Garsdale Head

Infobox UK place
official_name= Garsdale Head
country= England
region= North West England
os_grid_reference= SD786919
latitude= 54.32306
longitude= -2.32985
post_town= Sedbergh
postcode_area=
postcode_district= LA10 5
dial_code= 015396
constituency_westminster=
civil_parish= Garsdale
shire_district= South Lakeland
shire_county= Cumbria

Garsdale Head is a hamlet in Cumbria, but is part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It lies at the top of the valley of Garsdale, on and near the A684 road between Sedbergh and Hawes. Its main attraction is Garsdale railway station on the Settle-Carlisle Railway and the former Wensleydale Railway. The alternative name was Hawes Junction until the branch line to Hawes was closed in 1964, and this name remains in common use.

Sixteen cottages were built by the Midland Railway Company for its employees soon after the opening of the line in 1876. Another six "Moorcock Cottages" were built in similar Victorian style half a mile away just over the border in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire. Between them, in a similar building style, is Mount Zion Chapel, a Primitive Methodist meeting-place which is still used for special events. See [http://www.MountZionChapel.co.uk Hawes Junction Chapel's website]

Apart from one other Victorian building, Clough View, all the other buildings in the hamlet are much older, or are renovations of older properties. The "Moorcock Inn", at the junction of the A684 and the B6259 to Kirkby Stephen via Lunds, Mallerstang and Nateby, is the only public house in the 16-mile journey between Sedbergh and Hawes. There are basic toilet facilities at the station, and an original red public telephone box at the bottom of the steep hill up to the station. There was a post office at Garsdale Head between 1881 and June 1963. In about 1911 it was located in a shop in a stone-built house ["Postcards from the Past", by Paul Mackenzie, "Yorkshire Life", March 2005, p 157.] but in 1934 it was described and pictured as being "nothing but a tin hut, nine feet by six". ["Sunday Express", 2 September 1934.] The office was replaced in 1963 by one at Garsdale, which has since closed. The "Coal Road" which joins Garsdale to Dent station is a scenic single-track route suitable for walkers, strong cyclists and any motor vehicle except when there is any snow or ice, when its steep surface becomes treacherous.

References