Langcliffe

Langcliffe Scar is marked by numerous ancient circular-banked enclosures, cairns and quarries.[3][4] The early settlement was nearer to the foot of the scar than it is now, in a field called Pesbers by the lane to Winskill.

In 1086 the Domesday Book, in folio 331V, records that the lord of the manor was named Fech. In Langcliffe he paid taxes on three carucates of ploughland.[5] By 1068 William the Conqueror had put Craven under the overlordship of Roger de Poitou but after 1102, when de Poitou rebelled, King Henry I confiscated his lands and gave those in the Ribble Valley to the House of Percy.

The manors of Giggleswick and Langcliffe were subsequently held by the de Giggleswicke family for five generations.

In about 1200 the monks of Furness Abbey built a corn mill on the Langcliffe side of the Ribble which caused a protracted controversy. In 1221 Pandulf, the Papal legate, gave judgment that the mill must belong to Langcliffe but that the mill pond would remain with the Abbey of Furness. This judgment still stands, as the Ribble forms the western boundary of Langcliffe, but the mill pond and its fields now pay their rates to Giggleswick. In around 1250, Elias De Giggleswicke granted his property and manorial rights in Langcliffe to Sawley Abbey and in 1524 it was recorded that the 18 tenants still held their houses from the Abbot of Sawley.

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries Henry VIII sold the land to the speculator Sir Arthur Darcy (1505–1561), younger son of the 1st Lord Darcy.[6] In 1584, Nicholas Darcy - Arthur's fifth son - sold the high land to the sitting tenants. Some were not able to purchase immediately and for a time paid quit-rents.

At that time Henry Somerscales bought the manorial rights and in 1602 rebuilt Langcliffe Hall in the Elizabethan style.[7]

In 1314, Scottish raiders destroyed Langcliffe's houses, after the Battle of Bannockburn. The village was then rebuilt, half a mile to the south.[8][9]^:114

The muster rolls of 1513 show that nine men from the village fought the Scots army at the Battle of Flodden.

A view of the mills: Langcliffe High Mill on the right,[10][11] Watershed Mill on the left.[12]

Cotton spinning was industrialised by the mid-18th century, but weaving remained a domestic activity based on the putting-out system. Many families had hand looms in their houses but some set up small weaving shops with a few looms and hired others. In the 1820s, weavers expected to produce three pieces of cloth per week for 2 shillings each. Work was irregular as yarn was not always available and it was customary to close the shops for haymaking and harvest to assist the farmers. Plain-cotton weaving could be done by a child of twelve and many parents preferred to have their children earning money rather than going to school.[7]

Langcliffe High Mill: this was a spinning-mill, built in 1783–84 by George and William Clayton and their brother-in-law, R. Walshman. They had previously built a successful spinning-mill at Keighley, and brought with them experienced operators of early Arkwright spinning frames, many of them children, for whom they provided lodgings, clothing and basic education.[7] This was one of Yorkshire's earliest and largest cotton-spinning mills: 14 bays, 5 storeys high, housing 14,032 spindles.[7] In the early 1800s the mill was enlarged to accommodate a steam engine to supplement its water power.[13]

Watershed Mill: this was a weaving-mill, dating from 1785, and is also known simply as 'the Shed'. It is a single-storey building, less than half a mile downstream from Langcliffe High Mill. It was built by friends of Richard Arkwright to house his new spinning machines, but in the 1820s it was converted into a weaving-mill housing 300 looms.[7] Financial difficulties forced the mill-owners to close it in 1855,[14] but Langcliffe High Mill then took it over.

Langcliffe High Mill and Watershed Mill continued to operate for another century, before both closed in the 1950s. Langcliffe High Mill then became a paper-mill but now it houses a packaging company.[11] It was made a grade II listed-building on 7 April 1977.[15] Watershed Mill now houses a shopping centre.[12]

An 1870s description of Langcliffe described:

Hoffman Lime Kiln

The building of the Settle-Carlisle Railway made heavy industry possible in Langcliffe and in 1873 a Hoffman Continuous Kiln was built for the Craven Lime Company. The continuous-kiln had been patented by German inventor Friedrich Hoffman in 1858 and the kiln at Langcliffe had 22 chambers, in which limestone was burned continuously in a circuit that took around six weeks to complete.[17] Lime burning became a key local industry: [17] the operation was labour-intensive and provided significant local employment;[18] however, the working conditions were unhealthy and could be dangerous.

The lime industry is now part of the Craven industrial heritage. The quarry and lime-kiln closed in 1931 as a result of falling sales due to outside competition; the kiln was fired-up again in 1937 but closed permanently in 1939. In 1951, arrangements to demolish the chimney were thwarted when it fell down of its own accord on the day before the planned date.[19]

Village War Memorial

In the village centre is a war memorial commemorating the men who lost their lives during the two World Wars. There are 15 names on the fountain memorial: 11 from the First World War, and four from the Second World War.[20] Relatives of those who died chose the design of the fountain memorial, which was unveiled on Saturday 17 July 1920.[21]

Around one mile to the east of Langcliffe is Samson's Toe, a large glacial erratic boulder which is approximately 8 feet high and rests on small limestone stilts at the edge of a limestone ridge. The shape of the rock, like a huge toe, gave rise to tales about a giant named Samson: "according to legend, he lost his footing when jumping across from Langcliffe Scar or Ribblesdale, breaking off his toe whilst attempting this." More prosaically, the boulder was deposited during the last Ice-Age – 12,000–13,000 years ago or more – by retreating glacial flows moving from north to south, the boulder being picked up by a glacier somewhere to the north."[22]