 The original source of the Ouse (which is 35 metres away from where it flows now) is marked by a stone column reading "OUSE RIVER HEAD... OUSEGILL SPRING Ft. YORK 13miles BOROUGHBRIDGE 4miles".The meadows by Ouse Gill Beck have since become a Site of Interest to Nature Conservation (SINC).Great Ouseburn was originally part of the district of Knaresborough, which was a royal forest in William the Conqueror’s time, giving Great Ouseburn the status of a "Forest Liberty Town"; it had the liberty to punish those people who misbehaved within its boundaries; in the "Domesday" survey the village is referred to as "Useburne".