Wensleydale : Dale of the River Ure
Wensleydale and its river are a cause for confusion. Swaledale has the River Swale, Wharfedale has the River Wharfe, Ribblesdale is the dale of the River Ribble but there is no River Wensley. The dale of Wensleydale is formed by the River Ure that is sometimes pronounced ‘Yore’ and rises high in the Pennines beyond the village of Hawes.
On this page we cover the traditional dale of Wensleydale from the River Ure’s source and beginnings in the west to Leyburn and Middleham in the east. From there we will also explore some of the lower parts of the Ure valley including the ruins of Jervaulx Abbey and areas just east of Leyburn such as Constable Burton, Thornton Steward, Hutton Hang and Finghall.
The River Ure’s journey begins at Ure Head, where it is fed by the Hell Gill Grains in the mossy country of Abbotside Moor in the region of Mallerstang. Streams to its immediate north are across the watershed, feeding the River Eden which is destined for the Solway Firth and the Irish Sea. Like its neighbour the Swale, the Ure, however, is ultimately destined for the Humber estuary and the North Sea.
The Ure begins as a little trickle and flows west for a short while, before turning south at Ure Crook. After passing a small waterfall called Ure Force it turns east at Cobbles Hill.
Bordered to the north by Cotter Side and Cotter Riggs, the river is joined from the south by Mossdale Beck and then, from the north, by the Cotterdale Beck which forms the dale of Cotterdale. This little dale hosts a picturesque little stone village called Cotterdale and a waterfall called Cotterdale Force. Further upstream, this dale is separated from Fossdale and the Buttertubs Pass to the east by Great Shunner Fell.
After Cotterdale the next little dale to join the Ure is that of the Widdale Beck which joins the Ure’s southern bank as a broad and significant stream near the little village of Appersett.
Appersett means ‘shieling’ (a shelter) ‘near the apple tree’. A little further downstream the Ure is joined on its north bank by Hardraw Beck, another substantial stream that hosts the village of Hardraw just to the north.
Upstream the Hardraw Beck forms Fossdale ‘the dale of the waterfall’ which rises at Great Shunner Fell. It is perhaps named from the famed waterfall of Hardraw Force further downstream on the Hardraw Beck just above Hardraw village itself. Here the beck pours over a limestone cliff to form a 99 feet single drop waterfall that is a rival to High Force in Teesdale.
Hardraw Force or ‘the Scaur’, as it also sometimes known is one of the famous sites of Wensleydale. It may not be the biggest, or most powerful waterfall in England, but it is arguably the highest single drop fall in England. The word ‘force’ derives from ‘fors’ a Viking word for a small waterfall.
The force of water of this ‘force’ is very much determined by weather and after heavy rainfall or melting snow on the fells it can be quite impressive when seen in full spate but on other occasions it can look somewhat like a running bathroom tap.
The waterfall can be reached by a pleasant little walk to the rear of Hardraw’s Green Dragon pub. The name Hardraw comes from ‘Herdrow’, a row of houses that belonged to a shepherd. There are other waterfalls further up the little Hardraw Beck valley.
Hardraw is a small village with a modest stone church of 1881 built by R.H. Carpenter and dedicated to St Mary and St John. Another feature of the village is a stone bridge dating from around 1889 that crosses the Hardraw Beck, which here resembles a little river.
Just north east of Hardraw is Simonstone Hall, a stone-built country house near the edge of Hardraw Beck, where Cliffgate Road heads north across the moorlands towards Thwaite in Swaledale via the dramatic dale-to-dale route called the Buttertubs Pass.
Hawes
East of Hardraw village the River Ure twists around Flashes Hill that separates Hardraw from the little town of Hawes that is situated over on other side of the Ure to the south.
Hawes derives its name from ‘Hause’ meaning a narrow neck of land. and is charming little place at the heart of upper Wensleydale. The main street in Hawes is the Market Place, with a street called Turfy Hill at the western end. At the centre of the town there are little cafes, local shops of character and a number of pubs, all built from the characteristic local stone.
The Gayle Beck passes through the eastern part of the town and also at this eastern end of Hawes is the long-distance walkway of the Pennine Way that comes into the town here from Gayle. Nearby is the Yorkshire Dales National Park Visitor Centre and Dales Countryside Museum, part of which includes the old Hawes Railway Station with an old steam locomotive and carriages parked up outside.
At the western end of Hawes, a road heads south to the neighbouring village of Gayle only a short walk away. Between Gayle and Hawes on the east side of the road is the Wensleydale Creamery. This factory or creamery makes the world famous Wensleydale Cheese.
It is said that cheese making was brought to Wensleydale by French monks who settled at Fors near Askrigg further down the dale, in 1145. The monks later moved to a new site in Wensleydale at Jervaulx, but they took their cheese-making skills with them.
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in the reign of Henry VIII, the cheese-making knowledge passed into the hands of local farmers and in the nineteenth century this tradition eventually passed to the present creamery at Hawes.
The village of Gayle, from the Old Norse ‘Geil’ meaning ‘ravine’, is located to the south of Hawes and the Wensleydale Creamery. It is a pleasing village and home to a former mill on the Gayle Beck that dates from 1695.
