Smelthouses is a hamlet in

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 ...

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. It lies about south-east 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 either side of Fell Beck, a small tributary of the

River Nidd The River Nidd is a tributary of the River Ouse in the English county of North Yorkshire. It rises in Nidderdale at Nidd Head Spring on the slopes of Great Whernside. In its first few miles it has been dammed three times, creating Angram Rese ...

. Fell Beck here forms the boundary between the civil parishes of

Hartwith cum Winsley Hartwith cum Winsley is a civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. Historically it was a Township (England), township in the ancient parish of Kirkby Malzeard in the West Riding of Yorkshire, a detached part of that parish. It ...

and High and Low Bishopside, so that the settlement is divided between the two parishes. In the Middle Ages Fell Beck was the boundary between the lands of the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

(which became High and Low Bishopside) and the manor of Brimham held by

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 ...

(which became Hartwith cum Winsley). Fountains Abbey had a

grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * The Grange (Toronto), Toronto, Ontario, built in 1817 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to ...

at Wyse Ing at what is now Smelthouses. By the middle of the 15th century the abbey had a bellows-blown lead smelting mill there, which gave its name to the hamlet, but there is no record of its use in the 16th century or at the dissolution of the abbey. In 1795 a flax-spinning mill was started on the west side of the beck at Smelthouses. The mill flourished in the 19th century, but was burned down in 1890. In the early 20th century there was a rope and twine business at Little Mill in Smelthouses. A

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

chapel was opened at Smelthouses in 1841 to serve the industrial hamlet. It was replaced by a chapel at Wilsill in 1897. The road from Pateley Bridge to

Knaresborough Knaresborough ( ) is a market and spa town and civil parish on the River Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. It is east of Harrogate and was in the Borough of Harrogate until April 2023. History The Knaresborough Hoard, the largest hoard of ...

historically passed through Smelthouses. Under an Act of Parliament of 1759 a

turnpike trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road toll road, tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Kingdom of Great Britain, Britain from the 17th ...

was formed to build a new toll road on the route. In 1761 the trust built a new bridge over Fell Beck at Smelthouses, and rebuilt it in 1802. The bridge is now a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. However the route was abandoned as a turnpike in 1828, when the trust diverted the route to a new line from Wilsill to Burnt Yates via Summerbridge, now followed by the B6165.

Notable locals

* Catherine Bennett, journalist

References

{{Reflist Nidderdale Hamlets in North Yorkshire

Notable locals

See also

References