Keld is a village in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county 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 ...

. It is in

Swaledale Swaledale is one of the northernmost dales (valleys) in Yorkshire Dales National Park, located in northern England. It is the dale of the River Swale on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire. Geographical overview Swaledale runs ...

, in the district of

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

and the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...

National Park. The name derives from the Viking word ''Kelda'' meaning a spring and the village was once called ''Appletre Kelde'' – the spring near the apple trees. Keld is the crossing point of the

Coast to Coast Walk The Coast to Coast Walk is a long-distance footpath between the west and east coasts of Northern England, nominally long. Devised by Alfred Wainwright, it passes through three contrasting national parks: the Lake District National Park, th ...

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 ...

long-distance footpaths at the head of

, and marks the end of the Swale Trail, a 20 km mountain bike trail which starts in

Reeth Reeth is a village west of Richmond in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, in the civil parish of Reeth, Fremington and Healaugh. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is the principal settlement of uppe ...

. At the height of the lead-mining industry in Swaledale in the late 19th century, several notable buildings – now Grade II listed – were erected: they include the Congregational and Methodist chapels, the school and the Literary Institute. A tea room and small shop operate at Park Lodge from Easter to autumn. Out of season, local volunteers provide a self service café for visitors in the village’s Public Hall. Keld’s

Youth Hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

closed in 2008 and has since reopened as Keld Lodge, a hotel with bar and restaurant. There is a series of four waterfalls close to Keld in a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

gorge on the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley through which it flows. Th ...

Kisdon Force Kisdon Force is a series of waterfalls on the River Swale in Swaledale, England. The falls are situated within the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the county of North Yorkshire, 500 metres downstream from the small hamlet of Keld at grid refe ...

East Gill Force East Gill Force is a waterfall in Swaledale, east of the hamlet of Keld, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, North Yorkshire, England. The falls are located on East Gill at grid reference , just before its confluence with the River Swale a ...

Catrake Force Catrake Force is a waterfall on the River Swale in North Yorkshire, England. It is not visible from the road but is accessible via a campsite in Keld. It comprises a series of four steps, each its own small waterfall, and each with a very diffe ...

and

Wain Wath Force Wain Wath Force is a waterfall on the River Swale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, North Yorkshire, England. The falls are at grid reference , upstream from the hamlet of Keld which has three other waterfalls in its vicinity ( Kisdon For ...

Keld Resource Centre

The Keld Resource Centre, a local charity, is restoring a series of listed buildings in the village centre and returning them to community use. The first phase involved restoring the Manse, the minister's house attached to the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

, which was completed in 2009 and is now used as a holiday cottage, proceeds from which support the Centre's work. In 2010 the Centre created the Keld Well-being Garden in the chapel churchyard. It provides a quiet spot for visitors to contemplate their well-being in the beautiful natural environment of Upper Swaledale. The Keld Countryside and Heritage Centre opened in 2011; it provides interpretation of the countryside, buildings and social history of Keld, and displays of artefacts relevant to Upper Swaledale. It is open throughout the year, operating alongside The Upper Room which is used for meetings, exhibitions, workshops and social events. A range of guided walks, exhibitions, talks and other activities take place during the summer months. Further projects will involve restoring Keld’s former school.

Crackpot Hall

The ruins of Crackpot Hall lie about a mile east of Keld on the northern slope of the dale at . There may have been a building on this site since the 16th century when a hunting lodge was maintained for Thomas, the first Baron Wharton, who visited the Dale occasionally to shoot the

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

. Survey work by the

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England covering most of the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the park is in North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Westmorland (Cumbria) and a small part in Lancashire. The park was designat ...

has shown that the building has changed many times over the years. At one time it even had a heather or "ling" thatched roof. CrackpotHallAndSwaledale(GordonHatton)Oct2003

CrackpotHallAndSwaledale(GordonHatton)Oct2003

The current ruin is of a farmhouse dating from the mid 18th century. It was an impressive two-storey building with 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. ...

roof and matching "shippons" or cowsheds at each end for animals. The building may also have been used as mine offices, as intensive lead mining was carried out in the area, and there were violent disputes over mine boundaries in the 18th century. In the 1930s

Ella Pontefract Ella Pontefract (1896 – 23 February 1945) was the writer of six books on the social history of the Yorkshire Dales related to disappearing rural traditions. Pontefract and her partner Marie Hartley developed a rigorous transcription method f ...

and

Marie Hartley Marie Hartley (29 September 1905 – 10 May 2006) was writer or co-writer and illustrator of some 40 books on the social history of the Yorkshire Dales. Life Hartley was born into a prosperous family of wool merchants at Morley, near Leeds. ...

wrote of a wild 4-year-old child named Alice. On 7 November 2015, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a documentary about the story in the ''Between the Ears'' strand titled ''Alice at Crackpot Hall''. The current building was abandoned in the 1950s because of

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...

. Crackpot Hall has been saved from further decay by Gunnerside Estate with the aid of grants from the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

through the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. The name ''Crackpot'' is said to mean "a deep hole or chasm that is a haunt of crows".

References

External links

Keld Lodge
{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Swaledale