Holwick is a small village in

Teesdale Teesdale is a dale, or valley, in Northern England. The dale is in the River Tees’s drainage basin, most water flows stem from or converge into said river, including the Skerne and Leven. Upper Teesdale, more commonly just Teesdale, falls b ...

north-east England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...

. Located in the Pennine hills, it consists of a few houses spread along a road in the pattern of a linear settlement. As the population taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100, details are maintained in the parish of

Lunedale Lunedale is the dale, or valley, of the River Lune, on the east side of the Pennines in England, west of Middleton-in-Teesdale. Its principal settlements are Grassholme, Thringarth and Bowbank. Lunedale is also the name of a civil parish w ...

. Being south of the Tees, Holwick lies within the historic boundaries of the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used ...

, but along with the rest of the former

Startforth Rural District Startforth Rural District was a rural district in the North Riding of the historic county of Yorkshire in the Pennines of northern England. It was formed in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894. It constituted the part of the Teesdale ...

it was transferred to

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

for administrative and

ceremonial A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''. Church and civil (secular ...

purposes on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. In May 2013, the newly registered flag of the North Riding was first unveiled at the village, owed to it being one of the most northerly settlements in Yorkshire. It has a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, the ''Strathmore Arms'', and a campsite. Holwick sits not far from the south bank of the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has bee ...

, about 2 miles north-west of

Middleton-in-Teesdale Middleton-in-Teesdale is a market town in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the north side of Teesdale between Eggleston and Newbiggin, a few miles to the north-west of Barnard Castle. The settlement is surrounded by the North Pennin ...

and opposite Newbiggin, both villages on the other side of the river. Nearby are the High Force and

Low Force Low Force is an 18-foot (5.5m) high set of falls on the River Tees, England, UK. Further upstream is the High Force waterfall. Low Force is also the site of the Wynch Bridge, completed in 1830. It is suggested that only one person at a time shoul ...

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

s. The surrounding landscape is high

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generall ...

and

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

Geography and administration

Civic history

Holwick is part of the

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surr ...

parliamentary

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

, which is represented in

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

Dehenna Davison Dehenna Sheridan Davison (; born 27 July 1993) is a British Conservative Party politician and broadcaster serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up since September 2022. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for B ...

(

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

). The local

police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

force is

Durham Constabulary Durham Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing ceremonial county of County Durham in North East England. The force’s area is bordered by Cumbria Constabulary to the west, Cleveland Police to the south east, Nor ...

. Holwick is in the Wear and Tees division and its nearest police station is in Barnard Castle.

Location

* Grid reference: NY9026^* * Latitude and longitude: (54.64, −2.15) * Elevation: 270 m (885 feet) * Road access: Minor road off B6277 * Rail access: Appleby and

, both approx. by road * Nearest large village:

, * Nearest town:

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...

History

The earliest evidence of habitation in the area comes from

Mesolithic The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...

microlith A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from around 35,000 to 3,000 years ago, across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Th ...

s dating back at least 6000 years. The people who left them, however, were not settled in the area, but hunted there during the summer.

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

began in the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

period, and the remains of buildings have been found from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. The present-day village of Holwick was first recorded in 1235, though the origin of the name is uncertain, believed to mean either "dairy farm in a hollow" or "in the holly". In addition to hill farming of

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

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 cut, ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...

was conducted in the mediæval period, with lead mining and stone

quarrying A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

increasing in importance throughout Teesdale in the 18th century. A

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

was built across the Tees near Holwick in 1704, and collapsed in 1802, killing one. It was repaired but finally replaced in 1830. Substantial quarrying and lead mining did not continue into the 20th century, and the economy of the village has since returned to sheep farming.

References

Durham County Council & Northumberland County Council.
Local History: Holwick (County Durham)
. ''Keys to the Past''. Retrieved 12 January 2005.

External links

{{authority control Villages in County Durham History of Yorkshire