Settle

North Yorkshire

Settle is a market town in the Craven former district of North Yorkshire.

Although quite a small town, it is the nearest for a large area stretching from the western part of the Yorkshire Dales to the Forest of Bowland. The town was granted a market charter back in 1248.

Market Place, SettleDuke Street, SettleWhile the town is just outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park, it borders the National Park to the north and east and the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the west.

The town has characterful inns, cafes and shops and on Tuesday its Market Place is filled with the bustle of its weekly market.

Settle is at one end of the highly scenic 72-mile-long Settle - Carlisle Railway, the mainline to Carlisle from Settle Junction, where it diverges from the line taking trains between Leeds to Morecambe. The line was opened in 1875 and passes through the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Cumbrian fells and boasts impressive stone-built viaducts, tunnels and small stations providing access to remote locations in the National Park. There are trains from Settle to and from Leeds and Carlisle. For trains to and from Lancaster and Morecambe, Giggleswick station is just a mile away.

Museum of North Craven LifeFlowerpot characters decorate the town in July and AugustSettle Flowerpot Festival An impressive 17th century house called The Folly in Settle houses the Museum of North Craven Life which has opening days between early April and near the end of October each year.

In July and August the town hosts a Flowerpot Festival with dozens of quirky characters created from flower pots decorating the town.

Find out more about the Settle Flowerpot Festival at its website.

Find out more about the Museum of North Craven Life at The Folly website.

Find out more about The Settle-Carlisle Railway at its website.

Town features

Settle is close to the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Settle is close to the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The town is at a bridge over the River Ribble.

Settle holds a traditional outdoor market - (Tuesday).

The town has a rich variety of traditional shops. Settle offers bakery goods, butchers, antiques, books, clothes, crafts, flowers, furnishings, gifts, jewellery and other goods.

The town has a Post Office.

Settle has banks.

The town has a pharmacy.

Settle has a choice of pubs.

Settle has a selection of places to eat.

Takeaway food outlets in the town include fish and chips, chinese, curries.

The town has a library.

Settle has a museum.

Settle has a theatre.

The town has a swimming pool - (Situated just across the river bridge in neighbouring Giggleswick).

There are public toilets in the town.
Locations of toilets and opening times can be found at this North Yorkshire Council - Public toilets web page.

Places of worship: Anglican, Catholic, Methodist.

Settle has tourist information.

Places to stay in Settle include hotel, guest house, inn, caravan, camping accommodation.

Travel

Settle station

Station managed by: NORTHERN. Operator/s: NORTHERN.

NORTHERN - Departure and station info
Link to Northern - external website providing information on all services at this station.

Bus travel

The town has buses to neighbouring towns and villages.

Road travel

Settle can be reached via the B6480 (A65)

Places to visit

Yorkshire Dales National Park

Much of the Craven district is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The National Park offers mountain peaks, beautiful river valleys, attractive villages with country inns, ruined abbeys and some of the finest limestone scenery in the UK with limestone pavements, dry valleys, potholes and underground caves. The area offers excellent hiking and walking territory with paths and trails for people of all abilities. It is a centre for potholing and caving, has mountain bike routes and offers plenty of opportunity to study its rich wildlife. For more information see our page dedicated to the Yorkshire Dales.

Malham Cove

Malham

Malham is a small village in a hill farming community in the Yorkshire Dales National Park which has for many years attracted tourists, walkers and geographers as the location of some of the country's most magnificent limestone scenery. Find out more about Malham.

Bolton Priory and River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey

Bolton Priory

Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire
The beautiful setting at Bolton Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales National Park is one of the most visited monastic sites in Yorkshire. Beside the River Wharfe are the ruins of Bolton Priory, where the nave of the priory church still survives as a parish church. The Augustinian priory was founded in 1154 and continued until the dissolution in 1539. The abbey has been carefully managed by the Devonshire family since 1755 and now has day-fee car parking (£15 a car or £12.50 pre-booked, as at July 2023), also gift shops, tea rooms, restaurants and facilities for weddings and corporate events. There is an extensive network of footpaths around the estate and one ancient right of way is the 60 stepping stones across the River Wharfe. Other paths lead into the ancient Strid Wood beside the river. Bolton Abbey is 5 miles east-north-east of Skipton (7 miles by road) and 5 miles north-west of Ilkley.

More information at

Bolton Abbey visitor website and at the

Priory Church website.
Find on map:

Bolton Abbey

Skipton Castle

The Bailey, Skipton, North Yorkshire
Skipton Castle is one of England's best restored medieval castles, standing between the town of Skipton and the top of a rocky cliff over the Eller Beck. The castle was first built as a Norman fort at the end of the 11th century, but was replaced in stone and in the early 14th century turned into a formidable stronghold after being granted to the Clifford family by King Edward II. Inside, the castle reveals how it was modified over the centuries, including a charming early Tudor courtyard with a yew tree growing at its centre. The castle was the scene of a Royalist last stand in the north during the English Civil War when it withstood a three-year siege until 1645. After the castle yielded, it was ruined by the Parliamentarians in the winter of 1648-9, but between 1657 and 1658 Lady Anne Clifford saw it carefully restored. The castle is open daily.

