Sedbergh
Encyclopedia
Sedbergh is a small town in Cumbria
, England
. It lies about 10 miles (16 km) east of Kendal
and about 10 miles (16 km) north of Kirkby Lonsdale
. The town sits just within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Sedbergh is at the foot of the Howgill Fells
on the north bank of the River Rawthey
which joins the River Lune
about 2 mi (2 km) below the town.
Historically
a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire
, Sedbergh has a narrow main street lined with shops. From all angles, the hills rising behind the houses can be seen. Until the coming of the railway in 1861, these were remote places were reachable only by walking over some fairly steep hills. The railway to Sedbergh was closed in 1965.
George Fox
, a founder of the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers), spoke in St. Andrew's Church
(which he called a "steeple house") and on nearby Firbank Fell
during his travels in the North of England in 1652. Nearby Briggflatts Meeting House
was built in 1675. It is the namesake of Basil Bunting
's lauded long poem, Briggflatts
(1966). Sedbergh School
is a co-educational boarding school
in the town.
, St Andrew's, dates from the 12th century, though restored periodically since then. There is at least one house dating from the 14th century, and there are the remains of a motte and bailey castle
believed to date from Saxon
times.
Sedbergh's main industries for many years were Sedbergh School
(founded 1525), farming, and the production of woollen garments.
Wool
sheared from the many sheep was taken to local mills
where it was turned into yarn
from which people in their homes, would knit clothing, including hats and socks. The garments were then sold by local merchants to, among other places, the coal
miners of the North East of England. This trade has long since disappeared. It is remembered at Farfield Mill, just outside the town, where there is an exhibition of weaving equipment, and workshops for a number of artists and crafts workers.
(see Hay-on-Wye
and Wigtown
) with six independent bookshops and many more dealers who operate from the Dales and Lakes Book Centre. It is now possible that the turnover of small to medium manufacturing and wholesale companies matches or exceeds that of the schools - a growing feature of the economy. Other major sources of income are farming, retail and tourism. It is hoped that tourism will increase after the efforts of Sedbergh to find a twin town
were featured in a BBC
documentary
, The Town That Wants A Twin during January 2005 (the winning town was Zreče
in north eastern Slovenia
).
comprises the remains of a 16th century house, incorporating a pele tower
, altered and enlarged in the 19th century by Kendalian architect George Webster and again in 20th century. The Hall was partially destroyed by fire in the 1920s but was extended again and partially remodelled in 1989. The property is built of coursed rubble with quoins and has slate
roofs. Although the Hall is built on private grounds, there is a public footpath running alongside the drive-way.
St Gregory's Church
is a redundant Anglican church situated on the A684 road about 1.5 miles (2 km) to the west of Sedbergh. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
.
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies about 10 miles (16 km) east of Kendal
Kendal
Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...
and about 10 miles (16 km) north of Kirkby Lonsdale
Kirkby Lonsdale
Kirkby Lonsdale is a small town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, on the River Lune. Historically within Westmorland, it is situated south east of Kendal along the A65. The parish had a population of 1,771 recorded in the 2001 census.Notable buildings include St...
. The town sits just within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Sedbergh is at the foot of the Howgill Fells
Howgill Fells
The Howgill Fells are hills in Northern England between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, lying roughly in between the vertices of a triangle made by the towns of Sedbergh, Kirkby Stephen and Tebay....
on the north bank of the River Rawthey
River Rawthey
The River Rawthey is a river in Cumbria.The headwaters of the Rawthey are at Rawthey Gill Foot, where Rawthey Gill, whose own source is a confluence at Gill Head on East Baugh Fell, meets Haskhaw Gill....
which joins the River Lune
River Lune
The River Lune is a river in Cumbria and Lancashire, England.It is formed at Wath, in the parish of Ravenstonedale, Cumbria, at the confluence of Sandwath Beck and Weasdale Beck...
about 2 mi (2 km) below the town.
Historically
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
, Sedbergh has a narrow main street lined with shops. From all angles, the hills rising behind the houses can be seen. Until the coming of the railway in 1861, these were remote places were reachable only by walking over some fairly steep hills. The railway to Sedbergh was closed in 1965.
George Fox
George Fox
George Fox was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends.The son of a Leicestershire weaver, Fox lived in a time of great social upheaval and war...
, a founder of the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
(Quakers), spoke in St. Andrew's Church
St Andrew's Church, Sedbergh
St Andrew's Church, Sedbergh, is located in Main Street, Sedbergh, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Ewecross, the archdeaconry of Craven, and the diocese of Bradford. Its benefice is united with those of St Mark, Cautley, and St John the...
