Booze is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Arkengarthdale Arkengarthdale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire, England. Running roughly north-west to south-east, it is the valley of the Arkle Beck, and is the northernmost of the Yorkshire Dales. It is a subsidiary ...

, in the

Richmondshire {{Infobox settlement , name = Richmondshire District , type = District , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_blank_emblem= Richmondshire arms.png , blank_emblem_type = Coat ...

district of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. It is about east of

Langthwaite Langthwaite is one of the few villages in Arkengarthdale, North Yorkshire, England. It is north of Reeth and sits above sea level. It is the main settlement in the dale and is one of the most northerly settlements in the whole of Yorkshire D ...

. There are 11 households in the hamlet. There is a

riding school An equestrian facility is created and maintained for the purpose of accommodating, training or competing equids, especially horses. Based on their use, they may be known as a barn, stables, or riding hall and may include commercial operations descr ...

nearby.

Name

The earliest record of the name is from 1473, in the form ''Bowehous''. The name is derived from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''boga'' 'bow' and ''hus'' 'house', and thus means 'house by the bow or curve'. The reference is possibly to the curved hill above Slei Gill and

Arkle Beck Arkle Beck is the stream running through the valley of Arkengarthdale in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is a tributary of the River Swale, which it joins just past Reeth at Grinton Bridge. The beck itself has several tributaries which include: ...

, on which the hamlet is situated.

History

The original community depended on hill farming and mining. The hamlet overlooks Slei Gill which contains several

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

mining levels. Following the collapse of the lead mining industry in North Yorkshire at the end of the 19th century one of the mines, the Booze Wood Level, continued to be used as a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

mine until the beginning of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

was mined on Fremington Edge, south of Booze, until the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The 1851 census counted 41 houses in Booze. A local tragedy occurred during the eighteenth century when a group of miners working underground near Boldershaw blasted into an underground lake. Twenty-four miners and two pit ponies were drowned in the flood that followed. Eighteen of the dead came from Booze. The vein became known as the Water Blast Vein. Modern researchers have failed to find any record of this event in

Parish records A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

, though an accident involving the death of three miners may have been the origins of this story.

Access

The only road access to Booze is by a steep and narrow single-track road from Langthwaite. In July 2008,

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

announced it was withdrawing postal services from the hamlet on health and safety grounds because access to it involves an "excessively steep" rural track. This left local families to make a one-hour round-trip into

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and back to collect their mail. Postal services to the hamlet were restored after North Yorkshire County Council made road improvements.

References

External links

*{{Genuki, county=NRY, Arkengarthdale, , Booze Hamlets in North Yorkshire Arkengarthdale