Dent, Yorkshire Dales, Autumn
Time to revisit an old friend.
Time to revisit an old friend.
With fairer conditions promised, we head out as soon as I finished work on Friday evening. We’d managed to book a table at the Meadowside Cafe in Dent, but beforehand we wanted to get reacquainted with this magical valley.
Dent is small, old village situated in a valley of its namesake: Dentdale. The valley is narrow and steep-sided, with Aye Gill Pike (556 m/1,824 ft) looming above Dent on the northern side and Great Coum (687 m/2,254 ft) rearing up behind.
The village itself is gorgeous, featuring buildings that are three to four centuries old, a cobbled village centre, gorgeous old church, and more.
We relished a light-hearted trek towards the south along the slopes of the fell, aiming to explore the Dancing Flags at Flinter Gill. The Dancing Flags are a vast spread of flat, naturally occurring stone slabs, which for centuries were employed by local weavers to 'waulk' their freshly woven cloths, traditionally referred to as 'webs'. 'Waulking' involved the process of thoroughly soaking the cloth before stepping on it barefoot, leading to a minor shrinkage and 'felting up' of the fabric. This resulted in a much denser and consequently warmer material. This technique was once universally adopted and was often referred to as 'dancing the web' in various regions, thus giving the stones their name.
After wandering around the village, it was time to pack the gear away and enjoy a fabulous meal at Meadowside Cafe.
All photos taken on my Sony α7ii using my Sony FE 28–70mm f3.5–5.6 OSS zoom lens. RAWs were developed in Lightroom for iPad using RNI Films’ Kodachrome film profiles, then finalised in Affinity Photo 2 for iPad.
Dent, Yorkshire Dales, Autumn by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
From the main village car park, there were already tremendous views over the old sandstone houses to Middleton Fell and the wall of Combe Scar.
This is where Flinter Gill tumbles down the Dancing Flags. At least, where it normally does. Despite all the rain we saw in July and August, Flinter Gill was exceptionally dry.
From near the Dancing Flags, the views back down to Dent village were exceptional.
It will be nice to shoot the Dancing Flags when there’s loads of water pouring down. Of course, that will also make it harder to get close.
Heading back down into the village, we enjoyed the almost timeless scenes that Dent presents around nearly every corner.
Save for the car and satellite dish, this scene could be from 1923, rather than 2023.
Not a bad backdrop for a football game, eh?
Some of these houses in Dent date back to the 1600s. One such building was the birthplace and home of Adam Sedgwick, the “father” of British geology.
A rusty barn provides a beautiful colour contrast to all the surrounding greenery. Above, a beam of light scans across the fellside of Aye Gill Pike.
Crossing the 18th century Church Bridge with staggering views towards Aye Gill Pike.
Back over towards the northwestern side of the village, the road serves as a leading line towards Helms Knott as the light starts to fade.
The signage may have changed over time, but this scene will have been relatively unchanged for a century or so.
Stone Close is a 17th century tea room, it’s walls thick and whitewashed. The cobbled road points deeper into the village.
St. Andrew’s Church, with Aye Gill Pike behind it. The church dates from the 12th century, with the tower added in the 18th century. It was restored in the late 1800s.
The George & Dragon hotel and pub, rebuilt in the 19th century. To the right, a home maintains its original Martins Bank Ltd. signage. This was bank company was formed around 400 years ago, and had a significant presence throughout the north of England. It was bought by Barclays in 1969.
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Dentdale, Yorkshire Dales, England
A week ago, in the Yorkshire Dales, we experienced a winter fairytale. Today, all the snow has gone. The air is damp and drizzly, everything is wet, and the fells are cloaked in swirling clouds.
A week ago, in the Yorkshire Dales, we experienced a winter fairytale. Today, all the snow has gone. The air is damp and drizzly, everything is wet, and the fells are cloaked in swirling clouds.
It’s still beautiful, though. Lisabet and I enjoyed a stroll around Dentdale, one of the westernmost dales in the Yorkshire Dales, its village and its valley. Further up towards the head of the valley you’ll find a couple of viaducts crossing steep gills, with Arten Gill Viaduct one of the more epic ones. Today was a different kind of winter; gloomy skies, vivid moss, and a rain-soaked landscape.
Photos taken with a Fujifilm X-T2 and a Samyang 12mm f2.