Dent is a village and
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 ...
in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, England, within the historic boundaries 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 ...
. 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 highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...
within the
Yorkshire Dales National Park, south east of
Sedbergh
Sedbergh ( or ) is a town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Cumbria. It falls within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Since April 2023, it has been administered by Westmorland and Furness local authority. Th ...
and north east of
Kirkby Lonsdale. At the
2011 census, Dent and
Middleton had a total population of 785.
History
Dent is part of the
Ewecross wapentake
A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and in Cumberland County in the British Colony of ...
in 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 1894 to 1974 it was part of
Sedbergh Rural District in the West Riding. From 1974, for administrative purposes, it was treated as part of the South Lakeland District in the new administrative county of Cumbria, which was abolished in April 2023.
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 an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
, 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 Foot ...
term related to
Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...
''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 (–10th centuries), or occasionally the entire Middle Ages (–15th centuries), in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which characterises it as marked by economic, int ...
kingdom known in Latin as ''Regione Dunutinga'', founded and named after King
Dunot the Great of the
North Pennines
The North Pennines are the northernmost section of the Pennines, a range of hills which run north–south through northern England. They run along the border between County Durham and Northumberland in the east and Cumbria in the west, and are ...
.
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 (represented by the Roman numerals 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, with most of C ...
. Geoffrey Hodgson, in 2008, argued that this invasion accounts for the high frequency of the
Hodgson
Hodgson is a surname. In United Kingdom, Britain, the Hodgson surname was the 173rd most common (766 per million) in 1881 and the 206th most common (650 per million) in 1998. In the United States, United States of America, Hodgson was the 3753rd mo ...
surname in the area.
Dent was the birthplace of
Thomas de Dent,
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...
, in the early
14th century
The 14th century lasted from 1 January 1301 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCCI) to 31 December 1400 (MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and natural disasters in both Euro ...
.
Dent was the birthplace of the geologist
Adam Sedgwick
Adam Sedgwick FRS (; 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 ...
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
The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before local differe ...
in the 1950s. A recording of the broadest local speec
is availableon the British Library's website.
Governance
Dent is part of the
Westmorland and Lonsdale parliamentary constituency, of which
Tim Farron
Timothy James Farron (born 27 May 1970) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmorland and Lonsdale since ...
is the current MP representing the
Liberal Democrats.
Before
Brexit
Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU).
Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
for the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
its residents voted to elect
MEP'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, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...
constituency.
The village today
The Dent Brewery is an independent
microbrewery
Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...
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 on the
Settle and Carlisle Railway 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 ...
. 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, equestrianism or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exce ...
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
Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...
. In addition to the village of Dent settlements in the parish includes the hamlets of Lenacre, Gawthrop, Cowgill and Stone House.
See also
* Listed buildings in Dent, Cumbria
References
External links
Dentdale community website
Cumbria County History Trust: Dent
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
{{authority control
Villages in Cumbria
Civil parishes in Cumbria
Westmorland and Furness