Bedale

Bedale ( ), is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Bedale Beck is a tributary of the River Swale, which forms one of the Yorkshire Dales. The dale has a predominant agriculture sector and its related small traditional trades, although tourism is increasingly important. Northallerton is north-east, Middlesbrough north-east and York is south-south-east. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town was listed in Domesday Book under what became the honour of Richmond. The honour had several wapentakes and Bedale was part of Hang (named after Hang Bank in Finghall or alternatively named after Catterick) and later Hang East.

Bedale ( ), is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Bedale Beck is a tributary of the River Swale, which forms one of the Yorkshire Dales. The dale has a predominant agriculture sector and its related small traditional trades, although tourism is increasingly important. Northallerton is north-east, Middlesbrough north-east and York is south-south-east. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town was listed in Domesday Book under what became the honour of Richmond. The honour had several wapentakes and Bedale was part of Hang (named after Hang Bank in Finghall or alternatively named after Catterick) and later Hang East. ==Later history== In the 18th century Bedale was a centre of horseracing. It was the place where races for three-year-olds were introduced in England (previously limited to older horses). The Poor Relief Act 1722 enabled extension of what would be the Poor Law Unions and workhouses. Bedale had the largest house in the North Riding, capable of holding eighty paupers (Whitby ran a close second with 76 paupers listed there.) ==Governance== The electoral ward of the same name includes Aiskew parish, with a total population of 4,601 at the 2011 Census. In October 2018 the town was twinned with Azay-sur-Cher, a small town on the River Cher in the Loire Valley in France. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the Hambleton District. It is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council. Bedale was part of the Richmond (Yorks) parliamentary constituency until 2023. It was removed and added to the expanded Thirsk and Malton constituency, in part owing to areas from that constituency being transferred into the new seat of Wetherby and Easingwold. ===St Gregory's=== The church retains some Catholic relics, although during the English Civil War Puritans vandalised features such as statues. St Gregory's has a painting of St George slaying the dragon, unusual in that St George is depicted as being left-handed, and also contains a stone Viking Age grave marker, notable for a rare depiction of the legend of Wayland Smith. When Scots raided the countryside, inhabitants expected to find security in St Gregory's pele tower. There is a portcullis at the foot of the tower for extra security. Bedale St Gregory is the parish church in the Church of England in the rural deanery of Wensley within the Diocese of Leeds and its patron is the present Beresford-Peirse baronet. There is a plaque in the church listing all priests of the parish. There is another plaque of the previous landlords of Bedale, featuring coats of arms of these people or their families: Fitzalan, Stapleton, Grey of Rotherfield (related to Lady Jane Grey), Sheffield, de Warrene (Earl of Surrey), Brian de Thornhill, Lawrence de Thornhill, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, Fitz Hugh of Tanfield, John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, Marmion, Arthur III, Duke of Brittany and Ascough/Aiskew. St Gregory's had a daughter church known as St Augustine's Church and Village Hall at Leeming Bar, no longer used for worship, and a Mission Chapel at Burrill. There are other local Anglican chapels, such as St Gregory's at Crakehall and St Patrick's at Patrick Brompton. Two other parishes with churches joined in the benefice with St Gregory's are St John the Baptist (Leeming village) and St Mary the Virgin (Thornton Watlass). ===Others=== The Catholic St Mary and St Joseph's Church, Bedale lies in Aiskew. There are Methodist chapels in Bedale, Leeming, Crakehall and Aiskew. Some buildings in the area also have their own private chapels, such as at Christ's Hospital in Firby. ==Transport== Bedale lies on the B6285 road, which runs south and south east from Bedale and connects with the A6055 road at Burneston. The A684 road used to go through the town but a bypass was opened in August 2016, which means through traffic now avoids Leeming Bar, Aiskew and Bedale. The town is only west of the A1(M) at Leeming Bar via the A684 or via the adjoining village of Aiskew. Bedale has a railway station on the preserved Wensleydale Railway. The station opened in 1855 and lasted almost a century before British Rail closed it in April 1954. The line remained open for local goods until the 1980s and for the limestone quarry at Redmire until 1992. The Ministry of Defence paid £750,000 to have the line upgraded and improved so that it could transfer heavy vehicles (mostly tanks) between Catterick Garrison and other MoD sites across the United Kingdom. These trains continue to run sporadically. The line was eventually reopened in 2003 as a heritage railway between Leeming Bar and Redmire. The station is actually in Aiskew, since it lies east of Bedale Beck, which forms the boundary between the two. The line was later extended to Scruton as well as to the west of Northallerton. Work on making Bedale Beck navigable to barges down to the River Swale at Gatenby began in 1768 and resulted in an area at the south end of the town known as The Harbour. The plan was abandoned in 1855 when the railway was opened but the weir and some iron moorings still exist on the beck just south of the Bedale to Aiskew road bridge. A public footpath runs along the Bedale side of the beck from the bridge for more than , passing the leech house, the harbour and the sewage works, first behind houses and then emerging into open country with fields to the west. ==Education== Bedale has three schools: Bedale Primary School, Bedale High School and Mowbray School. ==Media== Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees. Television signals are received from the Bilsdale transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio York on 104.3 FM, Greatest Hits Radio York & North Yorkshire on 103.5 FM and Dales Radio on 104.9 FM. The town is served by the local newspapers, The Northern Echo and Darlington & Stockton Times. ==Filmography== The 1945 film The Way to the Stars was filmed with Bedale as the local town for the fictional RAF Halfpenny Field and some of the locations remain little changed. The film stars Sir John Mills and Sir Michael Redgrave as RAF pilots and Bedale was one of a number of locations used during filming. ==See also== Listed buildings in Bedale ===Sources=== ===Bibliography===

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