Gayle, a typical dales village, has been described in the Pevsner architectural guide to the North Riding of Yorkshire as “almost as intricate as an Italian stone village”.
Along the Gayle Beck valley, a back road heads southward across the Pennines towards Kettlewell and Wharfedale.
The next villages we meet as we travel downstream along the River Ure from Hawes are Burtersett, on the south side of the river, to the east of Hawes, and Sedbusk to the north of the Ure, east of Hardraw.
Sedbusk combines the Old Norse words ‘saetr’ and ‘buskr’ which mean ‘shelter’ (shieling) and ‘bush’. The village-name means ‘shelter near a bush’.
There are some lovely views of upper Wensleydale here as there are at Burtersett to the south. Burtersett means ‘shieling near the burr tree’, burr being an old name for an alder tree.
Bainbridge and Semerwater
Roads run along the north and south sides of the valley (the A684 is on the south side), with great views of upper Wensleydale almost everywhere. The next village we reach is Bainbridge, situated at the point where the River Bain joins the River Ure from the south.
In historic times Bainbridge was located within the forest of Wensley and was used as a hunting park by the Lords of Middleham Castle. Their forest extended west to Mallerstang near the border with Westmorland close to the watershed with the River Eden.
In its old sense a ‘forest’ meant land set aside for hunting, often including dales and wild moorland and was not an area heavily grown with trees as in the modern sense of the word.
Bainbridge would have been a planned village, built to house those who worked in the forest, serving their Norman lords. It was a place to shelter livestock, with the village green serving this purpose.
An old Shrovetide horn-blowing ceremony at Bainbridge dates back to the time when hunters were guided to the safety of the village after dusk by the blowing of a horn. The horn can still be seen in Bainbridge’s Rose and Crown Hotel. It was traditionally blown between September 28 and Shrove Tuesday.
Bainbridge has a broad, undulating village green, slightly similar to that of Reeth in Swaledale but a little more ordered and formal. Streets in the village include Scott Hill, Back Syke and Newkin.
An interesting feature on the village green are the old village stocks which date to the seventeenth century. In times past, wrong-doers were locked into these stocks by their ankles and then subjected to abuse and the throwing of refuse by villagers.
There is an old Quaker Meeting House dating from 1836 in the village (the founder of Quakerism George Fox visited the area in 1652) and a pleasant stone chapel of 1864 at the south end of the green which has been converted into a cottage. Despite it being such a prominent village there is no parish church at Bainbridge.
Also at the south end of the village is the bridge across the River Bain itself, the river being on the east side of the village. The present bridge was built by John Carr of York and dates from 1785. Carr also built Yore Bridge just to the north of the village which crosses the River Ure.
An impressive site from the bridge across the River Bain is an archimedes screw within the course of this fast flowing river that generates electricity for some houses in the village. It was installed in 2011 but the river has been employed in generating hydro-electricity for the village since the nineteenth century.
Over on the east side of the River Bain from Bainbridge village is Brough Hill. Here we find the site of a Bainbridge Roman fort that was probably called Virosidum, of which earthworks still remain.
Further south and east of the valley of the Bain is a hill called Addlebrough where the Romans positioned a lookout station. An Ancient British chieftain is said to have been buried in a cairn here.
In legend, a prominent rock called the Devil’s Stone, on Addlebrough is said to have landed here following a stone-throwing battle between a giant, who owned the hill, and the devil himself who coveting possession of the hill, threw the great stone here from his lair at Semerwater. Cracks within the stone are said to be the devil’s fingerprints.
Further up the Bain, south of Addlebrough, is Semerwater which is a small lake. According to legend it came into being by magic after drowning a village that once stood here. The story is that a beggar was refused charity at this village but a welcoming couple at another nearby village gave him shelter for the night.
The following day the couple awoke to find the beggar had disappeared and that the unfriendly neighbouring village had disappeared too, with a lake taking its place. It is said that the roofs of houses in the old village can still sometimes be seen beneath its waters.
Semerwater is one of a handful of natural lakes in Yorkshire. Its name derives from ‘sae’ and ‘mere’, two Old English words that can both mean ‘lake’. Streams feeding Semerwater include Little Ings Sike which joins the lake on its east side. Upstream this stream is called Force Beck from the little waterfalls along its course such as Water Ling Force and Burnet Force.
Crooks Beck flows into the southern end of Semerwater and further upstream this beck is formed by the merging of Cradle Beck, Raydale Beck and Marsett Beck. This area is home to the little villages of Marsett and Stalling Busk. The first was the sheiling (saetr) belonging to a Norseman called Maura, the second derives from ‘Stallion’s Bush’. The word ‘stallion’ was introduced by the Normans.
The River Bain exits from the northern end of Semerwater (its source) near the village of Countersett and heads north to Bainbridge and the River Ure. Countersett means the ‘shieling belonging to Constance’ which was introduced into England as a French personal name.
