Meet the Dales

The Yorkshire Dales National Park comprise's of 25 Major Dales & 34 Smaller Dales all within it's new boundaries. CLICK >> on your favourite dales and view our stunning collection of photographs. Just sit back relax and enjoy admiring the view..... We have helped out by producing a webpage of our 'recommendations' of where to Stay, Play, Eat and Drink when in the Yorkshire Dales.

CLICK here >> Destination Dales

1931: A National Park in the Yorkshire Dales was first suggested by planners, but to include only the Craven district and part of Swaledale. However, the idea of National Parks in England and Wales was put on hold because of economic problems and then the Second World War.

1945: Ilkley-born architect John Dower, who was appointed by the Government to assess which areas were in need of protection, produced a report recommending the establishment of National Parks.

1949: The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was passed. The Peak District was the first park to be established, followed by the Lake District, Snowdonia, Dartmoor, PembrokeshireCoast, North York Moors and Exmoor.

1952: The new National Parks Commission visited the Yorkshire Dales to determine which areas should be included in the proposed park.

1954: Following opposition from councils and others a public inquiry was held. The inspector rejected objections and an order creating the establishment of the National Park was confirmed.

1954: YDNP came into being on November 16th

1957: To begin with, the park was run by two committees, one for the West Riding and one for the North Riding, but these were now co-ordinated with a Joint Advisory Committee. A token arrangement, said critics.

1963: Wilf Proctor appointed as the first warden by the West Riding. Two years later he began recruiting voluntary wardens.

1964: Norman Crossley was appointed warden for the North Riding. There were 400 applicants.

1968: The old Reading Room at Clapham became the first National Park Information Centre.

1974: From April 1 the park came within the new North Yorkshire Council and smaller parts in Cumbria. A National Park Officer and other staff were appointed, and central government now paid 75 per cent of funding.

1981: In October the inaugural meeting of the Yorkshire Dales Society, set up to ensure that the park’s users had a stronger voice, took place at Buckden in Wharfedale.

1997: The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority established with its own administration, finances and legal services working from new offices at Bainbridge in Wensleydale.

2005: Following the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000, the Yorkshire Dales was finally declared “open” for public access. Previously only four per cent of land had public access, but now the figure was 62 per cent.

2016: On the 1st August the National Park extends its boundaries to the West increasing it from 680 to 841 sq miles.

Most of the Dales were named after rivers that flow through them, accept Wensleydale which is named after the town Wensley and the river is named the river Ure.

Became a National Park on the 16th November 1954

Extented 1st August 2016

Spa towns were Settle, Skipton, Ilkley & Harrogate

There are approx. 5,300 miles (8,700 kilometres) of drystone walls within the National Park.

Yorkshire Dales National Park now covers 841 sq miles (from 1st August 2016)

Estimated 600,000 sheep in the YDNP

Attracts over 8 million visitor a year

60,000 people work & live in the dales

20,00 people work in the dales

A Dale is an open valley. The name is used when describing the physical geography of an area. It is used most frequently in the Lowlands of Scotland and in the North of England, where the term "fell" commonly refers to the mountains or hills that flank the dale.

The word Dale comes from the Old English word Dael, from which the word "dell" is also derived. It is also related to Old Norse word dalr (and the modern Icelandic word dalur), which may perhaps have influenced its survival in northern England. Dale is a synonym to the word valley, which entered the English language after the Norman Conquest. Norwegian towns frequently use this term: dalekvam, dale.

The Yorkshire pudding was ate as a 1st course filler for poor people to reduce their hunger for the meat course!

The 1st recorded recipe of Yorkshire Pudding was in 1737 when it was called 'A Dripping Pudding'

The Yorkshire Dales National Park has 23 mls of byways, 389 mls of bridleways & 906 miles of footpaths. All free!

In 2010 the Yorkshire Pudding was voted the most popular and successful export to come out of Yorkshire.

Aunt Bessie's is the world’s largest brand of frozen/ready to bake Yorkshire puddings. 20 million+ made per a week!

