Upper Helmsley is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, about seven miles east of York.

The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Hamelsec in the Bulford hundred and as a possession of Ligulf.

After the Norman invasion the land was granted to Count Robert of Mortain who made Nigel Fossard the local lord of the manor.

[1] The village lies within the Thirsk and Malton UK Parliament constituency.

It also lies within the Hovingham & Sheriff Hutton electoral ward of North Yorkshire Council and the Ryedale South West ward of Ryedale District Council.