Askrigg
Heading back along the River Bain to Bainbridge we now cross John Carr’s Yore Bridge over to the north side of the River Ure. To the east of here, almost opposite but a little downstream from where the Ure is joined by the River Bain once stood Fors Abbey, whose monks first made Wensleydale cheese before moving down the river to Jervaulx. The abbey was established here in 1145 by Akar Fitzbardolph, the Lord of Ravensworth near Richmond.
Set away from the River Ure, but overlooking the valley further to the east, is the village of Askrigg. This village has a Viking place-name that means ‘ridge where ash trees grew’. It later became an important market town in the dale where a market charter was granted in 1587.
Askrigg is situated between the Askrigg Beck on its north side and the Paddock Beck to its west, both of which join the River Ure to the south.
The main streets of the village include Main Street itself and the little market place; Silver Street to the south along with Cringley Lane and Mill Lane to the west. Leyburn Road that heads east from the village along the Dale and Moor Road takes us north across the moors to Oxnop Ghyll in Swaledale.
The Kings Arms pub and Manor House in Askrigg’s Main Street date from the 1760s. Askrigg’s parish church is dedicated to St Oswald and dates to the fourteenth or fifteenth century and was connected with a chantry founded by the Metcalfe family in 1467.
The neighbourhood of Askrigg was traditionally the home of the Metcalfe family who lived at the fortified Nappa Hall, nearby to the east of Askrigg.
Nappa Hall was built in 1459 by a James Metcalfe to protect against the raids of marauding Scots that were a frequent problem for Wensleydale being on a raiding route from the Eden valley. Mary, Queen of Scots was held at Nappa Hall, before she was moved down the dale to Castle Bolton.
The hall is an impressive example of a fortified fifteenth century house. Nappa may derive from the combination of the Anglo-Saxon word ‘hnaepp’ and ‘haeg’ meaning ‘bowl-shaped enclosure’ or possibly means ‘naep-haeg’, a place where turnips were grown.
Between Askrigg and Nappa Hall is the village of Newbiggin, just east of Askrigg. This name, like another Wensleydale village called Newbiggin near Aysgarth, to the east, means ‘new building’. Other Newbiggins in the north of England include Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland and Newbiggin in Teesdale.
From the Leyburn Road in Askrigg, a road heads south east to cross the Ure towards the village of Worton on the south side of the river. It is another pretty village of stone which includes Worton Hall, dating from 1600.
To the south east of Worton village is a tree-lined ridge called Worton Scar that is followed on its south side by the road leading east to the village of Thornton Rust.
Old spellings of this village name, first noted in the twelfth century, include ‘Thornton Ruske’ and it is said to mean ‘farm near the Thorns owned by a someone called Roschil’.
However, it is known that a medieval chapel dedicated to St Restitutus once stood on the east side of the village and the development of the ‘Rust’ part of the name from Restitutus should be considered. Thornton Rust Hall, a large house in the village was historically connected to the Chapman family and dates from 1672.
Carperby and Aysgarth
Four miles east of Askrigg, is the village of Carperby, with a name deriving from Cairpre, an Old Irish personal name that may be a nickname meaning ‘charioteer’. ‘By’ is of course the Viking word for a settlement, so the founder of this place was probably of mixed Irish-Viking origin; a Hiberno-Norseman or Norse Gael.
‘Irish’ Vikings arrived in the dales and vales of northern Yorkshire from the west and seem to have formed an important element of Yorkshire’s population in the Viking period.
In a little sliver of the village green is Carperby village cross mounted upon seven small steps. It is dated 1674. Also nearby at this western end of the village is a former Quaking meeting house of 1864; an old school and an old Methodist chapel of 1820.
Carperby is set some way to the north of the River Ure but the village of Aysgarth over on the opposite side of the river, to the south, is a little closer to the river.
Aysgarth is another Viking place-name deriving from ‘Ayks kerth’ meaning ‘a gap in the hills where oak trees grow’. Aysgarth is of course famed for its waterfalls – the Aysgarth Falls – but the falls are situated a little east of the village close to Aysgarth church.
There is a small rock garden overlooking the main street at the west end of the village and towards the east end is a little stone war memorial commemorating the fallen of the First World War and an inn called The George and Dragon.
A former Methodist chapel can be seen at the west end of the village but Aygarth’s medieval parish church, dedicated to St Andrew, lies beyond the village to the west close to the river near the famous falls. In fact only the church tower is genuinely medieval. The rest of this large church was mostly rebuilt in 1866.
Aysgarth Falls are often considered one of the most beautiful spots in Yorkshire. They are a series of waterfalls stretching over a half mile section of the River Ure.
The falls occur in three stages called the upper, middle and lower falls and are formed by natural terraces within the river. A road called Church Bank crosses the river by a bridge here at the falls and was built in 1539, though it has been widened since that time.
To the south of the Aysgarth Falls in the valley of the Walden Beck (a tributary of the Bishopdale Beck) is the village of West Burton and to its west and south west are the villages of Thoralby and Newbiggin (another Newbiggin). The Bishopdale Beck, which forms the dale of Bishopdale, joins the River Ure east of the Aysgarth Falls.