Aunt Bessie’s frozen Yorkshire puddings were originally created by the company for Butlins Holiday Camps in 1974

If your Yorkshire Pud is not 4” tall it is not a real Pud says the Royal Society for Advancing Chemical Sciences

From 1780 - 1820 the Enclosure Act led to the creation of the drystone walls which characterises the Yorkshire Dales

A fat rascal is a type of turf cake which originates from Yorkshire - it was a means of using leftover pastry

The Yorkshire Dales National Park has over 36% of Britain’s limestone pavement which includes the top of Malham Cove

Wensleydale is named after a small village rather than its river, in line with most other of the Yorkshire dales? Why isn't it known as Yoredale or Uredale? The reason is that the village of Wensley was once home to the only market in the upper dale, its market charter having been granted by Henry le Scrope, Chief Justice, in 1318. The village remained the hub of local trade until it was badly hit by the plague in 1563. So badly Wensley suffered that a local field called Chapel Hill was used for the burial of the victims in a plague pit, many of the surviving villagers fled to nearby Leyburn. The registers of the former parish church, Holy Trinity, record: The reason as some think that nothing is found written in this register in the year of our Lord God, 1563, is because in that year the visitation or plague was most fearful, so that many fled, and the town of Wensley, by reason of the sickness was unfrequented for a long season; as I found in one old writing dated 1569. Although Wensley eventually recovered, it caused the focus of trade to shift to Leyburn and then Hawes. 

Raydale

Semerwater in Raydale is Yorkshire's second largest natural lake after Malham Tarn. It covers 100 acres.

The River Bain in the Yorkshire Dales is England's shortest river at 2.5 miles. From Semerwater to the River Ure.

Semerwater in the Yorkshire Dales was the subject of a number of sketches and paintings by the artist J M W Turner

Ribblesdale
The 3 Peaks: Ingleborough 2373 feet, Whernside 2415 feet, Pen-y-Ghent 2273 feet

How did Ye Olde Naked Man Cafe, Settle, North Yorkshire get its name from a naked man

was buried underneath its building

The furthest peak visible from the top of Ingleborough Yorkshire Dales is Manod Mawr Snowdonia North Wales 103 miles

On a clear day 41 mountain peaks can be seen from the top of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales.

15th century St Oswald's Church in Horton-In-Ribblesdale is the most complete Norman church in the Yorkshire Dales

Prince Charles occasionally stays with friends near Garsdale station in the Yorkshire Dales

White Scar Caves under Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales are the longest show caves in Great Britain.

Winston Churchill used to stay at The Old Hill Inn Chapel Le Dale during hunting and fishing holidays

On top of Ingleborough, Yorkshire Dales is the remains of an old walled enclosure with foundations of Iron Age huts
 

Ribblehead Viaduct
The first stone to create Ribbleshead Viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales was laid on 12th Oct 1870 and the last in 1874

Ribbleshead Viaduct - 1.5 million bricks used in the construction. Some blocks weighed 8 tons.

Ribblehead Viaduct is 440 yds long, 104 ft high, 24 arches of 45 ft span & foundations 25 ft deep

The Viaduct was orginially planned to be built with 18 arches with longer embankments at either end. However, the embankments were proving to be too unstable and costly to build. So the Viaduct was redesigned to be constructed using 24 arches

In 1964 several new Humber cars carried on a freight train across Ribblehead Viaduct fell off landing on the ground below!

Horton in Ribblesdale railway station in the Yorkshire Dales won 'Best Kept Station' award for 17 consecutive years

One hundred navvies died during the construction of the Ribblehead Viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales

Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle line in the Yorkshire Dales was the last one to be built by navvies in the UK

1000 navvies building Ribblehead viaduct Yorkshire Dales created shanty towns nearby for themselves & their families

The Ribblehead viaduct on the Settle - Carlisle line is curved and so may be seen by passengers on the train.

Settle to Carlisle Railway
The Settle to Carlisle railway is 72 miles long, with 11 stations, 21 viaducts, 325 bridges, 14 tunnels & 103 culverts.

Dent Railway Station England’s highest mainline station at 1,150 feet above sea level.

At its peak Dent station in the Yorkshire Dales National Park saw 90 trains a day pass by.

Garsdale station in the Yorkshire Dales had the highest water troughs (above sea level) in the world for steam trains.

Between Horton & Ribblehead on the Settle to Carlisle line in the YorkshireDales the railway track climbs 200 ft in 5 mls

There are 11 stations along the 73 miles of the Settle to Carlisle railway

When built in 1800s Dent's Station master’s house on Settle-Carlisle line in the Yorkshire Dales had double glazing fitted

Blea Moor Tunnel on the Carlisle to Settle line North Yorkshire was built between 1870 - 1875. It is 2629 yds long.

