| High
and Low Bentham
North Yorkshire, England. Theme - Towns, Villages, Cities Other themes: Yorkshire Dales |
COULD BENTHAM DOUBLE IN SIZE BY 2021?
Possible
HUGE Developments - 198 dwellings & 1.87 hectares of employment land?
COULD BENTHAM DOUBLE IN SIZE BY 2021? Possible
HUGE Developments - 198 dwellings & 1.87 hectares of employment land?
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High and Low Bentham lie
within a mile of each other in the Wenning Valley, only just into North
Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Dales. In fact an attempt was made some time
ago to rename High Bentham as "Bentham in Wenningdale" (without any obvious
success).
High Bentham - Station Road and The Black Bull |
The
names are a problem. People say "Bentham" and mean (probably) High Bentham
(or Higher Bentham) forgetting about the smaller and downhill (but just
as important) Low Bentham (or Lower Bentham). And there have been attempts
to combine the two under the collective "Benthams". But this hasn't caught
on either.
The local website just talks about "Bentham" But it's risky to just say "Bentham" as this may offend someone - usually someone from Low Bentham. So I won't. Except when I forget. |
| High and Low Bentham have
a combined population of about 3000, with most people living at the greater
altitude . High Bentham is a market town with a weekly street market, an
agricultural auction market, and a good selection of shops. It is just
about (but not quite) possible to buy everything you need for normal living.
Like many small towns it had a ridiculous number of pubs, and still manages to support four - The Coach House (originally the Brown Cow), The Black Bull, The Horse & Farrier, and the Byres. There are more bars at the Sports & Social Club on the playing fields, the "Club" (originally the "Conservative Club" but this misnomer was corrected some years ago), and the Golf Club (now with an 18 hole course and fantastic views). The chip shop was built in the 17th century! |
High Bentham Main Street and and incredibly old chip shop |
| High Bentham
is the home of George Angus and Sons/Angus Fire Armour Limited/Angus Fire/Kidde
Products - manufacturers of fire fighting equipment and the largest
local employer. In the 1950s the workforce exceeded 1000 - quite extraordinary
in a town of then only about 2500 people. But a series of takeovers and
accountants have steadily reduced its size to the point where it is no
longer a drain on the local manpower resource. Likewise the world-famous
"Angus" name has been demoted to the status of a "brand". Kidde Products,
owners of the Angus "brand", are now a part of the mammoth USA-based UTC
Corporation.
Angus has been in High Bentham since the beginning of the 20th century, although the company first made fire hose (using leather folded over and rivetted) in the north-east in 1788. However they realised that in future hosepipe would be woven, so they moved to Bentham - a Pennine mill town. Ironically the fire business grew and grew, while the textile industry faded away to almost nothing - Daleswear at Ingleton is a notable and brave local exception. |
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High Bentham - The Coach House (formerly the Brown Cow) |
You may have spotted the
agricultural tendency in the pub names, some of which may well derive from
the old drovers bringing cattle from Scotland - "Black Bull" is a name
particularly associated with this. Likewise "Horse & Farrier" and "Brown
Cow" speak for themselves in what is primarily a cattle and sheep area.
However "Byres" is a new addition, appropriately thought up by the
local auction mart and estate agents (Richard
Turner & Son) who converted the nearby Royal Oak into offices and
replaced it with the current premises on the Auction Mart site.
"Royal Oak" does not at first sight have an agricultural connection. But it does sound good. Like "Royal Jelly". |
| Looking back
in time, the route of the Roman Road from Ribchester in the Ribble Valley
runs just west of Low Bentham (somewhere near Low Bentham Church) on its
way to the Lune Valley where it joins another road from Lancaster ("Lune
Castle") near the suspiciously named "Casterton", then heading north through
the
Lune Gorge
for Tebay, Carlisle, the Stainmore Gap, and all other Roman locations north.
The road must also have forked somewhere near Low Bentham in order to pass
along Chapel-le-Dale to Wensleydale, Bainbridge and the east. And there
is the probability of a road following the prehistoric route from Kendal
past Kirkby Lonsdale through the Pennines over Buckhaw Brow to the East.
And, thanks to the views from Google Earth/Google Map, there is now the virtual certainty of a Roman Fort on a low hill by the Tatterthorn Lane! |
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| If an important Roman road
ran past Low Bentham then perhaps it came first? Just in case let's talk
a little about Low Bentham. It is smaller than High Bentham, with a population
of 500 or so (population figures, like the names, are never agreed
on). It now has only one shop, although less than thirty years ago there
were several. Like High Bentham it was a mill town, the last mill closing
in the 70s.
There was also the large private Low Bentham Grammar School next to the River Wenning. It still exists but it is now a part of Sedbergh School Today Low Bentham is mainly residential. The old mills at Millers Ford have been converted involving a currently (2006) closed and disputed right of way across the Wenning. There are two pubs at "river level" and much of the rest of the village is strung up the steep northern valley side. |
Low Bentham - The Sundial Inn (Why are so many of these pictures of pubs?) |
High Bentham at the foot of Robin Lane |
And where did it all start?
The Domesday Book mentions Bentham as "Benetain" (not the "united colours
of.." place). The derivation of the name may be Old English "beonet" meaning
"bent grass" (James Bibby - see below - thinks that "bent" may be a word
for "rough grass") and the Old English "ham" meaning "homestead" (source
Peter Metcalfe's book - "Place-names
of the Yorkshire Dales"). Strangely the only other "ham" nearby is
Clapham, and these places may have been settled before the Vikings arrived
- maybe as far back as the 7th century.
The market dates from 1306, and this appears to have given Bentham considerable local importance There is a reproduction of a fourteenth century map in "A History of Cumberland and Westmorland" which makes Bentham (presumably High Bentham??) look similar in size to Kendal (now about 30,000 population), and it has been said that the population at the time of the Domesday Book was about 1000. So, with its market, Bentham (High and/or Low) has been a significant little town for a millennium! |
For those interested in knowing
more and seeing pictures of old Bentham (whichever one we mean!) we recommend
"Bentham
in Times Past" by David Johnson and Peter Bolton and "A
History of Bentham" by James Bibby.
COULD BENTHAM DOUBLE IN SIZE BY 2021?
Possible
HUGE Developments - 198 dwellings & 1.87 hectares of employment land?