West Burton to West Witton
West Burton is a substantial and very pretty village with a large village green. A curiosity on the green is the obelisk of 1820, topped by a weather vane. It is sometimes mistakenly thought to be a market cross but it was possibly used for preaching.
West Burton belonged to Thorkil at the time of the Domesday Book but was granted to Alan of Brittany (see Richmond). The Burton of West Burton’s name suggests it was a ‘burh’ or fortified settlement of some kind.
On the east side of the village, on the Walden Beck is a waterfall called the Caldron Force. North of West Burton, a road heads east into the moors called Morpeth Gate (the moor-path-road) and another road called Eshington Lane heads north.
Thoralby, near the Bishopdale Beck to the west of West Burton, has a name that means the village of Thorold, and should not to be confused with a Viking called Thorkil who once owned West Burton. It has pleasant stone cottages and a triangular village green with the Wensleydale (Bishopdale) scenery forming a pleasant backdrop.
Heading back downstream along Bishopdale with Penhill to the east we reach the confluence of the Bishopdale Beck and the River Ure. Now, if we continue east along the south side of the Ure we find the villages of Swinithwaite and West Witton. Over on the north side of the Ure from here are Castle Bolton and Redmire but to reach those villages you have to head back to Aysgarth, cross the bridge over the river Ure and then head east via Carperby.
Staying on the south side for now, both Swinithwaite and West Witton lie near the foot of Penhill to their south with the River Ure to their north. Just west of Swinithwaite are the remains of a small chapel probably associated with the Penhill Preceptory, a small monastery of the Knights Templar established in 1142 that fell out of use around 1312.
Just north of this site is Temple Farm dated, about 1761 with a nearby domed tower of a former summerhouse called ‘Temple Folly’ built for its views across Wensleydale.
Further to the east, the Witton of West Witton’s name derives from ‘wudu-tun’ meaning ‘farm in the wood’ and there is an East Witton too, towards Jervaulx Abbey. West Witton once formed part of that abbey’s lands. West Witton is situated on a long main street (part of the A684) which is home to a local pub called The Wensleydale Heifer.
Hidden away to the north of this street is the church of St Bartholomew which dates from the thirteenth century but much of what we see today is of the nineteenth century.
On the nearest Saturday to St Bartholomew’s Day (August 24) the village of West Witton has traditionally hosted the ‘Burning of Bartle’ ceremony in which an effigy of a figure called ‘Old Bartle’ wearing old clothes and stuffed with straw, is paraded across the village to a traditional chant before he is finally burnt at Grisgill (or Grassgill) near the village’s eastern end.
On Penhill Crags he tore his rags,
At Hunters Thorn he blew his horn,
At Capplebank Stee he brock his knee,
At Grisgill Beck he brock his neck,
At Wadham’s End he couldn’t fend,
at Grisgill End we’ll mek his end!
Shout lads Shout.
It is said that Old Bartle was a swine thief who was eventually caught and put to death. Another story is that he may be connected to the legendary giant of Penhill, who once supposedly ate whole flocks of sheep. Capple Bank and the Capple Bank Beck are situated to the south of the village along Grassgill Lane to the south of the village near the foot of Penhill.
Across the other side of Penhill, south east of West Witton, is the valley of Coverdale, an offshoot of Wensleydale that joins the main valley to the east beyond Middleham.
Castle Bolton and Redmire
Now heading over the River Ure to the north side of Wensleydale we find the villages of Castle Bolton, Redmire, Preston-under-Scar and Wensley village itself, all situated between Carperby and Leyburn.
Castle Bolton village is home to the imposing Bolton Castle, which was built by Lord Richard Scrope in 1379 to guard Wensleydale. The village is thought to have been laid out at the same time as the castle. Richard Scrope had been knighted for his part in the Battle of Nevilles Cross near Durham in 1346.
From July 1568 until January 1569, Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner in Bolton Castle and is said to have escaped for a few hours before her capture near Leyburn. Bolton Castle remained in the hands of the Scropes (the name is pronounced ‘Scroop’) until 1630.
After that time it passed to the Orde-Powlett family and suffered damage in 1645 during the Civil War following a Parliamentary siege. Today the castle is in the hands of Lord Bolton who is a direct descendant of the Scropes.
On the north side of Bolton Castle is Castle Bolton’s village church of St Oswald which dates from the late fourteenth century. Both the castle and the church are located at the west end of the little village which is situated on a long village green.
Across the Apedale Beck to the south east of Castle Bolton is the much larger village of Redmire with a substantial village green criss-crossed by several little village roads. The green features a small and subtle war memorial and to the west is the village pub, ‘the Bolton Arms or ‘Redmire Village Pub’, situated on Hargill Lane.
The Barney Beck is situated on the east side of Redmire village and a little further to the east alongside Church Lane and somewhat isolated from the village is the church of St Mary. Parts of the church are Norman.
Redmire is home to the easternmost station on the Wensleydale Heritage Railway line but sadly the section between Redmire and Leyburn is not currently operational at the time of writing, due to erosion and maintenance needs.
