Bainbridge, North Yorkshire: All roads lead to a ‘poster boy’ Yorkshire Dales village

Bainbridge stands close to the principal north-south pass through the Pennines, between Stainmore and the Aire gap and commands a strategically strong position, overlooked by Howda hill to its north west and the hoggbacked Brough Hill, a large glacial moraine across the River Ure from the village.

The latter served as a station of the Sixth Cohort of the Nervians, housing up to 500 auxiliaries. Evidence for 300 years of Roman soldiers living there can be seen in the remains at its summit with the highly visible outline of a 91m by 111m fort, known as Virosidum, which once featured clay rampart defences laced with birch willow and moss.

Most of the remains, such as the 3.9m high rampart at the north west corner, are of a late Flavian date, AD 90 to 105, but pottery unearthed during numerous digs over the last century have suggested the fort was desserted unusually late.

Two rectangular mounds, believed to be medieval rabbit farms, lie beside the western ditches. Digs have also revealed a 99m by 73m annexe on the east side of the monument that could have served as the bath house.

The lower slopes of the hill, at the confluence of the Ure and the River Bain, feature mounds surrounded by a stone wall believed to mark the site of a civilian settlement just outside the fort.

Steeply sloping and sparsely populated landscapes dotted with traditional stone barns and criss-crossed by streams feeding the Bain, and drystone walls surround Bainbridge, which is thought to have been established in the 12th century by foresters in a clearing of the forest that covered Wensleydale.

Popular with fly fishing enthusiasts, the narrow Bain is among England’s shortest named rivers and is fed two miles from the village by the 100-acre Semerwater, the second largest natural lake in North Yorkshire after Malham Tarn. It's a popular windsurfing and canoeing venue, adding to an array of walking and cycling opportunities that draws tourists to the village.

Visitors are well catered for in the village. A Taste of Wensleydale cafe, overlooking Newkin, this month featured in a list of the Pork Pie Appreciation Society’s top places to eat in the North.

On the opposite side of the large, rectangular village green bisected by the A684, the main east-west route through the Dales, stands the imposing 11-bedroom Rose and Crown Hotel. The roughcast rubble grade II listed former coaching inn is thought to be one of the oldest pubs in Yorkshire.

While above the porch on the first floor, a stone inscription reads AD 1445, the historic venue comprises sections of 17th century panelling and two lengths of a frieze, carved with vine leaves and bunches of grapes, which could have been created in Tudor times.

Further to the north of the village, outside the residential area, visitors use the five-star boutique hotel Yorebridge House, which initially served as a grammar school after it was built in 1850, before serving as the headquarters of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

The organisation moved to a £2.2m base with a contrasting, modern appearance and partially built into the hillside, on Scott Hill two decades ago.

Beside it, there’s a recently refurbished village hall and Old Hall a 17th century farmhouse, one of numerous historic properties overlooking the village stocks on the green, which date to a similar period.

These include a former corn watermill and Cravenholme farmhouse, which is believed to have had a thatched roof when it was built, and Manor Farmhouse on the green’s north side.

Opposite Scott Hill stands Sycamore Hall, an extra care facility which opened as the hub of the village with its own community library, visiting post office, shop, restaurant and hair salon in 2007. Its residents have included leading scientist Professor Cuchlaine King.​​

However, concerns have mounted over access to accommodation for younger people a need for lower cost housing in a village where the number of holiday cottages has more than doubled in recent decades, leading to local people being priced out of the market.

With tight restrictions on building in a national park conservation area progress on resolving the situation has been slow. The conversion of the 1836 Methodist Chapel into two affordable homes in 2024 represented The Upper Dales Community Land Trust’s first completed project to provide affordable, sustainable homes for people born, living or working in the Upper Dales, “protecting our unique community, ​history and legacy”.

Another recent addition to the village, Hornblower Court, behind the pub, saw years of controversy over the building of five sympathetically-built properties, partly over whether they were actually affordable.

With fewer families, Bainbridge and nearby villages of Askrigg and West Burton, have united their schools to optimise class sizes, meaning the Robin and Owl classes for the youngest children are held at the Back Syke school.

The community has been further boosted by the River Bain Hydro project, the Archmides’ Screw for which can be seen in operation from the single arched stone bridge over the Bain.

During a visit to the village in May, Prince William viewed the project which powers around half the village’s homes.