The settlement (possibly Scandinavian) was established just to the N of the junction of Roman roads from York and Stamford Bridge to Brough.
Ulf son of Torall, a prince of Deira, gave Barmby to York Minster before 1066; he might be the Ulf who gave the horn in York Minster treasury. The Domesday Survey records that the archbishop had 7 carucates and 2 bovates; before 1233, this had passed to the prebend of Barmby (VCHER, III, 141). Also, the Domesday Survey records that the king had 6 bovates in Barmby as soke of his manor of Pocklington; by 1198 it had been granted to William le Poer.
The archbishop’s estate, as above, together with 3 carucates at Millington, had land for 6 ploughs, and 15 villeins had 9 ploughs there. At the Conquest it was worth £5, in 1086 it was worth only £2 (VCHER, III, 142).
Between 1100 and 1108 the archbishop of York and York Minster probably received Barmby Moor church by the king: although this specific grant is not mention in the sources, it is highly probable that, along with St Martin at Fangfoss and the mother-church of Pocklington, also Barmby Moor church was part of the grant. Apparently, the archbishop assigned these possessions to the dean, as confirmed bythe king between c. 1119 and 1129. Eventually Barmby became a vicarage and Fangfoss was related to it as a curacy. The advowson in the Middle Ages presumably belonged to the dean of York (VCHER, III, 144).