[2] The modern civil parish includes the village of Skidby and the hamlet of Eppleworth,[map 1] and Raywell.

Most of the parish area is west of the A164, within the wolds: Hessle Golf Club is north of the Eppleworth to Raywell road (Westfield Road),[7][map 5] There is a traveller's site at a former chalk quarry near Eppleworth;[8][map 6] and a waste composting facility near the former Albion Mill on the route of the former Hull and Barnsley line,[9][map 7] expanded to include an in-vessel composting facility in 2015, used to process organic waste from East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Hull City Council.

[3][12] The village's name is thought mean dwelling (-bý) of a person called Skítr, ("Skyti's farm") the words are of Scandinavian origin.

[15] In Domesday Book it is referred to as Schitebi – at the time of the survey it was recorded together with 'Burtone' (near Bishop Burton): the land belonged to the manor of Beverley (in the hands of the church), with over 20 villains and 3 knights.

[24] By the 1850s the village population had reached 306;[21] in 1857 the ecclesiastical parish of Skidby became fully separated from Cottingham and received a resident clergyman.

[note 3] In 1972, 120 acres (49 ha) of land north of the Eppleworth to Raywell road was acquired for the Hessle Golf Club, which was relocating due to the construction of the Humber Bridge; the eighteen-hole course was opened in 1975.