"Ancient Capital Of Cleveland"
A small but expanding market town, population around 20,000, near the North Yorkshire Moors on the road between Middlesbrough and Whitby, in the North-East of England. As recorded in The Domesday Book in 1086, it was variously known as Chigesburg, Ghigesburgh, Ghigesborg and Ghigesbore, and - in a record of a grant made to Robert de Brus - as Giseborne. To confound matters, the local Lord is Lord Gisborough. In times past, Guisborough was supported by the iron-ore mines in the surrounding hills (the collapse of which are responsible for the unusual shape of the tallest hill nearby, Roseberry Topping). Now serving primarily as a dormitory town for the chemical and steel industries of Middlesbrough and Redcar, it contains those elements typical of a small English country town:
Guisborough is part of the Redcar and East Cleveland constituency, represented in parliament by labour MP Dr Ashok Kumar.
* Admittedly, a ruined 12th Century priory is hardly typical of a small English country town. Guisborough's very own victim of The Reformation is probably worth visiting if you're in the area though, especially if English Heritage sites generally please you.