Village of the Week: Why Settle ended up with a French twin and has one of the most famous rail routes in the country

That said, even though Settle is a town – it is hardly urban sprawl at its worst.

Say your starting point for a visit here is the market square – the hub of the town and a huge part of the history and story as to how Settle developed from a series of farming hamlets into one of the most economically important towns in the Yorkshire Dales.

You will be greeted with homes and independent shops housed in buildings that are around the 300 year old mark.

Some look like drystone walls with the gaps filled in, others are stone and others, said to be the oldest, will still have built in ovens in the chimney.

You will be walking across a well-worn square that could it talk, it would have some stories to tell from the passage of time and life that would have seen a house-wife popping to the local family butcher (in this case the award-winning Drake and Macefield that was set up in 1898), suited and booted solicitors making their way to work in their offices, farmers selling their wares once a week and, more so nowadays, tourists from far and wide visiting the cafes, pubs and restaurants.

All this took place, and carries on to do so, under the watchful eye of the miles and miles of Yorkshire Dales countryside which can be the backdrop to the most spectacular, scenic day out or a barrage of bad weather. For Defoe, it is likely that Settle provided a welcome place to stop and refresh during his travels.

Settle, in Ribblesdale, is a few miles from the dramatic Yorkshire Three Peaks and is nestled under Castlebergh, a 300 feet high limestone crag.

I wonder what Defoe would have made with Settle having been twinned with Banyuls-sur-Mer, a seaside town in the French Mediterranean.

Twinning is a political or trade agreement between two places to help promote commerce and tourism. Generally, partnerships are formed with places that have similar names, migration links, or a mutual understanding of an event.

For example, after the Second World Way, Coventry was twinned with Stalingrad and then Dresden as all three had been heavily bombed.

Banyuls-sur-Mer was first settled by the Greeks and for 200 years made its way by smuggling goods to and from Spain. Tourism and farming are perhaps things it has in common with Settle, but if readers can shed light on this please let me know.

While Settle’s history isn’t Greek, it is pretty early and goes back to the seventh century with the first settlers after the Roman period contributing to how this town would be named.

In 1250 a market charter was granted and the beginnings of the town we see today started to take shape.

Albert Hill, Victoria Street, and High Street became main roads if you like, looking at them now you wouldn’t think so as they wind and twist with passing only possible by getting your car to breathe in.

But they head out of Settle towards and over the river and out to the hills and the settlements beyond – such as Giggleswick a mile away where parishioners would attend church.

Other means of getting about were via pack horse trails or drover’s tracks but eventually, and spurred by the development of the textile industry, there was a campaign for a turnpike.

The Keighley and Kendal Turnpike was built in 1753 by a turnpike trust of the same name and followed a modified ancient route through Craven.

It necessitated bridge widening, reorientation in some of the towns it passed and the relocation of inns and stables.

The trust misjudged how much money would be needed for upkeep, maintenance and road repairs because it was so well-used.

So, while investors lost out, industry such as mills, coal and and masonry boomed as they had a new route to buyers.

What followed was the first public passenger stagecoach in 1763 and in 1847, the first local railway.

It was then set to be full steam-ahead for a game-changer for Settle.

The Settle to Carlisle railway is now one of the most famous railway routes in the country.

It is 73 miles long and has 20 viaducts (perhaps the most famous is the Ribblehead Viaduct) and 14 tunnels amongst some of the most spectacular views in the country.

Perhaps lesser known is how deadly building this line during the 1870s turned out to be. The final toll is unknown but will be more than 80 deaths caused by disease and accidents.

British Rail planned to close the Settle to Carlisle line in the 1980s, prompting a mass campaign from residents, rail groups and enthusiasts and local councils.

In 1989 it was announced the line would stay open and it has gone on to enjoy increasing visitor numbers that top a million people per year.

Settle has some other wonderful stories, maybe true, maybe local folklore but interesting nonetheless. Ye Olde Naked Man Cafe has the best.

The cafe logo appears to be a man in a cage with a board bearing ‘1663’ protecting his modesty. Gibbet cages were used to support the corpses of people, sometimes stripped naked and tarred to preserve it, who had been executed for petty crime and were being displayed as a warning to others.

Meanwhile, the Gallery on the Green is said to be probably the smallest art gallery in the world.

It is housed in an old red phone bo ught by Settle Town Council in 2009 and is filled with contributions from local, national, and international artists.

Queen guitarist Brian May has been one of them.