Thwaite is a small village in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

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 is in Swaledale and is part of 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 Muker. The village lies on the B6270 road that runs through Swaledale from east to west and is west of Reeth. The name "Thwaite" comes 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 ...

wor
þveit
meaning 'clearing, meadow or paddock'. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of

Richmondshire {{Infobox settlement , name = Richmondshire District , type = Non-metropolitan district , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_blank_emblem= Richmondshire arms.png , blank_em ...

, it is now administered by the unitary

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

History

The village was the home and birthplace of Richard and Cherry Kearton, who were pioneers in wildlife photography at the end of the 19th century. The Kearton name lives on in the Kearton tea rooms and guesthouse in the centre of the village and the Kearton Country Hotel. Local legend has it that the bridge over Thwaite Beck, was washed away during a fierce thunderstorm in the late 19th century. No-one was injured but a pig, that was taken by the waters, managed to climb out of the beck further downstream. A flash flood did hit the village in 1899, which resulted in the destruction of some outbuildings and gardens. Due to the de-population of Thwaite at that time (because of the decline in the mining industry) many of the structures were not repaired. Thwaite has two long-distance walking paths running through it: the Coast to Coast and the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

. There are two parts to the Coast to Coast; one that goes north of Thwaite and across the hills to Reeth and the other goes through the village and across the valley floor. The Herriot Way also runs through the village, which as it passes through Thwaite, is on the same course as the Pennine Way.

Aircraft crash

On the 28 January 1943, a Handley Page Halifax of No. 1659 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF (HCU), crashed on the eastern side of Great Shunner Fell. All crew were rescued from the aircraft by Sergeant C L Pudney, although 3 later died of their wounds. After rescuing his crew, Sgt Pudney trekked the into Thwaite to raise the alarm. Whilst Sgt Pudney was awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically ...

for his heroic actions, he was unable to receive the award as he was killed when the No. 405 RCAF Squadron Halifax he was flying in was struck by lightning and crashed at

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

on the 13 June 1943.

Thwaite in popular culture

Thwaite has been cited as the setting of Misselthwaite Manor in the book ''

The Secret Garden ''The Secret Garden'' is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in ''The American Magazine'' (November 1910 – August 1911). Set in England, it is seen as a classic of English c ...

'' by

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (1886), ''A Little Princess'' (1905), a ...

. However, in the book ''Space and Place in Children's Literature'' it states that the ''Thwaite'' in the book bears no relation to Thwaite in North Yorkshire. Thwaite is a Viking city in the 1996 game Civilization II.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Swaledale