Settle is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

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 ...

in the Craven district of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

, England.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

in the

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 ...

, it is served by

Settle railway station Settle is a railway station on the Settle and Carlisle Line, which runs between and via Settle. The station, situated north of Leeds, serves the market town of Settle, Craven in North Yorkshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and ma ...

located near the town centre, and

Giggleswick railway station Giggleswick is a railway station on the Bentham Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of Leeds, serves the market town of Settle and the village of Giggleswick in North Yorkshire. It is owned by Network Rail and ...

which is a mile away. It is from

Leeds Bradford Airport Leeds Bradford Airport is located in Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, about northwest of Leeds city centre, and about northeast from Bradford city centre. It serves Leeds and Bradford and the ...

. The main road through Settle is the B6480, which links to the A65, connecting Settle to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

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 ...

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the Riv ...

and

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of t ...

. The town had a population of 2,421 in the 2001 Census, increasing to 2,564 at the 2011 Census.

History

Settle is thought to have 7th-century Anglian origins, its name being the Angle word for settlement. Craven in the ''Domesday Book'' shows that until 1066 Bo was the lord of Settle but after the

Harrying of the North The Harrying of the North was a series of campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate northern England, where the presence of the last Wessex claimant, Edgar Ætheling, had encouraged Anglo- Danish re ...

(1069–1071) the land was granted to Roger de Poitou. In 1249 a market charter was granted to Henry de Percy, 7th feudal baron of Topcliffe by Henry III. A market square developed and the main route through the medieval town was aligned on an east-west direction, from Albert Hill, Victoria Street, High Street and Cheapside and on through Kirkgate. This road led to

Giggleswick Giggleswick, a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England, lies on the B6480 road, less than north-west of the town of Settle and divided from it by the River Ribble. It is the site of Giggleswick School ...

where the citizens attended the parish church. The first bridge over the

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea ...

was mentioned in 1498. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

, the Cliffords, the lords of the manor were Royalists, but their subjects were not. John Lambert of Calton in Malhamdale, was a general in Cromwell's army and his troops camped at Settle in August 1651 while on the road to an encounter in Lancaster.

Infrastructure

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

wrote "Settle is the capital of an isolated little kingdom of its own surrounded by barren hills."OCR copy by North Craven Historical Research
Accessed 30 September 2012 Because of its remoteness Settle saw mostly local commerce. The old roads were pack horse trails and drovers' roads along hilltops because the valley was soft and swampy before field drainage and the dredging of stream estuaries. In the 1700s textile industrialists supported by traders and landowners campaigned for a turnpike to connect with growing industrial towns. The minute book for the

Keighley and Kendal Turnpike The Keighley and Kendal Turnpike was a road built in 1753 by a turnpike trust between Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire and Kendal in Westmorland, England. The primary instigators were in Settle. The road followed a modified ancient r ...

Trust shows that most investors were mill owners from the Giggleswick district. In 1827 the trust, having miscalculated the cost of road maintenance, was in debt by £34,000. When in 1877 the trust was terminated, the investors received on average 54% of their deposit. The investors benefited because Settle was now well connected and its cotton mills boomed. The mill owners imported coal and, like the heavy industries that exported

agricultural lime Agricultural lime, also called aglime, agricultural limestone, garden lime or liming, is a soil additive made from pulverized limestone or chalk. The primary active component is calcium carbonate. Additional chemicals vary depending on the mineral ...

and sandstone

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

, welcomed the turnpike for access via carrier waggons to the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

at Gargrave. The first passenger

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

arrived in 1763. The Mail Coach was running regularly in 1786. The Union coach for passengers ran each way on alternate days in the early 1800s, and daily by 1840.

Railways

The "little" North Western Railway reached in 1847 and in 1849 the railway company constructed Station Road from Giggleswick to Settle. In 1875, the Settle to Carlisle Railway was built, opening to goods traffic in 1875 and to passengers the following year when

opened along with a goods warehouse, cattle pens, signal box and water cranes. In the late 18th century cotton spinning became the town's main employment. Bridge End Mill was converted from corn milling to cotton spinning. John Procter operated mills at Runley and King's Mill which were taken over by his son Thomas. He built the row of workers' cottages, Procter's Row in Lower Kirkgate. In 1835, Dog Kennel Mill and Brennand's Weaving Shed, Settle had five mills employing 333 people.