Find out more at

Skipton Castle website.
Find on map:

Skipton Castle

Embsay station

Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway

1903 Electric Autocar at EmbsayBolton Abbey stationEmbsay, near Skipton, to Bolton Abbey station
Operates from Embsay, about 1.5 miles from Skipton, to Bolton Abbey station about a mile away from the attractive priory ruins and beauty spot beside the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey. The railway runs trains on most days during the summer and at weekends at other times of year, except January. It also has a range of special weekend events, dining trains and footplate and signal box experience courses. Tank engines are the mainstay of steam operations on the line, but the railway also has a collection of historic diesel locomotives. Also running on the line some days is a restored hybrid electric railcar, which was way ahead of its time when built in York in 1903.

More information at the

Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway website.
Find on map:

Embsay Station

Ingleborough Cave

Near Clapham

This show cave about a 1-mile walk from the centre of Clapham village is one of the natural wonders of the Yorkshire Dales which has been attracting visitors over a period of 180 years. Underground tours along concrete paths in floodlit passages reveal a world of stalactites and stalagmites. The cave is open daily from mid-February to the end of October. Not to be missed if visiting the cave is Trow Gill, a short walk further up the valley from the cave entrance. The spectacular ravine was carved by the melt waters of the ice age.

More information at the

Ingleborough Cave website.
Find on map:

Ingleborough Cave

Kilnsey Park

Kilnsey Park Estate, off B6160 at Kilnsey
The scenic Kilnsey Park Estate has a cafe, local produce shop and an activity centre centred around its trout farm, offering fly fishing and family fun fishing lakes. It also offers an insight into nature through its trout raceways, reserve of wildflowers, red squirrel enclosure, butterfly gardens and bee observation hive and has farm animals and children's play areas.

More information at the

Kilnsey Park Estate website.
Find on map:

Kilnsey Park

Stump Cross Caverns

On B6265 Hebden Road, near Greenhow Hill

Situated around 5 miles west-south-west of Pateley Bridge, Stump Cross Caverns are show caves with some impressive stalactites and stalagmites among the limestone features reached by steps leading beneath the ground. A cafe with fine views across the nearby hills is also situated at the show cave entrance.

Find on map: Stump Cross Caverns

Emergency services

North Yorkshire Police

North Yorkshire Police website.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service website.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust website.

Local government

Civil parish council

Settle Town Council
Provides some local services in the area.
Link to council website:

Settle Town Council

District authority Abolished

Craven District Council

Craven District Council ceased from April 1, 2023. From 1974 it was a shire district covering more than 450 square miles of the western area of North Yorkshire with its administrative centre in Skipton. Much of the area is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The North Yorkshire Council unitary authority takes over services previously operated by Craven District Council. These included local planning, waste collection, street cleaning, parks and car parks, housing and markets.

Places in the former

Craven district.

Unitary authority New

North Yorkshire Council

The North Yorkshire Council is a new unitary authority formed from the previous County Council from April 1, 2023. It covers the existing county duties including highways, schools, libraries and transport planning over an area of around 3,085 square miles while also taking over the responsibilities of the seven huge district authorities also created in 1974 — Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby — these including local planning, waste collection, street cleaning, parks and car parks, housing and markets.

Councillors were elected to the County Council in 2022 and continue as councillors of the new North Yorkshire Council unitary authority. In that election, the Conservatives gained a slim majority gaining 47 of the 90 seats.

Places in North Yorkshire

Link to council website: North Yorkshire Council

Political composition:

4613119 NY Ind5411E

90 members

NY Ind = North Yorkshire Independents group E = By-election in Eastfield division pending on May 25, 2023.
Composition and groupings as at May 4, 2023

County authority Abolished

North Yorkshire County Council

North Yorkshire County Council was a shire county authority which existed between 1974 and April 1, 2023, covering duties including highways, schools, libraries and transport planning. It was transformed into the North Yorkshire Council unitary authority on April 1, 2023, while the seven huge district authorities within — Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby — were also abolished.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire
Covers the county of North Yorkshire and City of York.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire website.

National government region

Yorkshire and the Humber

Ceremonial county

North Yorkshire

Historic

- 1974: Within the West Riding of Yorkshire.
1974 - 2023: In the Craven shire district of the North Yorkshire county.

Also in Yorkshire.guide

New Places to visit Gazetteer