Greenhow is a village 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, often referred to as Greenhow Hill. The term ''how'' derives from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

word ''haugr'' meaning a hill and a mound, so Greenhow literally means 'Green's hill or mound'.

History

The village is about west of

Pateley Bridge Pateley Bridge (known locally as Pateley) is a market town in the civil parish of High and Low Bishopside, in Nidderdale, in the county and district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies on the ...

on the road heading towards Grassington, and is mainly in the

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Bewerley. However, the western end of the village lying to the west of Kell Dyke, commonly known as Craven Cross, lies within the civil parish of

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 ...

. It is one of the highest villages in Yorkshire, at an altitude of between , and one of the few villages in the United Kingdom lying at over . Greenhow is an old mining village that was a major supplier of

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

. Sir John Yorke disputed the rights to the mines at "Grenhow" and "Grenehosyke" with Thomas Proctor in 1549. Sir Stephen Proctor bought the Manor of Bewerley, including the mineral rights in 1597. He was also responsible, as part of a settlement with John Armitage over disputed land, for the founding of the actual village of Greenhow. Before this date, the only settlement recorded on the Hill itself was Kell House, where monks of

Fountains Abbey Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercians, Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operat ...

lived while guarding the abbey's lead interests. In 1613, an agreement sought to protect the Greenhow miners' rights: "…there may be cottages erected for the miners and mineral workmen upon the said waste … and also for the keeping of draught oxen and horses for the maintenance of the mines, always leaving the tenants sufficient common". Joseph Kipling, the grandfather of

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

, was the minister at the Methodist Chapel at Greenhow and Rudyard himself is known to have visited the village. There is a 'Kiplings Cottage' next door to the Miners Arms, but it is not known whether his grandfather actually lived there. The church in the village (St Mary's) is reputedly the highest parish church in England still in use, though services are now only fortnightly on Sunday evenings plus major feast times.

Coldstones Quarry

To the east of the village is Coldstones Quarry, operated by Hanson. The quarry is unusual in that it is located on high ground and is not easy to observe from above like most other quarries in the Yorkshire Dales. The quarry produces of limestone aggregate per year, with most being used in West and North Yorkshire. Small amounts of

fluorspar Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs scal ...

are also won from the limestone which is sent to Derbyshire for processing. A large public artwork, ''The Coldstones Cut'', created by the artist Andrew Sabin, was opened in 2010 and received the 2011 Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.

Greenhow Hill

The name ''Greenhow Hill'' is also applied to a section of the B6265 road which runs between Pateley Bridge and Grassington through the village of Greenhow. The road has a very steep descent into Pateley Bridge from Greenhow (between 16 and 19%) and has been the setting for many accidents, especially for people on bicycles. This stretch of road is very popular with cyclists; it was part of the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire and is part of the Way of the Roses bike trail. Greenhow Hill () is also the summit point between

Nidderdale Nidderdale, historically also known as Netherdale, is one of the Yorkshire Dales (although outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park) in North Yorkshire, England. It is the upper valley of the River Nidd, which flows east from its source, the ...

to the east and

Wharfedale Wharfedale ( ) is one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated at source in North Yorkshire and then flows into West Yorkshire and forms the upper valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale (downstream, from west to east) includ ...

to the west.

Gallery

File:Greenhow Hill at Toft Gate - geograph.org.uk - 51396.jpg, Greenhow Hill, at Toft Gate, looking eastwards. Pateley Bridge is down in the valley out of view. File:greenhow village 2003.jpg, Greenhow Village 2003 File:Greenhow hill top.jpg, Greenhow Hill summit File:sunvein08.jpg, Lead Workings on Sun Vein

References

Bibliography

* Blackah, Thomas, ''Songs & Poems written in the Nidderdale Dialect'' (1867) * Blackah, Thomas, ''Dialect Poems & Prose (compiled by Harald Bruff)'' (1937) * Bruff, Harald J.L. ''T'ill an' T'oade uns upuv Greenho'' (1920) * Bruff, Harald J.L. ''T' Miners. Character sketches of old Yorkshire Lead Miners'' (1924) * Dunham, Sir Kingsley & Wilson, Albert A, ''Geology of the Northern Pennine Orefield, Vol 2 Stainmore to Craven'' (1980) * * Grainge, William, ''Nidderdale'' (1862) * * Jennings, Bernard (Ed), ''A History of Nidderdale'' (1983) * Weatherhead, W. ''History of Netherdale'' (1839)

External links

Greenhow Hill Website

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Nidderdale Bewerley