Governance

Settle is served by a town council made up of 11 councillors. The Mayor is elected annually and the current Town Mayor is Dan Balsamini currently serving his 4th year in the role having been re-elected in 2019, 2020 & 2021. The Deputy Mayor is Debbie Rymer first elected in 2021. Settle is in the Settle and Ribblebank ward of

Craven District Council Craven may refer to: * Craven in the Domesday Book, an area of Yorkshire, England, larger area than the district ** Craven District, a local government district of North Yorkshire formed in 1974 Places * Craven, New South Wales, Australia, see ...

. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 3,581. There are two councillors both representing the Conservative party. The town is in the Ribblesdale division of

, where it is represented by a Conservative councillor. It is twinned with the French

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

seaside town of Banyuls-sur-Mer.

Geography

Settle was part of the

. It is located in

Ribblesdale Ribblesdale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the dale or upper valley of the River Ribble in North Yorkshire. Towns and villages in Ribblesdale (downstream, from north to south) include Selside, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Stain ...

, at the southern edge of the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills rising from the Vale of York w ...

, within a few miles of the Three Peaks. Immediately overlooking the town is Castlebergh, a limestone crag, and to the east is Malham which was in the former Settle Rural District. The River Ribble provided power for Settle's former cotton mills, and is now being harnessed by

Settle Hydro Settle Hydro is a micro hydroelectric scheme, owned by the community, in Settle, North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the River Ribble, at Settle Weir near Bridge End Mill. It generates 50 kW of electricity using a screw turbine i ...

, a micro hydroelectric scheme, to provide 50 kW of power to the National Grid.

Television

Since the town is closest to the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

border, local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

that broadcast from

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Tourism

Settle's market is held weekly on Tuesdays in the town-centre marketplace and in the Victoria Hall, a short distance away on Kirkgate.

Settle Town Hall Settle Town Hall is a municipal building in Cheapside in Settle, North Yorkshire, England. The structure, which was the meeting place of Settle Rural District Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The town hall was commissioned by a ...

was sold by Craven District Council to a developer in October 2011. The Square is surrounded by local businesses, most of which are family-owned, with some offering items for sale unique to the Settle area. The Naked Man is believed to be the oldest cafe in the country. The Yorkshire Festival of Story brings internationally known and award-winning artists to the town and has a range of paid-for and free events suitable for all age ranges. The festival attracts visitors from around the world and audiences have more trebled in size since the first festival in 2010. The event is the largest of its kind in the North of England. The Yorkshire Festival of Story is produced by Settle Stories an arts and heritage charity based in the town. The Folly is a 17th-century Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

on the main street. In 1996 the North Craven Building Preservation Trust purchased part of the Folly, restored it and opened it to the public in 2001. The Folly houses the Museum of North Craven Life and hosts exhibitions during the open season. There are permanent displays, including the Settle to Carlisle Railway,

Robert (Mouseman) Thompson __NOTOC__ Robert (Mouseman) Thompson (7 May 1876 – 8 December 1955), also known as Mousey Thompson, was a British furniture maker. He was born and lived in Kilburn, North Yorkshire, England, where he set up a business manufacturing oak fur ...

furniture and local history. The rest of the building has been purchased by the trust. The museum is independent and run by volunteers. The Gallery on the Green is thought to be the smallest art gallery in the world: drawings, paintings, photographs and other works are housed in a former BT telephone kiosk. Gavagan Arts at Linton Court Gallery is situated in a courtyard off Duke Street. The gallery presents a series of temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. The Listening Gallery is an audio gallery in an old phone box. The gallery has changing exhibitions and is open 365 days a year and is free to enter. The box is maintained and was created by Settle Stories. The district has several caves where prehistoric remains have been found, the most notable being Victoria Cave, so-called because the inner chamber was discovered in 1837 on the day of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

's accession. The cave is a geological SSSI and scheduled monument. Victoria Cave contained fossil remains. The earliest, at 130,000 years old, include

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...

straight-tusked elephant The straight-tusked elephant (''Palaeoloxodon antiquus'') is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited Europe and Western Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene (781,000–30,000 years before present). Recovered individuals have re ...

cave bear The cave bear (''Ursus spelaeus'') is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word "cave" and the scientific name ...

and

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two exta ...

