Gunnerside
Gunnerside is a village in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the B6270 road, 2 miles (3 km) east of Muker and 6 miles (10 km) west of Grinton.[1][2] The village lies between the River Swale and its tributary, Gunnerside Beck, in the Swaledale part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Gunnerside | |
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![]() Gunnerside from the south side of the valley | |
![]() ![]() Gunnerside Location within North Yorkshire | |
OS grid reference | SD951982 |
• London | 210 mi (340 km) SE |
Civil parish | |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | DARLINGTON |
Postcode district | DL11 |
Dialling code | 01748 |
Police | North Yorkshire |
Fire | North Yorkshire |
Ambulance | Yorkshire |
UK Parliament | |
History
The name of the village derives from an Old Norse personal name Gunnar and sætr meaning hill or pasture.[3][4]
Gunnerside Ghyll (or Gunnerside Gill), a smaller valley running northwards, at right angles to the Swale valley (Swaledale), was the site of a major lead mining industry in Swaledale until the late nineteenth century.[5] The beck that runs through the narrow valley, also called Gunnerside Gill, or Gunnerside Beck, rises between Rogan's Seat and Water Crag,[6] and runs for 5 miles (8 km) emptying into the River Swale at the site of Gunnerside New Bridge.[7] The bridge carries the B6270 over the River Swale south of the village; it was rebuilt several times during the 19th century due to flooding.[8] The current structure dates from around 1892 and is now grade II listed.[9]
Gunnerside contains a Methodist Chapel, a part-time post office, and a working smithy/museum. The chapel was founded in 1789, but rebuilt in 1866.[10] The structure is now grade II listed.[11] A private building to the north of the crossroads in the village was the site of a Medieval corn mill, and in the early 20th century, a bus garage.[12]
The village primary school is one of two sites of the Reeth and Gunnerside Schools.[13] At the last Ofsted inspection in 2013, the primary school was rated as Good.[14] At the foot of Gunnerside Ghyll is the Kings Head public house.
Local employment centres on clockmaking, hill farming, gamekeeping and construction, the latter concerned chiefly with the maintenance of traditional stone-built field walls, houses and barns.
Notable people
- John Close, poet, was born in the village in 1816[15]
- Stone barns in the meadows near Gunnerside New Bridge
- Methodist Church
See also
- Operation Gunnerside, which may have got its name because the participants trained on a moor near to Gunnerside owned by Charles Hambro.[16]
References
- "Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Gunnerside". visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- "Genuki: In 1822, the following places were in the Parish of Grinton:, Yorkshire (North Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- Fleming, Andrew (1999). "3;Small-scale communities and the landscape of Swaledale". In Ucko, Peter; Layton, Robert (eds.). The archaeology and anthropology of landscape : shaping your landscape (1 ed.). London: Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 9780415117678.
- Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names (4 ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 399. ISBN 0-19-869103-3.
- "Gunnerside Gill lead mines". www.outofoblivion.org.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- Speight 1897, p. 265.
- "Gunnerside Gill from Source to River Swale". environment.data.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- Speight 1897, p. 253.
- Historic England. "Gunnerside New Bridge (Grade II) (1179749)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- "Parishes: Grinton | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- Historic England. "Methodist Chapel (Grade II) (1130790)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- "Gunnerside corn mill". www.outofoblivion.org.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- Philby, Charlotte (19 September 2009). "The lost villages of Britain: Can our rural communities survive in the 21st century?". The Independent. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- "Gunnerside Methodist Primary School URN: 121542". reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- Brown, Douglas. "Close, John [called Poet Close]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5704. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- "Knut Haugland". The Telegraph. 28 December 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
External links