Garsdale station's waiting room on the Settle - Carlisle line has been used in the past as both a Library & a Church

Settle railway station in North Yorkshire originally had a goods shed, weigh office, sidings and cattle dock

A total of 50,000 tons of stone was used to build Arten Gill Viaduct on the Settle - Carlisle line, Yorkshire Dales

Wharfedale

White Wells is a spa bath situated on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire. It was built in circ 1700 as an open air spa bath, later the baths were enclosed, Only a single plunge pool survives today inside the White Wells Spa Cottage.

Hendrix plays Ilkley! 12th March 1967 - Did you know that the legendary Jimi Hendrix once played a gig in Ilkley 12th March 1967 at the Troutbeck Hotel? As the gig heated-up, Ilkley policeman Tom Chapman decided enough was enough and stopped the gig. One boy in blue versus nearly a thousand Blues fans was never going to end well - and Hendrix just kept on playing. What happens next is unclear - some say there was a 'riot', others say people just went on their way. For his part, Tom Chapman denies there was big trouble.

The Craiglands in Ilkley Wharfedale was built in 1859 and was one of the largest and most finely situated purpose-built hydropathic establishments in the country. The first proprietors were the Dobson Brothers, one of the brothers being Dr Henry Dobson, a physician, who supervised all the treatments offered to patients. These included mustard pads, massage, and all the latest Turkish, Russian and Electro-Chemical baths. The systems, coupled with the "tonic" air from the moors had the effect of enhancing the popularity of this splendid hydro.

Barden Towers built in 15th century by Henry Clifford instead of living at SkiptonCastle, he preferred to live by the river.

Barden Tower was one of six hunting lodges and the principle seat of administration for Barden hunting forest. Henry Clifford, the Shepherd Lord, rebuilt the hunting lodge in the late 15thcentury and made it his principle residence. In 1515 he built the Priest House next to the chapel. Lady Anne Clifford restored Barden Tower in 1659. Surprisingly, it did not belong to her, but on her death it was returned to the rightful owners, The Earls of Cork. Sadly the building fell into decline in the late 18th century..

Bolton Abbey was built in 1154. In the 16th century the Abbey was ruined during Henry the 8th dissolution period in the 16th Century.

On August 28, 1888, Tom de Grey, the 6th Lord Walsingham, killed 1,070 grouse, shooting by himself, on Blubberhouses Moor. It’s often said that he undertook this feat because an invitation he had made to a VIP – reputed to be the Prince of Wales – had been turned down, because he thought that there were insufficient grouse on the moor to make the journey worthwhile.

The four reservoirs of the Washburn Valley. Thruscross Reservoir was opened 1966, Fewston Dam opened 1879, Swinsty Reservoir opened 1871 and Lindleywood Reservoir opened 1869.

Thruscross Reservoir - It’s strange to walk beside the calm surface of a reservoir, rippled only by swimming ducks, geese and the occasional rising trout, and remind yourself that beneath those 1,725 million gallons of cloud-reflecting water are the remains of a church, cottages, a school, country lanes and garden walls. If the average bath holds 50 gallons, then Thruscross approx 35,000,000 bath tubs full

Kilnsey Crag is 170 feet high.

900+ yr old Skipton Castle in North Yorkshire is one of the most complete & best preserved medieval castles in the whole of England

Skipton Castle was built in 1090 by Robert de Romille, a Norman baron. Preserved for over 900+ years

Original Burnsall bridge was built in 1609, repaired in 1884 after flood damage to what we see today - 5 arche style.

Reindeer fossils and the bones of wolverine and bison have been found at Stump Cross Caverns in the Yorkshire Dales

The caverns at Stump Cross North Yorkshire are located beneath Greenhow Hill & were formed around 500,000 yrs ago

Stump Cross Cavens opened in 1860, discovered whilst looking for lead seams Height above sea level approx 1500 feet

Stump Cross Caverns are beneath Greenhow Hill in the Yorkshire Dales which marked the limit of KnaresboroughForest

Rylstone Cross in the Yorkshire Dales was erected originally in 1885 to commemorate peace with the French. The original wooden cross was replaced with the existing stone one after a severe snow storm in 1947

Wharfedale in Yorkshire is the longest of all the Dales – 70 miles from Cam Fell to Cawood where it joins the Ouse.

At the Dissolution the nave of the priory church to Bolton Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales survived because is was used as the parish church

Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales has no Anglican church. It shares the C12th church at Linton with Threshfield & Hebden