(A) Carperby is a small village having a hotel but no shops. A detailed description of all the buildings is given in its conservation area appraisal. See: http://www.outofoblivion.org.uk/pdfs/appraisals/carperby.pdf.
The Wheatsheaf is famous nowadays as the hotel where James Herriott had his honeymoon. The relevant visitor’s book is displayed in the bar and in the hotel proper is an amusing letter written to Herriott’s father after the event.
(B) The Wensleydale Railway. The original line between Northallerton and Hawes took 30 years to complete by the North Eastern Railway, from 1848 to 1878. The Midland completed the route to Hawes Junction (later Garsdale) on the then new Settle and Carlisle line in 1878. Having lost its passenger services in 1954, and almost half its route mileage by the early 1960s, the line survived until 1992 by carrying limestone from Redmire to the smelters on Teesside. When that traffic finished, the MOD decided to use the line for the occasional transport of military vehicles, something which continues to this day, and this kept the line alive long enough for the Wensleydale Railway Association (formed in 1990) to build support and eventually form a company to take a 100 year lease on the 22 miles of line from Northallerton to Redmire.
The line reopened to passenger traffic from Leeming Bar to Leyburn in 2003, and to Northallerton in 2013.
In the longer term, it is intended to rebuild the line west of Redmire to Castle Bolton, Aysgarth, Hawes and eventually Garsdale on the famous Settle to Carlisle Railway. The Railway is run largely by volunteers, supported by a small paid staff, and you can help by becoming a member of the Wensleydale Railway Association or the Wensleydale Railway Trust.
See: http://www.wensleydalerail.com/
(C) Aysgarth Force is a triple flight of waterfalls surrounded by forest and farmland, carved out by the River Ure over an almost a one-mile stretch on its descent to mid-Wensleydale. The falls are quite spectacular during wet weather, as thousands of gallons of water cascade over the series of broad limestone steps consisting of horizontal layers of hard limestone separated by thin bands of soft shale. These rocks are part of the Yoredale geological series that were laid down on the sea floor over 300 million years ago, while the falls themselves are a product of the Ice Age.
Aysgarth Falls have attracted visitors for over 200 years; Ruskin, Turner and Wordsworth visited, all enthusing about the falls’ outstanding beauty. The upper and middle fall was featured in the film Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves.
(D) Yore Mill. Yore is an archaic spelling for the river Ure. Yore Mill is a four-storey, Grade II listed building, built in 1784 by Birkbecks from Settle. It is of considerable historical interest, being one of the earliest examples of industrialisation in a rural setting.
Water flows from the river by way of a stone race at the upper of three large waterfalls. The race channels the water behind the Mill, originally to turn a water wheel that drove the mechanisms within the building. Originally, the Mill served as a cotton mill. In 1852 the Mill burned down and the interior was destroyed. It was rebuilt the following year, an extra storey high and twice the original length and width. The upper storeys accommodated carding and spinning of knitting yarn. This finished in 1870.
The worsted produced at the mill was given out to knitters in the dale to make into stockings and jerseys.
When machine goods came in, over seven thousand of the jerseys were left on the hands of the knitters for several years. Eventually they were dyed and sent to Italy to become redcoats for Garibaldi’s’ army.
In the lower storey corn grinding continued until after the second World War. The Mill was converted in 1912 into a flour-rolling plant, and in 1937 two Gilks and Gilchrist water turbines, that are still in place, replaced the water wheel, and the latest milling machinery was installed. Flour production ceased in 1958 and the Mill was used as a cattle food depot until it changed ownership in 1969. The mill then became home to the Carriage Museum., now apparently defunct. The mill now houses a tearoom.
In the earlier part of this century a portion of the mill premises was occupied for school purposes, and was known as the Yore Mills Academy. The Academy was established by John Drummond, a man of great scholarship, who was lineally descended from the unfortunate Earls of Perth, who lost their estates through being implicated in the Stuart rebellion last century.
