NINE CENTURIES OF NIDDERDALE
History
Pateley Bridge and the dale around it sit in one of the richest historic landscapes in England. Medieval abbeys, ancient castles, a Victorian spa town and a literary parsonage are all within reach of the town. Here is the deeper story behind the places we send our visitors to.
Pateley Bridge & Nidderdale
1175 to today
The history of Pateley Bridge
A crossing of the River Nidd for centuries, a market town since 1320, and the only town inside the Nidderdale National Landscape.
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Ice age to National Landscape
The history of Nidderdale
How a glacier-carved dale became a centre for lead mining, then water engineering, then protected landscape.
Read the history →Abbeys & Priories
1132 to 1539, and beyond
The history of Fountains Abbey
From thirteen monks surviving a winter in the wild to one of the wealthiest abbeys in England, and then a Georgian water garden.
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1132 onwards
The history of Rievaulx Abbey
Founded the same year as Fountains, and home to one of the great mystical writers of the medieval Church.
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1156 to 1537
The history of Jervaulx Abbey
The Cistercian abbey credited with the birth of Wensleydale cheese, and the only one of the four never to be cleared or restored.
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1154 to today
The history of Bolton Abbey
Not actually an abbey, but an Augustinian priory that survived the Dissolution as a parish church, on an estate still owned by the same family.
Read the history →Castles & Stately Homes
14th century to today
The history of Ripley Castle
Home to the same family for over 700 years, with a priest hole, a deer park, and a famous local legend involving Oliver Cromwell.
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1379 to today
The history of Bolton Castle
Built by a Lord Chancellor of England, and later the prison of a queen.
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c.1090 to today
The history of Skipton Castle
The castle that withstood the longest siege of the English Civil War, and was rebuilt by one of its most formidable owners.
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1699 to today
The history of Castle Howard
A playwright's first building commission became one of the grandest private houses in England.
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1622 to today
The history of Kiplin Hall
A Jacobean house built by the man who founded the American colony of Maryland.
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c.1690s to today
The history of Newby Hall
A Georgian house remodelled by one of the great names of English interior design to house a collection of classical sculpture.
Read the history →Towns & Spas
Norman Conquest to 1630
The history of Knaresborough and Mother Shipton's Cave
A castle that sheltered the murderers of an archbishop, and a cave linked to England's most famous prophetess.
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1571 to today
The history of Harrogate as a spa town
How a chance discovery of a sulphur spring grew into one of the most fashionable resort towns in Georgian and Victorian England.
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AD 71 to today
The history of York
A Roman fortress, a Viking trading capital, and home to one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe.
Read the history →Literary & Railway Heritage
1820 to 1861
The history of the Brontë family at Haworth
A remote Yorkshire parsonage produced three of the most significant novelists in English literature within a single decade.
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1869 to today
The history of the Settle-Carlisle Railway and Ribblehead Viaduct
One of the most punishing railway constructions in Victorian Britain became one of the most scenic lines in the country.
Read the history →PLAN YOUR VISIT
Turn history into a day out
Every place on this page is somewhere you can actually visit from Pateley Bridge. See drive times, opening details and our full pick of things to do nearby.