(which he called a "steeple house") and on nearby Firbank Fell
Firbank Fell
Firbank Fell is a hill in Cumbria between the towns of Kendal and Sedbergh that is renowned as a place where George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends , preached.Fox described what happened there on June 13, 1652 in this way:...
during his travels in the North of England in 1652. Nearby Briggflatts Meeting House
Briggflatts Meeting House
Briggflatts Meeting House is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends , near Sedbergh in Northwest England, built in 1675.It is the subject of Basil Bunting's poem “At Briggflatts meetinghouse” ....
was built in 1675. It is the namesake of Basil Bunting
Basil Bunting
Basil Cheesman Bunting was a significant British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of Briggflatts in 1966. He had a lifelong interest in music that led him to emphasise the sonic qualities of poetry, particularly the importance of reading poetry aloud...
's lauded long poem, Briggflatts
Briggflatts
Briggflatts is a long poem by Basil Bunting published in 1965. The work is subtitled "An Autobiography." The title "Briggflatts" comes from the name of a meetinghouse in a Quaker community near Sedbergh in Cumbria, England...
(1966). Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...
is a co-educational boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in the town.
History
Sedbergh's parish churchParish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
, St Andrew's, dates from the 12th century, though restored periodically since then. There is at least one house dating from the 14th century, and there are the remains of a motte and bailey castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
believed to date from Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
times.
Sedbergh's main industries for many years were Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...
(founded 1525), farming, and the production of woollen garments.
Wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
sheared from the many sheep was taken to local mills
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
where it was turned into yarn
Yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...
from which people in their homes, would knit clothing, including hats and socks. The garments were then sold by local merchants to, among other places, the coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
miners of the North East of England. This trade has long since disappeared. It is remembered at Farfield Mill, just outside the town, where there is an exhibition of weaving equipment, and workshops for a number of artists and crafts workers.
Economy
Income now comes from a range of sources: the schools are still the main employer in the town, but Sedbergh has recently become England's book townBook town
A book town is a town or village with a large number of second-hand or antiquarian book shops. These shops, and sometimes also literary festivals, attract bibliophile tourists to them...
(see Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye , often described as "the town of books", is a small market town and community in Powys, Wales.-Location:The town lies on the east bank of the River Wye and is within the Brecon Beacons National Park, just north of the Black Mountains...
and Wigtown
Wigtown
Wigtown is a town and former royal burgh in the Machars of Galloway in the south west of Scotland. It lies south of Newton Stewart and east of Stranraer. It has a population of about 1,000...
) with six independent bookshops and many more dealers who operate from the Dales and Lakes Book Centre. It is now possible that the turnover of small to medium manufacturing and wholesale companies matches or exceeds that of the schools - a growing feature of the economy. Other major sources of income are farming, retail and tourism. It is hoped that tourism will increase after the efforts of Sedbergh to find a twin town
Twin Town
Twin Town is a 1997 revenge comedy film made and set in South West Wales. It was directed by Kevin Allen and had a working title of Hot Dog; a hot dog van features in a number of scenes in the film. It stars real-life brothers Rhys Ifans and Llŷr Ifans and also features Dougray Scott...
were featured in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, The Town That Wants A Twin during January 2005 (the winning town was Zreče
Zrece
Zreče is a town and a municipality in northeast Slovenia. It lies on the slopes of Pohorje in the upper valley of the river Dravinja. Traditionally the area was part of the Lower Styria region. The municipality is now included in the Savinja statistical region. In 2002 it had a population of 6245,...
in north eastern Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
).
Landmarks
About two miles west of the town, near Marthwaite, Ingmire HallIngmire Hall
Ingmire Hall is a 16th century house built around the remains of a pele tower near Sedbergh, Cumbria, England.The house was first constructed for the Upton Family in the 16th century. The house was enlarged in the early 19th century by architect George Webster and extended around 1900...
comprises the remains of a 16th century house, incorporating a pele tower
Peel tower
Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...
, altered and enlarged in the 19th century by Kendalian architect George Webster and again in 20th century. The Hall was partially destroyed by fire in the 1920s but was extended again and partially remodelled in 1989. The property is built of coursed rubble with quoins and has slate
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. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roofs. Although the Hall is built on private grounds, there is a public footpath running alongside the drive-way.
St Gregory's Church
St Gregory's Church, Vale of Lune
St Gregory's Church, Vale of Lune, also known as Vale of Lune Chapel, is a redundant Anglican church situated on the A684 road about to the west of Sedbergh, Cumbria, England...
is a redundant Anglican church situated on the A684 road about 1.5 miles (2 km) to the west of Sedbergh. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...
.