Do you have a memorial bench in Arkengarthdale?
If so, please get in touch with the Parish Council as soon as possible. We have recently revised our bench policy to remain compliant with insurance requirements and within our budget.
If we have not heard from you by email by 31 December 2024, we will assume you have no further interest in the bench and reserve the right to remove it as appropriate (for example, if it becomes dangerous or unsafe).
We will be contacting all bench owners individually, for whom we hold contact details. If you do not hear from us by the end of July 2024 please assume we are unable to contact you and get in touch using the 'contact us' page on this website.
Many thanks. (Date of posting: 31 May 2024)
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Collapsed wall as Foregill bridge, Arkle Town, on 1 January 2024
Please note that the collapsed wall is in the parish of Reeth, not Arkengarthdale. Please direct all enquiries and comments to North Yorkshire Council or Reeth, Fremington & Healaugh Parish Council, as appropriate.
Update June 2024
FOREGILL BRIDGE – RETAINING WALL REPLACEMENT: Summer 2024 - Autumn 2025
North Yorkshire Council will be undertaking works at Foregill Bridge, Arkle Town. The works will comprise demolition and rebuilding of the retaining walls that approach Foregill Bridge. To do this safely, we will need to close the road over the bridge and retaining walls. Before the road closure is implemented, a temporary road will be constructed in the adjacent fields. The temporary road will allow public access around the closure for the full duration of the works thus minimising disruption. However, please be aware that there may still be some delays and brief road closures at short notice throughout the scheme, to safely allow the completion of some activities. The works to create the temporary road are currently programmed to commence on Monday 1st July. The project is expected to be fully completed by autumn 2025. Please note, some adjustment to this start date or the duration of the works may be necessary should unforeseen circumstances such as significant weather events or emergencies on the highway network arise.
Update April 2024
The collapse of a 10m section of the retaining wall at Foregill Bridge occurred on 1 January 2024. After careful consideration and investigations by the North Yorkshire Council structures team, the structure has not been deemed fit for recommissioning. Given this, North Yorkshire Council are planning to replace the retaining walls north and south of Foregill Bridge.
Due to the considerable disruption that these works will cause and the strategic importance of the route for Arkengarthdale, the plan is to construct a temporary road through the adjacent fields. The road will comprise a paved single carriageway and will allow traffic to bypass the structure for the duration of the works.
The scheme is currently being designed, a contractor has been engaged, and the expectation is that work will commence in the next few months.
Update 19 January 2024
Highways have confirmed that the emergency stabilisation works at Foregill Bridge concluded yesterday evening (Thursday 18 January) and the road is now open to traffic.
They hope this stabilisation will allow the road to remain open until a scheme can be put into place. In the meantime, the structure will be monitored. If the condition of the structure deteriorates then they will re-assess the situation.
Update 12 January 2024
The road at Foregill bridge will be closed for up to 3 days from next Tuesday 16 January 2024, weather permitting. This is for stabilisation work to allow the road to remain open until the summer. Vehicles will be diverted via the watersplash and Low Row. Further details.
Update 3 January 2024
Highways have confirmed this afternoon that the road at Arkle Town will stay open for now. They are monitoring it and if it becomes unsafe they will have to close it. They will let us know if this happens. Fingers crossed that the road will last until summer. If so, it will be closed then for several months.
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Arkengarthdale is the most northerly Yorkshire Dale and is said to be named after Arkil, an 11th century Viking chieftain. Running through its valley is the Arkle Beck, joining the Swale at Reeth. In 1656 the people of London sold Arkengarthdale to Dr John Bathurst, physician to Oliver Cromwell. The Bathurst family and their descendants did much to develop the lead mining industry in the dale, especially Dr John Bathurst’s son Charles, who gave his name and initials not only to the lead from the mines but also to The CB Inn. Further up the dale from The CB Inn is a triangular collection of cottages known as CB Yard. Now private dwellings, they were originally the administrative centre for lead mining in the dale, and would have housed the joiner’s workshop, a sawmill and smithy, as well as the offices and lodgings for the mine owner’s agent. In an adjoining field is the intriguing “Powder House”. Built in 1807, well away from the other buildings, it was used to store gunpowder and, later, dynamite used in the mines. The fuses were kept separately in one of the buildings in CB Yard. There is a restored, original ore cart sited on the edge of High Green near Langthwaite. An associated interpretation board explains the cart's use and gives a summary of the history of lead mining in the dale.
Visitors to the dale cannot fail to notice Scar House, an imposing residence which now belongs to the Duke of Norfolk. Believed to have been built by the Gilpin Brown family, benefactors of St. Mary’s church, the house passed to Lieutenant Colonel Guy Greville Wilson, DSO, CMG, who served in both the Boer and Great wars. An MP in Hull, he was said to procure “loose women” for his friend the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. The house was sold in the early 1930s to meet his gambling debts, to Sir Thomas Sopwith, renowned for the "Sopwith Camel” fighter plane. Lady Sopwith allegedly disapproved that another large house, Eskeleth Hall, was situated geographically higher than Scar House and had the hall demolished.