Clapham, North Yorkshire
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Clapham is a village in the
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Clapham cum Newby Clapham cum Newby is a civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It contains the villages of Clapham and Newby. According to the 2001 UK census, Clapham cum Newby parish had a population of 659, falling to 640 at the 2011 Census. ...
in
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. It lies within the
Yorkshire Dales National Park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England which covers most of the Yorkshire Dales, the Howgill Fells, and the Orton Fells. The Nidderdale area of the Yorkshire Dales is not within the national park, and has instead ...
, north-west of
Settle Settle or SETTLE may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an in ...
, and just off the
A65 road The A65 is a major road in England. It runs north west from Leeds in West Yorkshire via Kirkstall, Horsforth, Yeadon, Guiseley, Ilkley and Skipton, west of Settle, Ingleton and Kirkby Lonsdale before terminating at Kendal in Cumbria. Bypass ...
. Until 1974 it was part of the
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Craven, it is now administered by the unitary
North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...
.


History

The church of St James in Clapham was founded in Norman times, and originally dedicated to
St Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...
. It is mentioned in records dating back to 1160. The village and church were burned during a Scottish raid following the
Battle of Bannockburn The Battle of Bannockburn ( or ) was fought on 23–24 June 1314, between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England, during the First War of Scottish Independence. It was a decisive victory for Ro ...
in the early 14th century. The church tower was probably erected following this incident, but the rest of the church dates from the 19th century. In the 14th century John de Clapham, who took his surname from the village, was a supporter of the
Earl of Warwick Earl of Warwick is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which has been created four times in English history. The name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick. Overview The first creation came in 1088, and the title was held b ...
and lived at Clapdale Castle. His descendants took part in the
Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...
on the side of the
House of Lancaster The House of Lancaster was a cadet branch of the royal House of Plantagenet. The first house was created when King Henry III of England created the Earldom of Lancasterfrom which the house was namedfor his second son Edmund Crouchback in 1267 ...
. Since the 18th century Clapham has been home to the Farrer family who established their Ingleborough estate. The family owns, and is responsible for, much of the land, walls, woods, fields and moors of the village, surrounding countryside and farms. Perhaps the most famous member of the family was
Reginald Farrer Reginald John Farrer (17 February 1880 – 17 October 1920), was a traveller and plant collector. He published a number of books, although is best known for ''My Rock Garden''. He travelled to Asia in search of a variety of plants, many of wh ...
(1880–1920) who was a traveler and plant collector – the "father of rock gardening" – and was responsible for laying out much of the estate's gardens and landscape features. Electricity has been generated on the Ingleborough estate since 1893. There is an operating water turbine-powered generator at the top of the village next to the waterfall. It was installed in 1948. Originally it supplied the church, Ingleborough Hall, Home Farm and 13 street lights. The old sawmill building, which has recently been converted into a cafe, contains a further turbine which has been preserved, in-situ, as an exhibit. In August 1947 the Trow Ghyll skeleton was discovered in a cave above the village.