As a schoolmaster John Drummonds attainments were undoubtedly considerable, and much in advance of his time; as a mathematician he was widely known, and had few equals. He was also a skilled land-surveyor, and an accomplished artist and engraver. He was a member of the Bristol Mathematical Society, and three years in succession he won the first prize (which no-one else ever achieved) for mathematical problems originated by that society. Extracted from: http://thedales.org.uk/aysgarth/yore-mill-aysgarth/
(E) Aysgarth Edwardian Rock Garden. Frank Sayer Graham made his living as a game dealer who specialised in the fur trade based on the longstanding commercial rabbit warren at Ladyhill, a little further down the dale and visible from the Rock Garden. This warren was renowned for its silver-grey rabbits whose fur was prized for the lining of car coats for the rich and famous, and it would seem that this business interest enabled Frank to become wealthy.
As a way to show off their plants to great effect, enthusiasts created rock gardens and some nursery firms became specialists in building these so that people could have their own little alpine paradise at home, albeit on a very small scale! In the north of England the firm of James Backhouse and Son in York became famous for such work. Aysgarth Rock Garden is one such Backhouse garden of 1906 and is a very rare surviving example of a “walk-through grotto” type. The massive waterworn limestone blocks that form the garden were brought from an area known as Stephen’s Moor about half a mile west towards the village of Thornton Rust in an act that today would be considered a completely unacceptable form of environmental vandalism. For the rest of Frank’s life it remained a much loved, but to quote the original sign on the wrought iron entrance gate, a very “private rock garden” to which visitors were only allowed to view by personal invitation. Local children were particularly discouraged from entering. Frank had no direct descendants and so the house was sold and the contents auctioned in 1947.
During the second half of the 20th century the Rock Garden passed through a numbers of owners, including one who had a garden gnome business, which explains why a number of mainly headless gnomes still exist partly hidden in crevices. In the late 1980s there was a danger that the plot would be sold for development, but thanks to a local campaign the structure was saved from destruction in 1988 by the highly unusual step of being given Grade II Listed Building status. Despite this protection, by 1998, when Angela and Peter Jauneika bought Heather Cottage and associated land, the Rock Garden had become very neglected. Angela discovered that the garden was of national historic horticultural significance, and she devoted several years of her life to the project, and thanks to her dedication, grants and donations from various bodies and individuals were received in order to fund the restoration. This money paid for expert advice on design and planting from garden historian, Jo Makin, and for the services of professional alpine specialist, Michael Myers. The garden was formally reopened to visitors in July 2003 by Eric Robson.
At the time of writing the owners are Adrian and Rosemary Anderson. Entrance is tree. Please make a generous voluntary donation.
For a full description see: http://www.aysgarthrockgarden.co.uk/history.htm
(F) Castle Dykes Henge consists of a flat circular area more than 60 metres in diameter with a bank and ditch around it. It may at some time have contained a ring of upright stones. For an exhaustive explanation see http://megalithix.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/castle-dykes-aysgarth/
(G) St Andrews Church, Aysgarth. The church was dedicated to St Andrew, and was the “mother” church to all the district of Upper Wensleydale, including Lunds. The first structure was built in the early 13th century. The present church is an ancient building of stone in the Early English and Inter styles, consisting of chancel with aisles, nave, aisles, south porch and embattled western tower with pinnacles containing a clock, presented by J C. Winn esq. in 1904. 6 bells were cast in 1829. The upper stage and pinnacles were added to the tower at the restoration of the church in 1864.
The elaborately carved and decorated rood screen now affixed to the south wall of the chancel, was brought from Jervaulx Abbey, and the finely carved ends of the reading desk are also the work of the monks of that house.
The reredos of Caen stone, adorned with a representation of The Last Supper,” after Leonardo da Vinci, was given in the year 1887 by the daughters of the late H. T. Robinson of Edgley, and The Cliff, Leyburn.
For a fuller description see: http://thedales.org.uk/history-of-aysgarth-church/