HARDRAWAn introduction to the built heritage of the village

The village of Hardraw lies in Upper Wensleydale

about 1.5km to the north-west of Hawes towards

the edge of the level valley floor, where the road

that runs along the north side of the dale crosses

Hardraw Beck a few hundred metres above its

confluence with the Ure. Above the village, the sides

of the Hardraw Beck valley narrow into a short

gorge, at the head of which is Hardaw’s best-known

feature, the 30m waterfall called Hardraw Force. The

waterfall has been a popular tourist destination since

the 18th century.

south. Other more vernacular remnants are

incorporated in the Green Dragon Inn and Cissy’s

Cottage, both having odd rounded projections on the

north which also may be worthy of further

investigation. They may relate to staircases or

alternatively may be some sort of hearth/stack

arrangement.

As is often the case in Wensleydale, the coming of

wealthy Victorian patronage saw the appearance of

structures that left behind local vernacular traditions.

These are namely the parish church rebuilt around

1880 by R H Carpenter and the school, possibly by

the same hand, at the west end of the village, along

with a scatter of houses and an extension to the

Green Dragon.

The later 20th century has also seen new affluence,

reflected both in the remodelling of older properties

and the construction of new ones, some more

sympathetic to their surroundings than others. The

Green Dragon was extended again and has become

the dominant building within the village.

For a more detailed discussion of Hardraw Force and

early tourism in the Dales see the essay titled

‘Tourism’ in the Themes/Recreation section of the

website www.outofoblivion.org.uk .

Hardraw is a relatively small village, and is centred

on the bridge that carries the road along the north

side of the main Ure valley over Hardraw Beck, just

as it emerges from its gorge. Local building materials

are predominant as usual. A special note should be

taken of the locally quarried sandstone flags used

both for roofing and for paving footpaths. The path

which runs through the fields to the south-east of the

bridge is a particularly good example.

The most significant early building is the Old Hall, a

substantial late 17th-century house that does not

seem to have been studied in detail, with a two-

room-deep plan and a central tower-like porch on theBrass band

concert

HARDRAWPlan showing featured buildings

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1. MILEPOSTA late 19th century cast-iron

milepost (‘SEDBERGH 15

MILES/ASKRIGG 5 MILES’)

can be found on the south

side of the road about 300m

west of the bridge. It is

Grade II listed. Unfortunately

it is set on the south side of

the road, whereas it should

be on the north, so that the

helpfully pointing hands now

indicate the opposite

directions to those intended.

5. CHURCH OF ST MARY AND ST JOHN The Grade II listed parish church was built

in 1879-1881, R H Carpenter being the

architect. It was funded by the Earl of

Wharncliffe, as commemorated on a brass

tablet just inside the south door. It replaced

a chapel-of-ease, probably post-medieval,

first mentioned in 1686 and seemingly

renovated or rebuilt around the middle of

the 18th century. The present building is in

a free 12th/13th-century style mixing

Romanesque and Gothic motifs, which the

church guide terms ‘muscular Gothic’, with

no reference to local tradition or regional

4. HARDRAW BRIDGEThe Grade II listed bridge over Hardraw Beck is of

simple vernacular character, and built of coursed

rubble. It has a single segmental arch and a band

at the base of the parapet, which has a coping of

triangular-section slabs. The west abutment is

pierced by three square-headed openings,

reducing in height away from the stream, to take

flood water, thus reducing pressure on the bridge.

The predecessor of the present bridge was

destroyed in a great flood in 1889.

3. OLD HALLA substantial 17th-century house (Grade II listed)

consisting of a broad block two rooms deep, with

shallow-pitched gables to east and west, and in

the centre of the south side a three-storey gable

porch. None of the gables have any coping,

suggesting that they may not be in their original

form, although the whole series of stacks along

the ridge (serving fireplaces in the spine wall) have

old moulded cornices. A number of original

windows survive, some of which have lost their

intermediate mullions.

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HARDRAW FORCE PLEASURE GROUNDSThe waterfall at Hardraw is one of the most

famous in the Dales due to its status as the

highest single fall waterfall in England. The

waterfall has been a visitor attraction since the

18th century and was visited - amongst others -

by both Turner and Wordsworth. The steep sided

gorge leading up to it has been extensively

landscaped over the years. The majority of the

surviving bridges, paths and stairways along with

folly-type buildings and the bandstand probably

date to the period of renovation work ordered by

the owner of the site, Lord Wharton, following a

2. OLD SCHOOLNow the William Hulme’s Grammar School Outdoor

Centre this is a slightly quirky Victorian building

that it has been suggested is another work of

Carpenter, who designed the church. Its roof is of

Lakeland slates rather than the local flagstones.

