Clapham
Population: 620 est.
Information Site: Click
Here
Grid Ref: SD7469
Distance: 21 miles drive from Grassington
Directions: West on the A6069, then North on the A629, then
at A59/A65 go North West on the A65, pass the Austwick turn-offs
on your right, and follow the local road signposted
Car Parking: National Park car park. Fee payable
Facilities: Cafe : Pub : Shops: Walks : Toilets
Nearby Interest: Cave : Gaping Gill : Ingleborough (a local
tussock)
Church: St James : Perpendicular tower : Peaceful
A small company
in Clapham is a warehouse to distribute and sell sheepskin
and countrywear products primarily manufactured in the UK.
Clapham is a picturesque village blessed with a beck flowing
down the centre that divides the two roads and houses which
border them.
It is now by-passed by the A65 between Settle and Ingleton
as it skirts the southern flanks of Ingleborough.
Clapham has three claims to fame :-
* James Faraday was the village blacksmith and the father
of Michael Faraday, pioneer of electrical science
* Reginald Farrer travelled the world in search of plants,
and from the Far East introduced many new species into Britain
and Europe
* In 1939 a monthly magazine, the Yorkshire Dalesman, was
founded in Clapham. Now simply 'The Dalesman' it is the most
widely read and successful regional magazine in Britain.
The National
Park Centre and car park on the east side of the village
are used by thousands of visitors each year; for many Clapham
is an excellent base from which to explore, on foot, the many
varied aspects of limestone landscape immediately north of
the village. Clapham is largely an estate-village of the Farrers
who both explored and opened up
Ingleborough Cave in 1837. The family's dedication to
natural history is commemorated through the Reginald Farrer
Nature Trail, established in 1970.
Clapham was the first village to get electric street lighting.
It was powered by a turbine at the bottom of the waterfall
near the church.
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