East of Redmire as we continue the journey along the dale we find the village of Preston-under-Scar which means ‘priest’s village under the cliff’. It is situated on the edge of an escarpment and there is extensive quarrying on the hill tops, just above, stretching east towards Leyburn.
The village parish church of St Margaret at Preston near the eastern end is pretty. It looks more like a chapel in a row of stone cottages rather than a traditional Anglican church.
In extensive private grounds towards the River Ure south of Preston-under Scar is Bolton Hall which dates to the 1670s although its interior was destroyed by a fire in 1902. It stands on the site of an estate belonging to the Scrope family since medieval times, later belonging, through a female line, to their descendants, the Dukes of Bolton. The hall later passed to the Orde-Powlett family.
Wensley
Just west of the Bolton Hall grounds is the village of Wensley, situated on the Wensley Brook which flows south to join the River Ure from the hills near Preston-under-Scar. The use of the word ‘brook’ in the name of a stream rather than ‘beck’ is very unusual in northern parts of Yorkshire and is something of a puzzle.
Wensley village of course gives its name to the whole of Wensleydale. Most of the Yorkshire Dales are named from their rivers, but for some reason Wensleydale is named from a village.
Wensleydale’s river is of course the Ure, an old Celtic river-name related to the Gaulish ‘Isura’ that is recalled in the name of Isurium Brigantum, the Roman capital of the Brigantes tribe much further downstream at Aldborough near Boroughbridge. In Anglo-Saxon times Wensley village was called ‘Woden’s Ley’ from the pagan god of that name and is thought to have been the site of a pagan shrine.
A Christian church was built here at Wensley in the later Anglo-Saxon period after the people had converted to Christianity. It was later replaced by the present church of Holy Trinity in 1245.
Until 1868 Wensley’s church served as the parish church for nearby Leyburn. Memorials to the Scrope family of Bolton Castle can be seen in the church which is situated towards the river near a bridge of four arches across the River Ure, that dates in part to the fifteenth century.
Leyburn, Harmby and Spennithorne
To the north east of Wensley is the town of Leyburn. One of the best known features of this part of Wensleydale is the Leyburn Shawl, a natural limestone terrace almost a mile long that overlooks the town to the north of Wensley village. From the top of the Shawl there are excellent views of Wensleydale, taking in Middleham Castle and Bolton Castle.
During a supposed two hour escape from Bolton Castle, Mary Queen of Scots is said to have dropped her shawl near here. According to legend, this unlikely escape is said to have given rise to the name of the shawl. The dropped shawl betrayed her whereabouts and she was captured. In actual fact Leyburn Shawl’s name derives from an old Viking word ‘skali’ meaning shepherd’s huts. The name of Leyburn itself means ‘clearing near a stream’ .
Leyburn is centred upon a market place at the heart of which is a small town hall of 1856. A weekly market was relocated here from Wensley in 1686. The market place is linked to Grove Square by a very short High Street.
Hidden away behind the Bolton Arms off the south west corner of the market place is an eighteenth century house called Leyburn Hall and at the north west end of the town, housing Leyburn Community Library is a nineteenth century house of Jacobean style called Thornburgh Hall.
East of the market place is the Victorian Anglican parish church of St Matthew of 1868, while to the north along the High Street into Richmond Road is Leyburn Evangelical church and the Roman Catholic Church of St Peter and St Paul, dating from 1835.
North of Leyburn is the village of Bellerby from which roads lead north to Downholme, Richmond and the Swale. Bellerby is a Viking place-name meaning the farm or village of the ‘belgr’, meaning ‘withered old man’. On the north side of Bellerby village green is the prominent old hall and on the south side of the village is the church of St John that dates to the early nineteenth century. Just to the south of the village is the old manor house, dating back in part to 1575 and now home to the Manor Farm Cafe.
South east of Leyburn is the village of Harmby and to its south east is Spennithorne, both just across the River Ure from the little town of Middleham.
Harmby was the farm or village (a ‘by’) belonging to someone with the Scandinavian name Hiærne. On the east side of Harmby village is a little waterfall formed by the Harmby Beck that can be seen in a secluded nook formed by the Harmby Gill, with a tiny footbridge nearby.
Spennithorne, to the south east of Harmby, like Spennymoor in County Durham, possibly refers to some kind of hedged enclosure. In Norman times Spennithorne was given, along with Middleham across the Ure to the south, by Alan, Lord of Richmond to his brother, Ribald Fitzrandolph. The church at Spennithorne, partly dating to the twelfth century, is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels.
Nearby, just to the south of the church is Spennithorne Hall which dates from the early eighteenth century. It was once the home to the Chaytor family.
Middleham
Middleham, a little town across the River Ure less than two miles to the south of Leyburn is famous for two things: the training and breeding of racehorses, which has been carried out here since at least the eighteenth century; and the historic Middleham Castle.
The first castle was built around 1070 on a site known as William’s Hill and is about 500 yards south west of the present castle. Its foundations can still be seen. It was built by Alan the Earl of Richmond who also built Richmond Castle and it belonged to the earl’s brother, Ribald. Around 1170 the castle was dismantled and the present castle was built.
