Sedbergh

File:Main Street, Sedbergh - geograph.org.uk - 2353579.jpg

Sedbergh has a narrow main street lined with shops. From all angles, the hills rising behind the houses can be seen. Until the coming of the Ingleton branch line in 1861, these remote places were reachable only by walking over some steep hills. Passenger services through Sedbergh railway station ran from 1861 to 1954.

The civil parish covers a large area, including the hamlets of Millthrop, Catholes, Marthwaite, Brigflatts, High Oaks, Howgill, Lowgill and Cautley, the southern part of the Howgill Fells and the western part of Baugh Fell.

George Fox, a founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), spoke in the churchyard of St Andrew's Church (which Quakers of the day called a "steeple house") and on nearby Firbank Fell during his travels in the North of England in 1652. Briggflatts Meeting House was built in 1675. It is the namesake of Basil Bunting's long poem Briggflatts (1966).

Sedbergh has three schools: Sedbergh Primary School, its main state funded primary school, Settlebeck School, its main state-funded secondary school, and Sedbergh School which is a co-educational boarding school in the town.

Sedbergh's parish church, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle, dates from the 12th century, although restored periodically since. There is at least one house in the village dating from the 14th century. The remains of the motte and bailey castle are believed to date from Saxon times.

Sedbergh's longstanding industries were farming and the production of woollen garments. Wool was taken to mills for spinning into yarn, from which people in their homes knitted clothing such as hats and socks. These were sold, for instance, to coal miners of North-East England. This trade of long ago is remembered at Farfield Mill,{{cite web |url=http://www.farfieldmill.org |title=The story of Farfield Mill |website=Farfieldmill.org}} just outside the town, which has an exhibition of weaving equipment and workshops for a number of artists and crafts workers.

Sedbergh is part of the Ewecross wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire. From 1894 to 1974 it was part of Sedbergh Rural District in the West Riding. In 1974 it was treated as part of the new administrative county of Cumbria, now abolished.{{Cite web |title=History of Sedbergh, in South Lakeland and West Riding {{!}} Map and description |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/14195 |access-date=2020-11-25 |website=www.visionofbritain.org.uk}}

Sedbergh belongs to the Morecambe and Lunesdale parliamentary constituency, of which Lizzi Collinge is the current Labour Party member.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/tim_farron/westmorland_and_lonsdale |title=Tim Farron |work=theyworkforyou.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601182051/http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/tim_farron/westmorland_and_lonsdale |archive-date=1 June 2013 |df=dmy-all}} Before Brexit, it was in the North West England European Parliamentary Constituency.

Sedbergh is part of the Sedbergh and Kirkby Lonsdale ward of Westmorland and Furness Council area.{{Cite web |title=Westmorland and Furness Council wards map. |url=https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/26626%20WFC%20Council%20Ward%20Map%20final.pdf}}

Sedbergh has a parish council.{{Cite web |url=https://www.sedbergh.org.uk/community/parish-council/ |title=Sedbergh Parish Council}}

Personal incomes come from a range of sources: the schools are major employers. Sedbergh is also England's official book town (like Hay-on-Wye in Wales and Wigtown in Scotland). Though smaller than these, it has several independent bookshops and dealers.{{Cite web |url=https://www.sedbergh.org.uk/book-town/book-sellers/ |title=Book Sellers |website=Visit Sedbergh}} Employment in small to medium manufacturing and wholesale companies may match or exceed that of schools – a growing feature of the economy. Other major sources are farming, retail and tourism. The profile of Sedbergh improved after it got featured in a BBC documentary series, The Town that Wants a Twin, airing for twelve episodes in January and February 2005.{{Cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/people/sophie-honey |title=Sophie Honey - GOV.UK |website=www.gov.uk}}{{Cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=asc&q=the+town+that+wants+a+twin&svc=9371535#search |title=Search Results – BBC Genome |website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk |access-date=2017-05-27}} One result was for Sedbergh to twin with Zreče in north-eastern Slovenia.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/19254341.cumbrias-twinned-towns-everything-need-know/ |title=Where are Cumbria's twinned towns? |newspaper=News and Star |date=25 April 2021 |first=Melissa |last=Major}}

The town suffered an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001. As livestock farming declined, it became a destination for walkers and ramblers. In 2015 the town was accepted as a Walkers are Welcome town.

