Ben Rhydding is a village in the

City of Bradford The City of Bradford () is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a large area which includes the towns and v ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. It is part of the

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

urban area and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

. The village is situated on a north-facing valley side beneath the Cow and Calf rocks and above and to the south of the

River Wharfe The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale ...

. It was in the historic

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

History

The village's former name was Wheatley. In the 19th century it was noted for its

hydropathic establishment Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The te ...

that opened on 29 March 1844Durie, Alastair J ''Water is best: the hydros and health tourism in Scotland 1840-1940'' (John Donald, 2006) p.14 at a cost of £30,000. It was the third major hydropathic establishment in England, "perhaps the most deeply respected and certainly the longest-lived".Price, R. (1981), pp.273-74 ''Ben Rhydding'', the name given to the establishment, also given to the railway station built to serve it and by which the village subsequently became known, is allegedly the ancient name of the uplands above Wheatley. In a 1900 history of Upper Wharfedale, a footnote describes the circumstances, citing Collyer's ''History of Ilkley'':

Amenities

Ben Rhydding is served by a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

, public house, two petrol stations, two churches and local shops but relying on nearby

for shopping and civic facilities. Ben Rhydding Hockey Club are located at Countances Way, with Men's and Women's teams competing in the

England Hockey England Hockey is the national governing body for the sport of field hockey in England. There are separate governing bodies for the sport in the other parts of the United Kingdom. History and organisation England Hockey was formed on 1 January ...

leagues.

Location grid

References

External links

Conservation Area Assessment
for Ben Rhydding, dated 2003, from the

Metropolitan District Council *
Memorials from Ben Rhydding
', by

John Pringle Nichol John Pringle Nichol FRSE FRAS (13 January 1804 – 19 September 1859) was a Scottish educator, phrenologist, astronomer and economist who did much to popularise astronomy in a manner that appealed to nineteenth century tastes. Early life Born a ...

, published by Charles Gilpin, 1852 *
Ben Rhydding: the principles of hydropathy and the compressed air bath
', by 'A graduate of the Edinburgh university', published by Hamilton Adams & Co, 1858
Ben Rhydding
described in ''Black's Picturesque Tourist of Scotland'', 1861, from

Google Book Search Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

''Ben Rhydding: the Asclepia of England''
by Rev. R. Woodrow Thomson, published by John Shuttleworth, 1862 * . {{authority control Villages in West Yorkshire Wharfedale Geography of the City of Bradford Ilkley

History

Amenities

Location grid

See also

References

External links