Middleham passed by marriage in 1270 to the famous Neville family whose family seats included Raby and Brancepeth Castles in County Durham and Sheriff Hutton near York. Middleham was however separated from the estates of Raby and Brancepeth in the fifteenth century. The junior branch of the family called the Earls of Salisbury inherited Middleham and Sheriff Hutton. Raby and Brancepeth went to the senior branch called the Earls of Westmorland.
The most powerful member of the Neville family was Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, a descendant of the Earls of Salibsury, and known as ‘the Kingmaker’.
Warwick the ‘Kingmaker’ was the owner of Middleham Castle and earned the moniker through his influential support of King Edward IV in the Wars of the Roses. He was one of the most important and most powerful figures associated with this era of history.
From 1465 to 1468 King Edward’s brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the future King Richard III, stayed at Middleham Castle under the care of Warwick. Only a year after Richard had left Middleham, Warwick turned against King Edward and imprisoned the king in the castle. For some months during Edward’s imprisonment, Warwick attempted to rule the country in Edward’s name.
The ‘Kingmaker’ was eventually slain at the Battle of Barnet near London in April 1471. After his death Middleham Castle, along with Sheriff Hutton (also in Yorkshire), Barnard Castle in Durham and Penrith in Cumbria all passed to Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
Richard married Ann Neville, the Earl of Warwick’s daughter which confirmed his right to the estates. Ann, the kingmaker’s daughter would become Queen of England when Richard was crowned King in July 1483.
After the defeat and death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Middleham Castle’s importance declined. By the seventeenth century the castle had fallen into disrepair, but the impressive ruins remain, overlooking the beautiful little stone town of Middleham.
In 1985, on a path close to Middleham Castle, an extraordinary find was made that transported us back to the castle’s medieval heyday. It was here that antique dealer and treasure hunter Ted Seaton discovered a beautiful medieval jewel in the form of a lozenge-shaped gold religious pendant embedded with a large sapphire.
Depicting the Trinity including the crucifixion of Christ on one side and the Nativity on the other, it came to be known as the ‘Middleham Jewel’ and was subsequently sold for £2.5 million to the Yorkshire Museum. It is thought that it may have belonged to a relative of Richard III, possibly his wife and queen, Anne Neville.
Middleham is linked to Leyburn across the River Ure to the north by Middleham Bridge, a former suspension bridge dating from 1830. It was built by Hansom and Welch and features arched castellated entrances at either end topped by turrets that once supported the cables of the bridge. The building of the bridge was funded by a subscription instigated by Ralph Riddell of Cheeseburn Grange near Stamfordham in Northumberland.
The bridge suffered from significant damage from a herd of crossing cattle, shortly after it was built. It was restructured as a wrought iron girder bridge, built by the engineers Head, Ashby & Co of Stockton-on-Tees in 1865.
The name ‘Middleham’ means ‘middle homestead’ and its name probably refers to its central location in the valley of the Ure. It was granted a market by Richard II in 1388 with the encouragement of the Nevilles but in later times came to be overshadowed by the market at Leyburn.
To the north of Middleham Market Place, off Kirkgate is Church Street leading to Middleham’s parish church just to the west of the town centre. The oldest parts of the church date to the fourteenth century but it contains a pre-Conquest Anglo-Danish sculpture that points to earlier origins. The church is dedicated to St Mary and St Akelda. The church at Giggleswick near Settle is also dedicated to St Akelda but it is not known who she was.
Horse racing once took place at Middleham from at least the early eighteenth century and probably earlier. Nearby, the monks of Jervaulx were widely renowned for the training of horses. Racehorse training is mentioned in respect of Middleham as early as 1733.
By the late eighteenth century racing was regularly held on the moors near Middlleham. Although racing ended on the moors in 1827, the training of racehorses continued and horses trained here have included Grand National, Derby and St Leger winners.
Coverdale
A little east of Middleham, near East Witton, the River Ure is joined from the south west by the River Cover. This river forms the valley of Coverdale, an offshoot of Wensleydale.
Coverham, which lies at the lower end of Coverdale, near East Witton and Middleham was the site of a Premonstratensian abbey that moved here in 1212 from Swainby in the Swale valley, west of the village of Maunby, near Northallerton.
Coverham was the sixteenth century birthplace of Miles Coverdale who was famed for his translation of the Bible in 1538. The church at Coverham dates partly from the fourteenth century with Victorian restorations carried out in the 1850s.
An Anglo-Saxon sculptured stone incorporated into the lintel above the south door suggests there was an even earlier church. Very scant remains of Coverham Abbey exist amongst farm buildings to the east and south east of the church.
Over on the south side of the River Cover heading east from Coverham towards East Witton is Braithwaite Hall which dates from 1667 at a location called Braithwaite which means ‘broad clearing’. Close by, to its south east, are traces of a hill fort earthwork with a rampart and a ditch. It is one of two notable ancient earthworks in the area, another being ‘Castle Steads’ to the south of Coverham.
