West Tanfield: The Yorkshire village with a view captured in time by JMW Turner
The main features of the village which stretches along the banks of the River Ure, off the Ripon to Masham road, are instantly recognisable from scenes captured in preliminary drawings by the celebrated painter which have been conserved in the Tate Britain archive.
Like most visitors to West Tanfield, Turner was clearly struck by the wide river, impressive stone bridge at its southern gateway, its ancient tower and church surrounded by trees and red pantiled roofed and honey-colour stone cottages.
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Hide AdIt’s believed the Lower Wensleydale village developed partly due to there being a ford across the 74-mile river, the remains of which can sometimes be seen in the river bed during summer months.


The geographic importance of the crossing is underlined on the bridge, which was widened and reconstructed in the 1730s using wedge-shaped stones on its arches after the original early 17th century stone structure was damaged by flooding, with a weathered inscription on its eastern side central parapet marking the 'Division of North and West Riding'.
"The tounlet of West Tanfelde”, wrote antiquarian John Leland, who crossed the river by ferry in 1540, “standeth on a cliving ground hard by Ure, a river of a colour for the most part of soden water, by reason of the colour and the morisch nature of the soile of Wencedale from whens it cummith”.
As such, the meandering river remains one of the village’s main attractions, particularly for walkers and anglers. Tanfield Angling Club, the oldest private fly fishing club in Wensleydale, is claimed to boast “the finest fly fishing in the North of England” due to both the water quality and abundant insect life as well as large amounts of grayling for winter fishing.
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Hide AdFormed in 1892 after a meeting in the Queens Hotel, Leeds, subscriptions cost an annual four guineas at a time when the average manual wage was 30 guineas a year.


Paths alongside the river provide a range of walking and cycling opportunities, linking to routes such as the nearby Ripon Rowel, Yoreiverdale Way, the Staveley Circle and the Way of the Roses.
The spectacular riverside scene is also popular with visitors to the Bull Inn, which was built in 1699 on the site of an old ferryman's cottage. Polls have seen it named among Yorkshire’s favourite pubs as well as having one of the UK’s finest riverside pub gardens.
It’s just a stone’s throw from another listed hostelry, The Bruce Arms, which was named after 18th century courtier and lord of the manor, Thomas Bruce Brudenell, overlooks the village’s crossroads.
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Hide AdA decade ago crowds eight rows deep in places, stood outside the inn to cheer princes William and Harry as they visited West Tanfield and the Tour de France Grand Depart passing through, which was used to stage a £30,000 community celebration event.


There’s plenty of evidence of a palpable community spirit around the village, with one focal point being the 1950s memorial hall opposite the inns, which hosts regular events, art and flower classes, badminton and exercise sessions. Last year’s annual produce show attracted some 277 entries.
On January 24 and 25, the hall will host West Tanfield Theatre Company’s pantomime of Treasure Island.
Behind the memorial hall stands a substantial playing field, a children’s playground and West Tanfield Bowls Club, where a new clubhouse has been built. Remarkably for a village with a population of around 500, there are also cricket, tennis and petanque clubs.
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Hide AdNearby, on Moor Lane is the village store, which stocks an array of local and fresh produce, and a row of eight early Victorian listed cottages, which would have provided homes for workers in the vast surrounding agricultural area.
Heading north from the crossroads on Mowbray Terrace, amid some contemporary developments, housing for retired people and former council-managed homes, stands West Tanfield Church of England Primary School, which received an overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’ last April. Inspectors found the school had “a strong spirit of community”.
Even here, the village’s sense of history is impossible to ignore with an imposing Methodist Church and early 19th century Wesleyan Chapel, which is now used as a hall for groups including a community lunch club.
There’s also opportunities for regular group worship on the opposite side of the crossroads at St Nicholas’ Church, which dates to the 13th century. The church is home to a community choir.
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Hide AdFeatures of the building include a carving of St George killing a dragon on the end pillars and wall tombs with carved effigies. One of the tombs is that of Sir John Marmion and his wife, Elizabeth St Quentin, which is below some wrought ironwork, thought to be a rare survival of a medieval hearse.
Sir John, who was killed alongside 11 barons, 80 knights and 200 squires in Spain while helping fight for the Catillian throne in the 14th century, appears wearing armour and has his feet resting on a lion.
Beside the church is the 15th century Marmion Tower, an impressive three-storey gatehouse to a long-gone manor house of a knight and the principal landmark in West Tanfield, which has been maintained by English Heritage since the 1970s.
The conservation body says in 1314 the Marmion family received a royal licence to crenellate, or fortify, the property, which later passed to the brother to Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII, and In 1571 the manor was granted to William Cecil, Elizabeth I’s chief adviser.
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Hide AdIts most noteworthy feature is an oriel window at first-floor level which, according to English Heritage, together with the building’s elegant stonework, reveals that the gatehouse was as much about display as it was about defence.
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