Dent is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It lies in Dentdale, a narrow valley on the western slopes of the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, south east of Sedbergh and north east of Kirkby Lonsdale. At the 2011 census, Dent and Middleton had a total population of 785.

History

Historically, Dent was part of the

Ewecross The historical area of Ewecross or Ewcross is a district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It included the parishes of Bentham, Clapham, Horton in Ribblesdale and Sedbergh and parts of Thornton in Lonsdale. Ewcross was split from the S ...

wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire. From 1894 to 1974 it was part of

Sedbergh Rural District Sedbergh Rural District was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire in England from 1894 to its abolition in 1974. The district consisted of the three parishes of Sedbergh, Garsdale and Dent. In 1974 the district became part of the So ...

. In 1974 it became part of the new county of Cumbria. The origin of the name is debated. Older forms include ''Denet'' (1200). It may have been taken from the hill now known as Dent Crag (2,250 ft), to be compared with another hill named Dent near Cleator in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, in which case it would derive from a pre-English

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

term related to Old Irish ''dinn, dind'' "a hill". Alternative derivations see the name preserving the memory of the

dark age The ''Dark Ages'' is a term for the Early Middle Ages, or occasionally the entire Middle Ages, in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that characterises it as marked by economic, intellectual and cultural decline. The conce ...

kingdom known in Latin as ''Regione Dunutinga'', founded and named after King Dunot the Great of the North Pennines. Both place name and dialect evidence indicate that this area was settled by the Norse in the

10th century The 10th century was the period from 901 ( CMI) through 1000 ( M) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the last century of the 1st millennium. In China the Song dynasty was established. The Muslim World experienced a cultural zenith, ...

. Geoffrey Hodgson, in 2008, argued that this invasion accounts for the high frequency of the Hodgson surname in the area. Dent was the birthplace of Thomas de Dent, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, in the early

14th century As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 ( MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and n ...

. Dent was the birthplace of the geologist

Adam Sedgwick Adam Sedgwick (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did on W ...

in 1785. Dentdale was one of the last Yorkshire Dales to be enclosed, Dent's Enclosure Award being made in 1859. Whilst fishing on the Dee at Dentdale in the 1840s, William Armstrong saw a waterwheel in action, supplying power to a marble quarry. It struck Armstrong that much of the available power was being wasted and it inspired him to design a successful hydraulic engine which began the accumulation of his wealth and industrial empire. Dent, then in Yorkshire, was one of the sites for the Survey of English Dialects in the 1950s. A recording of the broadest local speec
is available
on the British Library's website.

Governance

Dent is part of the

Westmorland and Lonsdale Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

parliamentary constituency, of which Tim Farron is the current MP representing the Liberal Democrats. Before Brexit for the European Parliament its residents voted to elect

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

's for the

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

constituency.

The village today

The Dent Brewery is an independent

microbrewery Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

in Cowgill, just above Dent. Dent was the original site of the Dent Folk Festival and is now the site of the Dent Music and Beer Festival at the end of June. The first event was held in 2009 and was hailed as a great success.

Dent railway station Dent is a railway station on the Settle and Carlisle Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of Leeds, serves the villages of Cowgill and Dent, South Lakeland in Cumbria, England. It is owned by Network Rail and ...

on the

Settle and Carlisle Railway Settle or SETTLE may refer to: Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania * ''S ...

is about above the village at Denthead. Despite its name, it is actually in Cowgill. Nearby, the railway goes over a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

. It is the highest mainline station in England at 1150 feet above sea level. The

long distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exc ...

the Dales Way passes through Dent, with various types of accommodation available to walkers.Accommodation on the Dales Way
/ref>

The parish

The parish of Dent includes the whole of Dentdale and the side valley of Deepdale. In addition to the village of Dent settlements in the parish includes the hamlets of Lenacre,

Gawthrop Gawthrop is a hamlet in the South Lakeland district, in the county of Cumbria, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is near the River Dee and the village of Dent Dent m ...

, Cowgill and Stone House.

References

External links