Near Agglethorpe, west of Coverham and north of the Cover river we find the quite remarkable garden of follies and curious features called the Forbidden Corner on Tupgill Park estate. Created by owner Colin Armstrong and architect Malcolm Tempest initially as a private folly, this has been open to the public since 1994. It is a popular attraction but can only be visited with pre-booked tickets.
Heading along Coverdale valley itself takes us south west through lovely scenery. Villages along the valley include Caldbergh, East and West Scrafton, Melmerby, Carlton, Gammersgill and Thwaite; all of which show Viking influence in their name or spelling.
The name of Melmerby means ‘Maelmuire’s farmstead’. Maelmuire is an Old Irish name meaning ‘servant of Mary’, suggesting this was a Hiberno-Norse settlement. It has a different origin to the Melmerby near Ripon but the same meaning as the village of Melmerby in the Eden Valley of Cumberland. The drive westward along the valley of Coverdale eventually culminates in a descent into the neighbouring valley of Wharfedale via Cam Gill Road.
East Witton
The River Ure is joined on its south bank by the River Cover a mile east of Middleham near Ulshaw Bridge. This name derives from ‘Ulf’s Haugr’ (Ulf’s Howe or mound), rather than ‘shaw’ meaning ‘woodland’. Ulshaw is a location on the north side of the Ure.
An ancient earthwork nearby was perhaps later associated with someone called Ulf. Nearby is a Roman Catholic Church of 1868 dedicated to St Simon and St Jude and built by the architect Joseph Hansom. The road north from the bridge called Barf Bank heads north towards Spennithorne and Constable Burton.
Ulshaw Bridge, which crosses the Ure, dates from 1674 and less than two-hundred metres to its south is another bridge that crosses the Cover where a road heads west to Middleham or south to East Witton.
East Witton village in the lower part of Coverdale and its church of St John the Evangelist are situated half a mile south of Ulshaw Bridge. Like West Witton, East Witton’s name derives from ‘wudu-tun’ meaning ‘farm in the wood. The village and its cottages are spread out along either side of a long, narrow village green which stretches from west to east with the notable Blue Lion pub at the east end.
The church of St John the Evangelist, which is set slightly away from the eastern end of the village, was built in 1809 by the Earl of Ailesbury, who also built the nearby vicarage. The earl built the church to commemorate the jubilee of King George III.
Jervaulx Abbey
Near the south side of the River Ure about a mile east of East Witton are the beautiful ruins of Jervaulx Abbey. The story of this abbey (its name is pronounced ‘Jervo’) begins with Cistercian monks from France who established a monastery at Fors near Askrigg in upper Wensleydale in 1145, where they were credited with introducing the making of cheese to Wensleydale.
The monks found the site at Fors rather bleak and wild and the abbey’s livestock was vulnerable to attacks by wolves. In 1156 with the support of Conan, the Earl of Richmond, they moved to a new, more appealing site, at the eastern end of Wensleydale which they called ‘Jervaulx’. Jervaulx is an Old French name for the location and literally means ‘Ure Valley’. Wensleydale is of course the valley of the River Ure.
At the height of Jervaulx’s power, almost the entire length of Wensleydale belonged to the abbey and its wealth could be compared to that of Fountains Abbey near Ripon.
Monks at Jervaulx Abbey are thought to have been involved in the training of racehorses for Henry VIII and this may have been the origin of the racehorse training associated with nearby Middleham. Despite this, Jervaulx’s sad fate was sealed during Henry’s reign.
Jervaulx’s last abbot called Adam de Sedbergh was executed at Tyburn in London for his part in the 1536 Catholic rebellion against King Henry called the Pilgrimage of Grace. The Dissolution of the monasteries took place two years later and Jervaulx’s history was brought to an end.
Thornton Steward to Crakehall
East of the villages of Wensley, Coverham, Middleham and Leyburn, the valley of the Ure that forms Wensleydale increasingly broadens out into gentler undulating scenery as the valley begins to approach the neighbouring Vale of Mowbray and Vale of York to the east and south east.
To the north is Richmond at the eastern end of Swaledale with Catterick village, also on the Swale, to Richmond’s east. The use of the terms ‘Wensleydale’ and ‘Swaledale’ is debatable as we reach these easterly parts of the Ure and Swale.
Villages between the two rivers, north of the Ure and south and west of the Swale could be assigned to one valley or another by determining the eventual destiny of the neighbouring streams on which they are situated. Some villages that lie on or close to becks feeding the River Swale such as the Leeming Beck are geographically closer to the River Ure and we will include them here. Such villages include Constable Burton and Finghall to the east of Leyburn.
North of Constable Burton are East Hauxwell, Hunton and Arrathorne which are roughly half way between the two rivers with the Swale to their north. The Swale itself takes on a south-easterly course after passing east of Catterick village and from here onwards the river lies beyond the A1(M) to the east near Northallerton and Thirsk.
However, Thornton Steward, just across the River Ure from Jervaulx, firmly belongs to the River Ure valley and is situated just north of the river. There is no direct link across the Ure to Thornton Steward from Jervaulx but Thornton Steward can be reached via Kilgram Bridge, a mile or so to the east of the abbey.
