Asby, formerly Ashby or Askby a parish in Westmoreland, on an affluent of the river Eden, adjacent to the Eden Valley railway, 8 miles from Ormside station, and 5 miles S of Appleby. It comprises the townships of Great Asby, Little Asby, Asby-Coatsforth, and Asby-Winderwath, and the tract of Grange Hall sometimes deemed extra-parochial; and its post town is Appleby. Acreage, 8484; population, 424. Great Asby belonged to Roger Clifford. Little Asby had formerly a chapel with a chantry, and belonged to the Honeywoods. Asby-Coatsforth belonged to the Goatsforths and the Musgraves. Asby-Winderwath belonged to the Vanes. Asby-Overgrange belonged to Byland Abbey, and Gathorne to St Leonard's, York. Asby Hall is the seat of Lord Bective. Great part of the parish is mountainous. Three of the chief summits, Gathornelingow, Oxenburgh, and Castlefolds, have altitudes of respectively 1538, 1620, and 1700 feet. Asby-Scar is a ridge of rock extending about 2 miles from N to S, and 4 miles from E to W. A cavern called Pate Hole, about 1/4 of a mile S of the hamlet of Great Asby, runs 430 yards in one direction and 230 yards in another, and has, at the end of its first gallery, a pool 20 yards long and a lofty dome. Some striking scenery occurs among the mountains. Freestone and limestone are worked. Copper-ore was formerly raised here, but the undertaking was abandoned, Several tumuli, various in form, exist at Sayle Bottom; and two, which were found to contain human remains, are at Gathorne Hall. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Carlisle; net value, £160. The church was rebuilt in 1866, at a cost of £3000, and is in the Decorated English style. There are also chapels for Baptists, Wesleyans, and Congregationalists, an endowed school, an almshouse, and other charities.