Great Ayton is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England, on the edge of the North York Moors. It lies southeast of Middlesbrough and northeast of Stokesley on the border with the unitary authorities of Redcar and Cleveland and Middlesbrough. According to the 2001 census, it has a population of 4,570, increasing to 4629 at the 2011 Census. The name Great Ayton derives from the Old English Ea-tun, tun meaning farm and ea meaning river.