Rathmell

Rathmell
Rathmell Reading Room
Rathmell Location within North Yorkshire
OS grid reference	SD804598
Civil parish	Rathmell
Unitary authority	North Yorkshire
Ceremonial county	North Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
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′07″N2°18′01″W / 54.03528°N 2.30028°W / 54.03528; -2.30028

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.

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

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

• Martin Kaye, resident of the village ^[8]

See also

• Listed buildings in Rathmell

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

• Edward Allen Bell, The History of Giggleswick School 1499–1912, Leeds: Richard Jackson, 1912.
• Harold Blaxland Atkinson, The Giggleswick School Register 1499–1921, Newcastle upon Tyne: Northumberland Press, 1922.

External links

Media related to Rathmell at Wikimedia Commons