Rathmell

Last updated

Rathmell
Rathmell Reading Room, Rathmell village - geograph.org.uk - 45204.jpg
Rathmell Reading Room
North Yorkshire UK location map (2023).svg
Red pog.svg
Rathmell
Location within North Yorkshire
OS grid reference SD804598
Civil parish
  • Rathmell
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Settle
Postcode district BD24
Police North Yorkshire
Fire North Yorkshire
Ambulance Yorkshire
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
54°02′05″N2°18′01″W / 54.0346°N 2.3004°W / 54.0346; -2.3004

Rathmell is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish in the 2011 census was 305. [1] It is close to the River Ribble and about three miles south of Settle. Other towns and villages nearby include Wigglesworth, Tosside, Giggleswick and Long Preston.

Contents

Until 1974 it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. [2] From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Craven, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.

Origins

Signpost near the village showing directions to local communities and recording the pre-1974 location within Yorkshire West Riding Rathmell Yorks WR Signpost 2016.06.03.jpg
Signpost near the village showing directions to local communities and recording the pre-1974 location within Yorkshire West Riding

The name Rathmell comes from Old Norse rauðr 'red' + melr 'sandbank'. [3] Indeed, the area has a long history of Norse settlement. [4] Rathmell was formerly a township in the parish of Gigggleswick, [5] in 1866 Rathmell became a civil parish in its own right. On 1 April 1938 432 acres was transferred from Gisburn Forest. [6]

Dissenting academy

Rathmell is the birthplace of Richard Frankland (1630–1698), [7] the nonconformist divine. He was ordained by presbyters under the Cromwellian regime, but was ejected from his ministry at the Restoration. He retired home to Rathmell, where he founded a dissenting academy, which migrated to Manchester after his death. This academy was the germ of the institution now known as Harris Manchester College, Oxford. The location of the original Academy at Rathmell is marked by a memorial plaque on the end of a small terrace of cottages which still bears the name "College Fold".

Notable people

See also

References

  1. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Rathmell Parish (1170216777)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics . Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. "History of Rathmell, in Craven and West Riding". A Vision of Britain. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
  3. "Rathmell Key to English Place-names". The University of Nottingham. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  4. Muir, Richard (1997). The Yorkshire Countryside. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 115. ISBN   1474471153.
  5. "History of Rathmell, in Craven and West Riding". A Vision of Britain through Time . Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  6. "Relationships and changes Rathmell CP/Tn through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  7. Stuart Handley, Richard Frankland (1630–1698), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004.
  8. "Kaye, Ven. Martin" . Who's Who . A & C Black. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U156266.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Bibliography

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Rathmell at Wikimedia Commons