With its narrow, cobbled main street, white-walled cottages and ancient village church, set in a deep, narrow valley, Dent, in Cumbria, is one of the loveliest of Dales villages.,
Passing the Ribblehead viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle railway line you turn of the narrow hill roads to even narrower road, flanked with grasses, bracken and wild flowers. One noted was
Bistort (Persicaria bistorta) not one we are use to seeing.
Walking through the cobbled streets of Dent - still known by its old name of Dent Town - you will find an art gallery, blacksmith's shop and a memorial fountain to its most famous son, geologist Professor Adam Sedgwick, 1785-1874. Sedgwick was the Woodwardian Professor of Geology at Cambridge University and one of the great founding fathers of the modern science of geology. He was a friend of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, teacher and later opponent of Charles Darwin and a great benefactor and historian of his native Dentdale
.(LINK)
Locals gathered at the edge of the main road to watch the passing traffic
The twelfth century church of St. Andrew contains altar flagstones made from the beautiful black Dent marble, the area's most famous mining export. The working lives and social customs of local people since the sixteenth century - including the 'Terrible Knitters of Dent' - are revealed at the
Dent Village Heritage Centre.
One of the most beautiful Dales villages I have re-visited, lost in time. The last photo is of the cobbled streets that run through the village, at this time of the year it is at it's best, but would be a long bleak place in winter, I would feel trapped by the huge hills touching the sky line on all sides.
If you get chance to catch the train, please take time to get of a Dentdale...
