Reeth

North Yorkshire

Reeth is a village in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire.

Reeth is about 11 miles by road west of Richmond.

The historic village is at the meeting point of the two northernmost and perhaps most beautiful of the Yorkshire Dales, Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.

Lead mining, hand-knitting and farming have all played a part in the history of the village economy.

Reeth is arranged around a large attractive village green.

Three inns overlooking the green date back to the late 1600s and 1700s and have many original features including a cosy atmosphere, fine food and roaring log fires.

A selection of small village shops include outlets for locally-produced crafts.

From the end of May to the beginning of June each year (May 26 to June 9, 2018), Reeth becomes a centre of the Swaledale Festival, bringing together music, arts and walking.

The village also hosts a traditional Yorkshire Dales one-day agricultural show at the end of August each year. The event includes the Great Fremington Edge Fell Race up the hillside which overlooks Reeth and Arkengarthdale.

Village features

Reeth is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The village is on the River Swale and Arkle Beck.

Reeth is on the Coast to Coast walk, a mostly unmarked 192-mile walk from St Bee's in Cumbria to Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire, created from the guide book of renowned hill-walker Alfred Wainwright.

Reeth has local traders and craft shops. Reeth offers bakery goods, antiques, books, crafts, gifts and other goods.

The village has a Post Office branch.

Reeth has a choice of pubs.

Cafe and pub food is available in Reeth.

The village has a community library.

Reeth has a museum - Swaledale Museum.

Reeth has a community centre and village hall.

There are public toilets in the village(20p entry)

Place of worship: other (Reeth Evangelical Congregational Church)

Reeth has tourist information.

Places to stay in Reeth include hotel, guest house, inn accommodation.

Reeth was formerly in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

Travel

Bus travel

The village has an infrequent bus service.

Road travel

Reeth can be reached via the B6270 Reeth has a garage with fuel.

Places to visit

Richmond Castle

Tower Street, Richmond, North Yorkshire
One of the finest and most complete Norman castles in Britain, around which the town of Richmond developed. Its vast square keep, 100ft (30 metres) high, is a dominant feature of the town with magnificent views. The castle was built for the Count of Brittany, Alan Rufus, high above the River Swale in 1071, just 5 years after the Battle of Hastings and Norman conquest. There are substantial remains of 11th century walls and its domestic hall. This was added around the 1150s by Conan, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond, the great-nephew of Alan Rufus. After Conan's death in 1171 the castle came under the control of King Henry II. Many years on, a Victorian addition to the castle was an armoury which was later used in World War I to imprison conscientious objectors who became known as the Richmond 16. A Victorian barrack block built at castle in 1855 was demolished in 1931. The castle is managed by English Heritage.

More information at these

English Heritage - Richmond Castle web pages.
Find on map:

Richmond Castle

Middleham Castle

Castle Hill, Middleham, North Yorkshire
Middleham has substantial remains of a castle built in stages between the 12th and 15th centuries, including a late 12th century keep which is one of the largest hall keeps in the country. Ditch and timber defences were not replaced with the low stone curtain wall until the early 14th century. It is notable as the place where, in the 1460s, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who later became King Richard III, spent several years of his youth under the guardianship of his cousin Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. During the War of the Roses, King Edward IV was imprisoned at Middleham Castle for a short time in 1469. The castle is managed by English Heritage.

More information at these

English Heritage - Middleham Castle web pages.
Find on map:

Middleham Castle

Bolton Castle

Castle Bolton, near Redmire, North Yorkshire
One of Britain's best-preserved medieval castles was built as one of the finest homes in the land and is still in the ownership of a descendant of the castle's original owner. With a commanding view over Wensleydale, the castle is situated near Redmire, about 5 miles west of Leyburn and 6 miles east of Askrigg. Although partially slighted by Oliver Cromwell during a Civil War siege it has been preserved in excellent condition. The castle is opened to visitors daily between the start of April and end of October except on dates when weddings are being held. Visitors can access much of the castle and its gardens and daily displays include birds of prey, archery and wild boar feeding. Full details can be found on the owner's website.

More information at the Bolton Castle website.

Find on map: Bolton Castle

Easby Abbey

Easby, near Richmond
Situated about 1.5 miles from the centre of Richmond beside the River Swale, Easby Abbey has some magnificent and quite substantial stonework remaining from its refectory, gatehouse and canon's dormitory. The abbey was founded in 1152 and was of the Premonstratensian order. As with most monasteries it was a target of Henry VIII and soon after its supression in 1536 most of its buildings were stripped for stone or demolished. Within the abbey complex is the Parish Church of St Agatha, founded before the abbey and still in use as a church today. Inside are 13th century wall paingtings and a fragment of 12th century glass. The abbey church, however, was mostly demolished after the supression. The abbey is managed as a free entry site by English Heritage.