The western part, which has its west wall hung

with Welsh slates in an attempt to ward off the

prevalent rain-bearing winds, was the

schoolmaster’s house. In the angle between it

and the single-storey school is an open porch.

The school itself has a series of roof vents set in

little gablets on its roof, some with wooden tracery,

and a cross-gable at its east end with a big

quatrefoil enclosing the date 1875.

6. THE GREEN DRAGON INN The western part of the block fronting the

street is probably of early 18th-century

date, with a projecting stack on the west

gable end, and a large apsidal projection,

perhaps a stair turret, on the north now

much altered. The taller eastern part of the

block is Victorian, and has watershot

masonry and stone block corbels to its

eaves. Both parts have 16-pane sash

windows. Inside there are old beamed

ceilings and some interesting fireplaces.

There are large 20th-century extensions to

the rear. Access to the waterfall of Hardraw

Scar is through the Inn. At the beginning of

the gorge a bandstand, famous for brass

band concerts in the 19th century (and

recently reinstituted), is a plain circle of

rubble walling.

destructive flood in the summer of 1899. Lord

Wharton even had the lip of the waterfall

reinforced with iron pins so that the height of the

fall should not be diminished. It is likely that the

restored late Victorian landscape replaced a similar

earlier one in the Victorian Gothic Romantic style.

The site is still a popular tourist destination, helped

by its use in the Hollywood film, ‘Robin Hood –

Prince of Thieves’ and also by the annual brass

band competition which takes advantage of the

superb acoustics of the gorge. Restoration of the

bridges, paths and other landscape features began

in 2004 after a long period of neglect.

character. It consists of a nave with a

south porch and a chancel with a vestry on

the north. Relics from the older chapel

include a Jacobean screen closing the

segmental-headed arch to the vestry (with

simple panelling and a fluted frieze), a

stone tablet in the vestry recording

18th-century grants from Queen Anne’s

Bounty, and two memorials, a marble tablet

topped by an urn to James Metcalfe died

1784, and a late 18th-century brass tablet

to the Stuart family, both of Sedbusk, on

the walls of the nave. The east window of

1914 is a Crucifixion by Sir Ninian Comper.

Private Spaces Public PlacesVillage Heritage Project

This leaflet and others in the series were produced by the

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority as part of the Private

Spaces Public Places project. This European Union funded

project was undertaken during 2003-5 in selected villages in

the Richmondshire area of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The project’s aim was to enable communities to take a more

active role in the management and enhancement of the

historic character of their villages, and to promote a common

outlook on their future development. An Historic Environment

Consultancy firm was appointed by the Yorkshire Dales

National Park Authority to complete character appraisal

documents in consultation with each community. The

documents include an appraisal of the historic character of

the village, and form the basis for the development of an

agreed action plan targeting specific enhancement projects.

Electronic versions of the village character appraisal

documents, along with a copy of this leaflet are available on

www.yorkshiredales.org.uk from the Understanding/Historic

Environment page.

PARTICIPATING VILLAGES

WARD: Aysgarth:

VILLAGES:

Carperby

West Burton

Thornton Rust

Aysgarth

Thoralby

Newbiggin

WARD: Bolton Manor:

VILLAGES:

Castle Bolton

West Witton

WARD: Grinton and Upper Swaledale:

VILLAGES:

Muker

Gunnerside

Low Row

Keld

Grinton

WARD: Hawes and High Abbotside:

VILLAGES:

Gayle

Burtersett

Sedbusk

Hardraw PROJECT PART-FINANCED

BY THE EUROPEAN UNION

GLOSSARYPrivate Spaces Public Places Village Heritage Project

AshlarGood quality cut stone with a smoothly-tooledsurface.

BandHorizontal ashlar courses standing proud of thewall face. If moulded or chamfered it would betermed a ‘string course’.

GabletsA small gable, usually over a dormer window, as opposed to the large gable of the end of abuilding.

Intermediate mullionsIntermediate is a word meaning ‘in between’, sointermediate mullions are those in between others. If the intermediate mullions wereremoved from a four-light window it wouldbecome a two-light one.

Segmental-headed archArch in which the head is a single segment ofan arch, in contrast to a semi-circular(Romanesque), or a Gothic pointed form.

Stone block corbelsCorbels that are a simple square or rectangularblock in form, rather than being shaped ormoulded.

Watershot masonryA type of coursed masonry, very typical of Dalesbuildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, inwhich the faces of the individual stones slopeslightly outwards from top to bottom, so as tothrow water clear of the wall face.