Geography

Clapham is situated at the base of
Ingleborough Ingleborough () is the List of peaks in the Yorkshire Dales, second-highest mountain in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks (the other two being Whernside and Pen-y-ghent), and is frequently climbed as part of ...
mountain, one of Yorkshire's " Three Peaks" – Ingleborough,
Whernside Whernside is a mountain in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. It is the highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the other two being Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent. It is the highest point in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire Mickle F ...
and
Pen-y-ghent Pen-y-ghent or Penyghent is a fell in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is the lowest of Yorkshire's Three Peaks at ; the other two being Ingleborough and Whernside. It lies east of Horton in Ribblesdale. It has a number of interesting geolo ...
– and is a starting point for its ascent. Running through the village is Clapham Beck, fed from Fell Beck which starts on the slopes of Ingleborough and sinks into
Gaping Gill Gaping Gill (also known as Gaping Ghyll) is a natural cave in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the unmistakable landmarks on the southern slopes of Ingleborough – a deep pothole with the stream Fell Beck flowing into it. After fallin ...
, England's highest waterfall, where Fell Beck drops 110 metres vertically into a pothole, and exits via Ingleborough Cave into Clapham Beck. The beck feeds into the
River Lune The River Lune (archaically sometimes Loyne) is a river in length in Cumbria and Lancashire, England. Etymology Several elucidations for the origin of the name ''Lune'' exist. Firstly, it may be that the name is Brittonic languages, Brittonic ...
via the
River Wenning The River Wenning is a tributary of the River Lune, flowing through North Yorkshire and Lancashire. The name derives from the Old English ''Wann'', meaning ''dark river''. The Wenning is formed from the confluence of Clapham Beck, which rises ...
. The beck is crossed by four bridges in the village (two footbridges: Brokken Bridge and Mafeking Bridge, and two road bridges). Above the village is a man-made lake built and expanded in the 19th century. This river provides pressure for the water turbines and the drinking water supply, while the outflow fed an
artificial waterfall An artificial waterfall is a water feature or fountain which imitates a natural waterfall. Artificial waterfalls have long been featured in traditional Japanese gardens, where they can serve to highlight a scene or to provide focus. The classic ...
at the top of the village. Clapham lies on the
Craven Fault The Craven Fault System is the name applied by geologists to the group of crustal faults in the Pennines that form the southern edge of the Askrigg Block and which partly bounds the Craven Basin. Sections of the system's component faults whi ...
zone, a complex
geological fault Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
which marks the division of the
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
rocks of the Bowland area and the
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
of the Ingleborough area. However, the valley of Clapham Beck has cut through the limestone and into the underlying
Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...
basement rocks which produce soils that are acidic, not alkaline like those on the limestone. This is beneficial to the many species of
rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...
planted along Clapdale, which would suffer in alkaline soils.


Local businesses and amenities

The village contains a village hall, the New Inn
public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
, a community-run shop, a small number of businesses, guest houses, and the Ingleborough Hall outdoor education centre. Clapham used to have a
CofE The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglican tradition, with foundational doctrines being contained in the '' Thirty-nine Articles'' and ''Th ...
Primary School which closed in July 2020. From 1939 until 2000 ''The
Dalesman ''Dalesman'' is a British monthly regional magazine, based in Skipton, serving the English county of Yorkshire. Its first edition was published in March 1939, under the original title of ''The Yorkshire Dalesman: A Monthly Magazine of Dales' L ...
'' magazine was based in the village. The car park is run by the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with fees going directly to it. Ingleborough Cave is a show cave open to the public, accessed through the grounds of the Ingleborough Estate. Beyond the show cave a path continues through the gorge of Trow Gill to the well-known vertical pothole
Gaping Gill Gaping Gill (also known as Gaping Ghyll) is a natural cave in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the unmistakable landmarks on the southern slopes of Ingleborough – a deep pothole with the stream Fell Beck flowing into it. After fallin ...
. Local caving clubs set up a winch down Gaping Gill during the Spring and August bank holidays, when it is open to the public. The Cave Rescue Organisation, which serves people and animals above and below ground across a wide area of the Dales, is based in the village. The village is served by
Clapham railway station Clapham is a railway station on the Bentham Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated north-west of Leeds, serves the village of Clapham in North Yorkshire. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. Immediat ...
which is situated south-west of the village.


Notable people

The notable botanist
Reginald Farrer Reginald John Farrer (17 February 1880 – 17 October 1920), was a traveller and plant collector. He published a number of books, although is best known for ''My Rock Garden''. He travelled to Asia in search of a variety of plants, many of wh ...
(1880–1920) was brought up in Clapham. He collected many species of rhododendrons, shrubs and alpines in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
and
Upper Burma Upper Myanmar ( or , also called Upper Burma) is one of two geographic regions in Myanmar, the other being Lower Myanmar. Located in the country's centre and north stretches, Upper Myanmar encompasses six inland states and regions, including ...
between 1914 and 1920. Many of these were planted on the estate by Farrer. In some places he fired seeds at cliff faces from a shotgun, to give a 'natural' spread to his rock plants. In 2015
Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
commissioned a measured survey and analytical assessment of the fabric, layout and history of Farrer's Clapham garden to inform the future repair and management of the site.


See also

* Listed buildings in Clapham cum Newby


Notes


References

*Clapham. Doorway to the Dales promotional leaflet, Clapham development Association


External links


Clapham village websiteIngleborough Cave websiteCave Rescue Organisation website
{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Clapham, North Yorkshire Craven District Forest of Bowland Hydroelectricity in England