The Terrible Knitters Of Dent

I mentioned in my post last month that when we took Another Staycation we visited the Yorkshire Dales. After our trip to Settle, we decided to head twenty miles north to the village of Dent. This historic village is actually in Cumbria, though it was originally within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

It's a pretty village with cobbled streets and white-washed cottages. 

Dent is the only village in Dentdale but there are farmsteads and hamlets surrounding it.

Prior to the industrial revolution, the villagers, both men and women, boosted their farm incomes by knitting. They often knitted whilst walking to the fields and they were so good at it that they became known as The Terrible Knitters of Dent, terrible meaning terribly good at it.

The Dentdale Heritage Centre has information on the working lives and social customs of the people who lived in the area and the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes has examples of the sturdy socks and beautiful gloves which the Terrible Knitters made.

The Heritage Centre doubles as a cafe and there's also a shop selling handcrafted wool produce. They have a good selection of the West Yorkshire Spinners yarn range too.

Walkers pass through or by the village on various Dales walks and there's a choice of cafes catering for their needs.

Adam Sedgwick was one of the founders of modern Geology. He was born in Dent and studied at the old Dent Grammar School before going on to Trinity College, Cambridge. The granite memorial fountain on Main Street was erected in the late 19th century.

Steeped in history and with magnificent views, it's an interesting village to visit.

The road into Dent is very narrow in places and this bridge, though you can't tell here, is very narrow. There's paint on each side of it where vehicles have scraped by. Luckily, we navigated it well and passed by unscathed.

There's so many beautiful places in the Yorkshire Dales, no wonder it's my very favourite spot in the world.