Find out more at the

English Heritage - Easby Abbey website.
Find on map:

Easby Abbey

The Wensleydale Railway

Leeming Bar - Bedale - Finghall - Leyburn - Redmire
A railway service into the Yorkshire Dales running from Leeming Bar, near the A1(M) towards Bedale, Finghall, Leyburn and Redmire, at the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It operates a heritage diesel service and steam on some dates. The line was extended eastwards to Northallerton West, but the effects of flooding on a bridge at the end of 2015 resulted in that section of line remaining closed to passenger services in 2018. The railway company also has aims of restoring the line westward into the National Park.

Further information at the

Wensleydale Railway website

Aysgarth Falls

Aysgarth
Aysgarth Falls have been a much-visited Wensleydale beauty spot and a tourist attraction for more then two centuries. The River Ure falls down a series of rocky steps near to the village of Aysgarth. The falls provided a dramatic film location for the 1991 film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", starring Kevin Costner. A woodland nature reserve alongside the falls is run by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, which also runs a National Park Centre, cafe and car park there. Nearby is the Yore Bridge across the river and the Yore Mill, a grade II listed watermill on the site of a medieval fulling mill. The present mill dates from 1854 and was built to produce both woollen textiles and corn. It replaced an earlier 18th century cotton mill which was damaged by fire. There is now a tea shop and craft shop at the mill.

Find

Aysgarth Falls on map.

Richmondshire Museum

Ryder's Wynd, Richmond
The museum is just a short walk from the Market Place in Richmond and tells a fascinating story of the Richmond area from the Stone Age to the present day. It also has a treasure trove of other exhibits such as a history of toys, how lead was mined in the Yorkshire Dales, a transport gallery with historic model of Richmond Station, shop reconstructions, including Grinton Post Office, a chemist shop from Catterick and a grocer and chandler from Richmond and the Herriott Set from the film All Creatures Great And Small.

Website

Yorkshire Dales National Park

The western half of Richmondshire is all within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Richmond is at the gateway to some of its most remote and peaceful areas of the National Park in Swaledale. Leyburn is the gateway to the Wensleydale area of the National Park, the wide and beautiful upper valley of the River Ure into which many tributaries flow. Find out more on our Yorkshire Dales National Park page.

Emergency services

North Yorkshire Police

North Yorkshire Police website.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service website.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust website.

Local government

Civil parish council

Reeth Parish Council
Provides some local services in the area.
Link to council website

Reeth Parish Council

District authority

Richmondshire District Council
Richmondshire district council is one of the seven large district authorities within the county of North Yorkshire. It covers 509 square miles of the mainly rural area of the north west of North Yorkshire with its administrative centre in Richmond.

Much of the district is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It has boundaries with the Craven, Hambleton and Harrogate districts of North Yorkshire, with Cumbria, including a former part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with County Durham, including part which was formerly in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

Up to 2019 the council was made up of 34 councillors representing 24 wards, each electing between 1 and 3 councillors. After Boundary Commission review the number of seats from the 2019 election is down from 34 to 24. Councillors are now elected across 16 wards: 1 with three councillors, 6 with two councillors and 9 with one councillor. The whole council is elected every four years.

There are also 54 Parish or Town Councils and 26 Parish Meetings within the Richmondshire district.

Link to Richmondshire District Council website.

Places in Richmondshire include: Askrigg Catterick Gilling West Hawes Leyburn Reeth Richmond

The political composition of the council after the May 2019 election was:

10 1031

24 members

County authority

North Yorkshire County Council
Includes Richmondshire and six other non-unitary districts of North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire County Council website.

Police and Crime Commissioner

Police and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire
Covers the county of North Yorkshire and City of York.

Police and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire website.

Fire Authority

The North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was previously governed by the North Yorkshire Combined Fire Authority made up of elected members from across the broad areas of North Yorkshire and City of York councils which it serves. Following a ministerial announcement in June 2018 the governance of the fire service was transferred to the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire from 15 November 2018.
Further information at the

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service website.

Police and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire website.

Ceremonial county

North Yorkshire

Historic

-1974: Within the North Riding of Yorkshire.

Also in Yorkshire.guide

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