of Harpham....

.
According to the 2001 UK census

United Kingdom Census 2001

A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

, Harpham parish had a population of 318.

It is here that St. John of Beverley

John of Beverley

John of Beverley was an English bishop active in the kingdom of Northumbria. He was the Bishop of Hexham and then the Bishop of York which was the most important religious designation in the area. He went on to found the town of Beverley by building the first structure there, a monastery...

 was born in the 7th century; he became the Bishop of Hexham

Bishop of Hexham

The Bishop of Hexham was an episcopal title which took its name after the market town of Hexham in Northumberland, England. The title was first used by the Anglo-Saxons in the 7th and 9th centuries, and then by the Roman Catholic Church in the 19th century....

 as well as the Bishop of York. The Well of St. John, the local well, is named after him and is believed by many to have healing powers.

The village gave its name to HMS Harpham

HMS Harpham

HMS Harpham was one of 93 ships of the of inshore minesweepers.Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. The minesweeper was named after Harpham in the East Riding of Yorkshire.-References:...

, a Ham class minesweeper

Ham class minesweeper

The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers , known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. It took its name from the fact that all the ship names were British place names ending in -"ham"...

.