The village is 1 mile (2 km) south
of Skelton-in-Cleveland, and just south of the A174 road between Thornaby and Whitby. North Skelton experienced a boom in the 1870s when North Skelton Mine opened. The mine was the deepest of all of the Cleveland Ironstone workings and its shaft extended to over 720 feet (220 m) in depth. The mine produced over 25,000,000 tonnes (28,000,000 tons) of iron ore between its opening in 1872 and its closure in 1964.