Widdale is a small side dale on the south side of

Wensleydale Wensleydale is a valley in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Dales, which are part of the Pennines. The Dale (landform), dale is named after the village of Wensley, North Yorkshire, Wensley, formerly the valley's market tow ...

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. The dale lies to the east of Great Knoutberry Hill (also known as Widdale Fell) and is bounded on the west by

Dentdale Dentdale is a Dale (landform), dale or valley in the north-west of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in Cumbria, England. It is the valley of the River Dee (Lune), River Dee, but takes its name from the village of Dent, South Lakeland, Dent. Th ...

, south by

Sleddale Sleddale is a short, narrow valley to the south of Wensleydale in North Yorkshire, England. The waters draining down the valley feed into the River Ure and form part of the Humber Catchment. The valley has only one settlement, Gayle, although H ...

and north by Mossdale. It is drained by Widdale and Snaizeholme Becks which feed the waters north into the

River Ure The River Ure in North Yorkshire, England, is about long from its source to the point where it becomes the River Ouse. It is the principal river of Wensleydale, which is the only major dale now named after a village rather than its river. ...

at Appersett. The name Widdale means 'The Wooded Valley' in

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 ...

. The dale itself is long from Newby Head Moss in the south west to Appersett in the north east. The B6255 road (which was once a turnpike) traverses much of the dale but veers off about south of Appersett to go directly east into

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a tourist attraction in the Yorks ...

. There is a minor road (Lanacar Lane) which connects the B6255 to the

A684 road The A684 is an A road that runs through Cumbria and North Yorkshire, starting at Kendal, Cumbria and ending at Ellerbeck and the A19 road in North Yorkshire. It crosses the full width of the Yorkshire Dales, passing through Garsdale and the f ...

at Appersett, but this is narrow with a height restriction under Appersett viaduct. Appersett viaduct itself used to carry the railway through Wensleydale and was closed to railway traffic in 1958. Abseilers use the viaduct at present, but the

Wensleydale Railway The Wensleydale Railway is a heritage railway in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England. It was built in stages by different railway companies and originally extended to Garsdale railway station on the Settle-Carlisle line ...

have an ambition to re-open the line all the way to

Garsdale Garsdale is a dale in the south-east of Cumbria, England. It lies within the Westmorland and Furness local government district and in the Yorkshire Dales National Park for planning purposes; it was historically a part of the West Riding of ...

. The southern edge of the dale that carries Snaizeholme Beck is also designated as a red squirrel reserve. Transport is laid on by arrangement from Hawes to drop people off at the edge of the reserve. Apart from Appersett (which only has 23 dwellings) there are no villages or hamlets in the dale. There are a few homesteads and farms scattered around the dale though.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Widdale Yorkshire Dales Wensleydale