, '' Bos primigenius'', '' Rhinoceros leptorhinus'' and

spotted hyena The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...

s (as a bed of hyena bones). They date to an Upper

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

interglacial. After the last Ice Age the cave was used by hibernating

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is k ...

and

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...

. Associated with the later deposits were a harpoon head carved from antler;

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...

implements and other ornaments. The discovery of flint is noteworthy as it is not found naturally in the area. Craven Museum & Gallery in Skipton has an exhibition of items which includes a bear's skull found in one of the caves.

Cultural

The composer

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

visited Settle on many occasions to visit his friend Dr Charles William Buck. There is a blue plaque at Cravendale to commemorate this.Leeds Daily Photo
"Plaque to Edward Elgar English Composer"

Education

Settle has two schools, with Settle Primary School and

Settle College Settle College (formerly Settle High School and Settle Girls' High School) is an 11–18 mixed, community secondary school and sixth form in Giggleswick, Settle, North Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1907. It is a partner in 'The Th ...

. Settle Middle School closed as part of the money-saving measures taken by North Yorkshire County Council. To the west of the town is

Giggleswick School Giggleswick School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England. Early school In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior an ...

, one of the principal

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British En ...

s in the

North of England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

, founded in 1512.

Notable people

* Richard Bache (1737–1811), merchant, American Postmaster General and son-in-law of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

* George Birkbeck (1776–1841), founder of the Mechanics' Institutes;

Birkbeck, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

is named after him *Reverend

Benjamin Waugh Benjamin Waugh (20 February 183911 March 1908) was a Victorian social reformer and campaigner who founded the UK charity, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children ( NSPCC) in the late 19th century, and also wrote various ...

(1839–1908) founder of the NSPCC, commemorated by a plaque on what is now the Neil Wright Estate Agents in Settle town square *

George Howson George William Saul Howson MA (8 August 1860 – 7 January 1919) was an English schoolmaster and writer, notable as the reforming headmaster of Gresham's School from 1900 to 1919. Early life Howson was one of the four sons of William Howson of ...

(1860–1919), reforming headmaster * Francis Morphet Twisleton (1873–1917), military leader and letter writer *

Theodore Rigg Sir Theodore Rigg (6 April 1888 – 22 October 1972) was a New Zealand agricultural chemist and scientific administrator. He was born in Settle, Yorkshire, England in 1888. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Em ...

(1888–1972), agricultural chemist *

Annice Sidwells Annice Sidwells (1902–2001) was a star of early wireless radio in the UK as a contralto singer. Sidwells was born in Settle, West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, Engla ...

(1902–2001), radio singer * Claire Brooks (1931–2008), lawyer and politician * Don Wilson (1937–2012), England and Yorkshire cricketer * Susan Brookes (born circa 1943/44), television chef, born in Settle *

Mike Harding Mike Harding (born 23 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet, broadcaster and multi-instrumentalist. Harding has also been a photographer, traveller, filmmaker and playwright. Early life and education Harding's ...

(born 1944), singer and comedian * Emma Lonsdale (sportswoman – skiing) (born 1984), Winter Olympian 2014 * James Newman (born 1985), singer, songwriter and the representative for the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

* John Newman (born 1990), soul singer *Dr James Frederic Riley

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1912–1985) radiologist and finder of the link between mast cells and asthma *

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...

, guitarist from

Pulled Apart by Horses Pulled Apart by Horses are an English alternative rock band from Leeds. They formed in early 2008. The band were signed by Transgressive Records in 2009, and released their debut self-titled album '' Pulled Apart by Horses'' on 21 June 2010. I ...

attended Settle College

References

External links

Settle & the 3 Peaks History

Caves in the Settle area

Website for Settle Charter Market. Held on Tuesdays

North Craven Historical Research Group

Four town walks on history of Settle – Richard Preston and the Folly

Museum of North Craven Life at The Folly
{{Authority control Towns in North Yorkshire Market towns in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Craven District Ribblesdale