The six-arched bridge at Kilgram was mentioned by John Leland, the historian who lived at the time of Henry VIII. It is named from Kelgrimhou, a place first recorded in 1228. Kelgrimhou meant the mound belonging to someone called, Kelgrim which is an Old Norse personal name.
Before the Norman Conquest the manor of Thornton Steward (Tornetune) belonged to Gospatric, ‘The Dane’ but by the twelfth century its tenant was Wymar, a steward of Alan, the Earl of Richmond. Wymar is thought to be the ‘Steward’ commemorated in the name of the place which was a necessary suffix that distinguished this Thornton from several other places called Thornton in Yorkshire.
Later land owners here included Matthew Thornton in the 1250s who was named from the place. The monks of Jervaulx were recorded as holding land here in 1289. Buildings in the village include an old manor house at the western end; an old school house; a vicarage and a castellated nineteenth century house called Fort Horn that was built by a local eccentric called Captain Horn.
Thornton Steward’s parish church, dedicated to St Oswald, lies in an isolated location west of the village. A little to the west of the church is Danby Hall near the site of the deserted medieval village of Danby that seems to have been closely associated with Thornton Steward. As a village Danby disappeared from the records around 1377. Danby Hall incorporates part of a defended pele tower dating from the fourteenth or fifteenth century.
North of Thornton Steward is Thornton Steward Reservoir which is home to to Thornton Steward Sailing Club. The reservoir supplies drinking water to Thirsk, Northallerton, Swaledale and Wensleydale.
About a mile north of Thornton Steward towards Constable Burton is the farmstead of Hutton Hang with the village of Finghall to its north east. Hutton Hang lies close to a hill called Hang Bank which was the meeting place for the Wapentake of Hang.
Hang wapentake encompassed the whole valley of the River Ure (Wensleydale) and the south side of Swaledale but was divided into the Wapentakes of Hang East and Hang West in the thirteenth century. Hang East encompassed the Masham, Bedale and Catterick areas.
Despite its proximity to the Hang wapentake meeting place, the peculiar and disputed name Finghall does not, according to place-name scholars, seem to have its roots as a ‘thing’ (þing) which is a term that usually donates a Viking meeting point or assembly place for local rule and law. The suggestion instead, is that the place-name Finghall incorporates a personal name, possibly Fin, so that Finghall means ‘nook of land belonging to Fin’ rather than being a ‘þing vollr’ (or ‘thingwall’) meaning ‘assembly field’.
North of Finghall is the village of Constable Burton. ‘Constable’ was added to this village name in medieval times to distinguish it from other places called Burton in much the same way as ‘Steward’ was added to Thornton Steward to distinguish it from other Thorntons.
The village of Constable Burton belonged to the constable of Count Alan of Richmond at around the same time Thornton Steward belonged to Count Alan’s steward. To the north of Constable Burton is the beautiful Palladian style Georgian house called Constable Burton Hall and its associated grounds.
Built by the York architect John Carr in 1762-68 for Sir Marmaduke Arty Wyvill, the house is still in the possession of the Wyvill family. Constable Burton Hall should not be confused with the better-known Burton Constable Hall near Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
North of Constable Burton is West Hauxwell, where there is no actual village but there is a Georgian house called Hauxwell Hall associated with the Dalton family and nearby is the Norman church of St Oswald. North and slightly to the east, is the actual village of East Hauxwell, with Catterick Garrison and Scotton to its north. Hauxwell means ‘Hawk’s Well’ and is likely from a personal name rather than the bird of prey. In later medieval times the surname Hauxwell originated from this place.
To the north east of Constable Burton are the villages of Hunton and Arrathorne and to the east of Constable Burton is Akebar. Hunton is an Old English (or ‘Anglo-Saxon’) place-name meaning ‘Huna’s Farm’. Akebar or Aikber, to give the correct old name for the nearby farm, is derived from ‘aeki-berg’ meaning ‘oak hill’. This is an Old English place-name that has been subjected to Scandinavian interpretation.
Near the entrance to the Akebar Park caravan park, is a small collection of seemingly ancient ruins that look like the remains of a monastery, friary, or something similar. In fact they are a folly and were only built in 1981 for the then owner of the caravan park.
Near the southern edge of Akebar Park is St Andrew’s church, the eleventh century parish church for the village of Finghall, which is just to the south west. A ninth century cross head is built into the chancel, probably from an earlier church on the site.
Arrathorne was the ‘erg-thorn’, meaning ‘shelter near the thorn’ bushes. The ‘erg’ (airgh) part of the name is a Hiberno-Norse or Norse-Gaelic word for a shieling or shelter.
Judging from place-names there seems to have been some significant ‘Hiberno-Norse’ or Norse Gael (Irish-Viking) influence in these northerly parts of Yorkshire. Other places that reveal this influence include Melsonby near Scotch Corner and Gatenby and Irby Manor near Northallerton. The first two places feature Norse-Gael personal names Maelsuithan and Gaither, while Irby Manor is a Viking place-name meaning ‘Irishmen’s farm’. Patrick Brompton to the east, can also be added to this list of local Hiberno-Norse influenced place-names.
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