The River Dibb, also known as Barben Beck, is a river located in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is a tributary 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. ...

Grimwith Reservoir Grimwith Reservoir is located in the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It was originally built by the Bradford Corporation as one of eleven reservoirs in the Yorkshire Dales to supply fresh water to Bradford. It is the largest reserv ...

is at the head of the River Dibb at a point some from

Appletreewick Appletreewick (traditionally pronounced , ) is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England, north-east of Skipton, from Skipton railway station and from Leeds Bradford International Airport. Appletreewick is in Wharf ...

. The river flows for , and must maintain a flow of of water a day into the

system.

Toponymy

The name is possibly derived from the Olde English ''dib'', a dialectical form of ''dip'' meaning ''hollow'', or ''deep place pool''. The name of Dybb/Dibb is recorded in local 14th century records as ''Dybbe'', a now lost hamlet near

Burnsall Burnsall is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Wharfe in Wharfedale, and is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The village is approximately south-east from Grassington. It has ...

, where the people who lived there were lead miners.

Course

The river starts from the south side of Grimwith Reservoir and flows south-west through Burnett Fold Nook and then south before returning south-west to pass under the B6265 at Dibble's Bridge, which has been the scene of two coach crashes - one in 1925 when seven people were killed, and one in 1975 when 33 people were killed. Below its confluence with Holes Beck, the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

maps show the name of the river changing to Barben Beck. It follows a mostly southerly course through Rough Close Wood and Barnscar Plantation to Rookcroft Wood. It turns west through Sprinsgide Wood and then south-west again past Hartlington Mill, where it was once used to power a diameter undershot water wheel, and under Hartlington Bridge before joining the

. The river flows for largely over millstone grit, which overlays limestone and shales. A leat used to take water from a high point of the river (between the overflow of the reservoir and Dibbles Bridge) to a lead mine near to Barben Beck.

Ecology

The river is noted as having

white-clawed crayfish ''Austropotamobius pallipes'' is an endangered European freshwater crayfish, and the only crayfish native to the British Isles. Its common names include white-clawed crayfish and Atlantic stream crayfish. Distribution It is found from the easter ...

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

and

arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...

present. The arctic char were introduced into

from

Windermere Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...

in 1989, 1990, and 1991. Surveys detected the fish in the River Dibb in 1995 and 1998. In 2015,

Yorkshire Water Yorkshire Water is a British water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company ...

agreed to keep a constant flow in the river from Grimwith Reservoir. As the designation of Grimwith Reservoir is one of compensation when needed in times of low water flow in the Wharfe and beyond, the river historically could run dry, making it difficult for wildlife to survive in the river. Yorkshire Water are required to allow to flow into the River Wharfe from Grimwith Reservoir via the River Dibb on a daily basis.

Folklore

Dibble's Bridge is sometimes referred to as Devil's Bridge. It is traditionally said to have been built by the Devil for a shoemaker named Ralph Calvert, after Calvert offered the Devil a drink.

Lists

Tributaries

* Birsta Gill Dike * Stone Gill Dike * Holes Beck

Settlements

* Dibble's Bridge *

Hartlington Hartlington is a small village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the parish was around 50. Details are included in the civil parish of Hebden, North Yorkshire. It is under a mile ...

Crossings

* B6265 Dibble's Bridge *

Bridge

References

{{authority control Dibb