Low Row
| Low Row | |
|---|---|
| File:Low Row.jpg Entering Low Row | |
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 411: Malformed coordinates value. | |
| OS grid reference | SD980978 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | RICHMOND |
| Postcode district | DL11 |
| Police | North Yorkshire |
| Fire | North Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
Low Row is a village in Swaledale, in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It lies about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Reeth and is between Healaugh and Gunnerside. It is part of the civil parish of Melbecks. It is a linear village running along one road, the B6270.[1] To the east, Low Row merges with the settlement of Feetham.
From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Richmondshire, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.
A working farm, Hazel Brow Farm, is open to visitors and The Punch Bowl, a stone inn dated 1638, is by the main road.[2]
History
[edit | edit source]The name Low Row comes from the Norse "The Wra" (a nook).[3] The surname "Raw" is associated with the village.[4] The village was raided by Jacobites in 1745, and bodies probably from that raid are buried at Holy Trinity Church, Melbecks, in Low Row.[2]
On 5 July 2014, the Tour de France Stage 1 from Leeds to Harrogate passed through the village.[5]
Smarber Chapel and Low Row United Reformed Church
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Philip, Lord Wharton,[6] owned land in the area. On this stood a number of shooting lodges including one at Crackpot, near Keld, and one at Smarber, a small hamlet on the ridge to the west of Low Row. A Puritan sympathiser, in around 1690 Wharton converted part of the Smarber lodge into a chapel for ‘Protestant Dissenters’.[7] He particularly had the needs of the local lead miners in mind.
It was a small, simple building; the lower part of the dry-stone wall remains and shows evidence of plaster and the location of a window. At the east end, an adjoining barn still stands. This also shows traces of plaster and windows and is considered[8] originally to have been a cottage attached to the chapel. It is known[9][10] that Wharton bought land near Kirkby Stephen, the income from which was to support a minister at Smarber.
In 1809 a new chapel was built, beside the road at the west end of Low Row, and the former building fell into disrepair. Having originally tended to favour the Presbyterian position, the chapel declared itself Congregational in 1867, during the 50-year ministry of John Boyd.[11] He also supervised a major rebuild in 1874. This cost over £300 and resulted in the building as seen today.[12] Now part of the United Reformed Church, an active congregation continues to worship in the chapel and ‘pilgrimages’ to the former building take place from time to time.[13]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
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- ^ Wadsworth, K. W., Philip, Lord Wharton – Revolutionary Aristocrat? Journal of the United Reformed Church History Society Volume 4 No 8 May 1991(being the 1990 Annual Lecture of the Society)
- ^ Stell, Christopher An inventory of nonconformist chapels and meeting-houses in the north of England 1994 Page 215
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Dale, Bryan, The Good Lord Wharton, revised edition 1906
- ^ Whitehead, T. History of the Dales Congregational Churches, Keighley 1930. p.151.
- ^ The Christian World 27 August 1875
- ^ A Church Renewed, Low Row United Reformed Church, 1974
- ^ Conran, Elizabeth, Dissent in the Two Dales 1662–2012, 2012
External links
[edit | edit source]Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
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