Sherburn in Elmet (pronounced /ˈʃɜːrbərnɪnˈɛlmɪt/ SHUR-bər-nin-EL-mit) is a town[2] and civil parish in the district and county of North Yorkshire, England.

[5] Elmet refers to a little-understood post-Roman, Brittonic (non-Anglo-Saxon) kingdom in the area around what is now the Leeds conurbation, the precise boundaries of which are not known, but are thought to have been located at bodies of water, such as the Ouse, Aire and Wharfe rivers.

An earthwork adjoining All Saints' Church is the site of Hall Garth, sometimes erroneously called 'Athelstan's Palace', a high-status dwelling given (along with the manor of Cawood) by King Athelstan to the Archbishops of York to mark his victory over the combined Scots/Norse forces at Brunanburh in 937.

[12] In fact the battle, the main action of which occurred between 3–4 miles (4.8–6.4 km) away, could not have been seen with any clarity from the church tower, which was not then as tall as it is today.

[9] During the English Civil War, the town was garrisoned by the Royalists for King Charles I; it was close to their stronghold at Selby and the northern capital of York, and commanded the approaches from both the south and the west.

A Royalist force commanded by Lord Digby and Sir Marmaduke Langdale attacked and initially defeated the Parliamentarian garrison now based in the town.

Ernest was conferred the dignity of a Barony of the United Kingdom for life, by the name, style and title of Baron Popplewell, of Sherburn-in-Elmet in the West Riding of the County of York.