Gayle

As the day wore on the weather got even worse! I headed for the market town of Hawes, where at least there are places to go inside. Just up the road behind Hawes is the village of Gayle, sitting on either side of Gayle Beck which flows steeply down to Hawes in a series of falls. (I told you there were a lot of waterfalls in this area of the Dales.) Originally a farming settlement, it grew in the late 18th century as quarries and coal mines opened in the area. The beck also provided the water power to drive Gayle Mill, built around 1780 as a cotton-spinning mill and converted to a sawmill in 1878. After featuring on the TV programme Restoration in 2004, it was indeed restored and functioned as a working sawmill, where they ran workshops and sought to preserve the old, heritage skills. It was closed in 2018, though I have been on a tour of it in the past. (See HERE). The Gayle Mill Trust still operates out of other premises, so I'm not sure if the Mill will reopen or not. 

The village centre is a Conservation area, and has several old buildings like Old Hall below, with a date stone of 1695. 

Looking down the beck beyond Gayle bridge you can see Hawes church tower, the view not improved by the intrusive electricity wires and poles! Hawes, a larger market town and one of the main centres in Wensleydale, is only half a mile away.