| Country: | England |
| Coordinates: | 54.216°N -0.95°W |
| Official Name: | Muscoates |
| Civil Parish: | Nunnington |
| Unitary England: | North Yorkshire |
| Lieutenancy England: | North Yorkshire |
| Region: | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Constituency Westminster: | Thirsk and Malton |
| Post Town: | YORK |
| Postcode District: | YO62 |
| Postcode Area: | YO |
| Os Grid Reference: | SE687802 |
| Static Image: | Muscoates Only - geograph.org.uk - 378376.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | Lane into Muscoates |
Muscoates is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Nunnington, in North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Riccal, 4miles to the south of the town of Kirkbymoorside.
Muscoates is first mentioned in a 12th-century document. The name derives either from the Old English mūsa cotes, meaning "mouse-ridden cottages", or from an Old Norse personal name Músi. Muscoates was a township in the ancient parish of Kirkdale,[1] and became a separate civil parish in 1866.[2]
Muscoates was a small parish with an area of 1045acres and a population of 23 in 1961.[3]
In 1974 it became part of the new district of Ryedale, and on 1 April 1986 the parish was abolished and merged with Nunnington.[4] Ryedale was abolished in 2023 and the area is now administered by North Yorkshire Council.
Sir Herbert Read, the poet and art critic, was born at Muscoates in 1893, the son of a farmer. His fantasy novel The Green Child (1935) was described by the critic Geoffrey Wheatcroft in 1993 as "singular, odd, completely original".[5]