The town golf club is located at Catholes-Abbott Holme.{{Cite web |url=http://www.sedberghgolfclub.com/ |title=Sedbergh Golf Club |website=www.sedberghgolfclub.com}}

A monthly booklet "Sedbergh and District Lookaround" gives details of local events and activities, including bus times and religious services.[http://www.sedberghlookaround.org.uk/ Sedbergh Lookaround].

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Border. Television signals are received from one of the two local relay transmitters (Sedbergh{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Sedbergh|title= Freeview Light on the Sedbergh (Lancashire, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=20 January 2024}} and Millthrop{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Millthrop|title= Freeview Light on the Millthrop (Cumbria, England) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=20 January 2024}}).

The town is served by both BBC Radio Lancashire and BBC Radio Cumbria. Other radio stations including Heart North West, Smooth Lake District, Greatest Hits Radio Cumbria & South West Scotland, Greatest Hits Radio Harrogate and the Yorkshire Dales and Dales Radio, a community based station.{{cite web |title=Ofcom {{!}} Community Radio Stations |url=http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiolicensing/html/radio-stations/community/cr100180ba2dalesradio.htm |website=static.ofcom.org.uk |access-date=20 January 2024}}

The local newspaper that covers the town is The Westmorland Gazette.

Ingmire Hall, about {{convert|2|mi|km|0|abbr=off|spell=on}} west of the town, dates mainly from the 16th-century and includes a pele tower. The house was expanded in the Victorian era, by a local architect, George Webster,{{Cite web |url=http://www.matthewpemmott.co.uk/2008/01/ingmire-hall-sedergh.html |title=Ingmire Hall, Sedergh |first=The Cumbrian Castle |last=listing}} and further extended in the 20th century. A fire in the 1920s caused major damage but the 1980s saw restoration work on the house. It is constructed of rubble stone coursed with quoins, with a slate roof. The hall is privately-owned but a public footpath follows the drive.{{Cite web |url=https://www.visitcumbria.com/yd/ingmire-hall/ |title=Ingmire Hall}}{{NHLE|num=1384161|desc=Ingmire Hall and stables and outbuildings to north Known As Ingmire Cottage|grade=II|access-date=3 February 2024}}

St Gregory's Church is a redundant Anglican church on the A684 road about {{convert|1+1/2|mi|km|round=0.5|abbr=off}} west of Sedbergh. It is designated a Grade II listed building recorded in the National Heritage List for England, maintained by Historic England and under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

The Cross Keys Temperance Inn is a 400-year-old pub now run by the National Trust.{{Cite web | title=The Cross Keys Temperance Inn {{!}} Cautley Spout, Sedbergh | url=https://www.cautleyspout.co.uk/ | access-date=2025-01-07 | website=www.cautleyspout.co.uk}}

Sedbergh has been twinned with Zreče, Slovenia since 2005.

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• Listed buildings in Sedbergh
• Sedbergh School
• Settlebeck School
• Slingsby T.21, glider known in RAF service as the Sedbergh

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{{commons category|Sedbergh}}

{{Wikivoyage}}

• [http://www.sedbergh.org.uk/ Sedbergh website]
• [http://www.sedberghgateway.org.uk/ Sedbergh Gateway website] – Information for Walkers and Cyclists
• [http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/sedbergh Cumbria County History Trust: Sedbergh] (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
• [http://www.english-lakes.com/sedbergh.html An illustrated guide to Sedbergh]
• [http://sedberghbooktown.co.uk/ Sedbergh Book Town]
• [http://www.paperclip.org.uk/Business/Sedbergh/sedbergh.htm Sedbergh pictures and information]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8VDx8ol9k8 Farfield Mill and water turbine - video footage]
• [https://sedberghprimary.org.uk/ Sedbergh Primary School]
• [https://settlebeck.org/ Settlebeck School]
• [https://www.sedberghschool.org/ Sedbergh School]

{{Cumbria}}

{{Yorkshire Dales}}

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Category:Towns in Cumbria

Category:History of Yorkshire

Category:Civil parishes in Cumbria

Category:Book towns