In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Muker like this:
MUKER, a small town, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Grinton parish, Reeth district, N. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on the river Swale, amid a tract of high uplands, 4 miles E N E of Great Shunner fell, and 5 N N W of Askriff r. station; forms a good centre for the exploration of the upper parts of Swaledale; and has a customaryweekly market on Wednesday, and a fair on the Wednesday before Old Christmas. ...
The chapelry contains also the hamlets of Angram, Birkdale, Calverthouse, Frith, Ivelet, Keld and Thorns, Oxnop, Rampsholme, Rash, Ravenseat, Saltron, Springend, Stonesdale, Thwaite, and part of Tanhill. Post-town, Hawes, under Bedale. Acres, 30, 262. Real property, £7, 270; of which £850 are in mines. Pop. in 1851, 1, 321; in 1861, 1,005. Houses, 225. The decrease of pop. was caused by theclosing of lead mines. The property is much subdivided. The manor belongs to T. Smith, Esq. Auld Gang lead mines, in the vicinity of the town, wereworked long before the Roman invasion; and mounds ofspa and rock, over miles to the N, are memorials of veryancient mining. Limestone is quarried, and coal isworked. Great Shunner fell, though inferior in heightto three other mountains in Yorkshire, has an altitude of2, 351 feet. Lovely Seat, 2 miles S E of Great Shunnerfell, and overhanging a wild and romantic mountain passfrom Muker to Hawes, soars also to a great altitude, and commands a striking view. A wild and sequestered but beautiful mountain road, leads west-north-westward from the town, over the backbone of England to Kirkby-Stephen. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Ripon. Value, £130.* Patron, the Vicar of Grinton. The church was built in 1580, is not in very good condition, has a small tower, and contains monuments of the Knowles and the Calvert families. There are chapels for Independents and Wesleyans, and an endowed national school with £25 a year.—The sub-district contains also the township of Melbecks. Acres, 40, 368. Pop., 2, 627. Houses, 551.
Muker through time
Muker is now part of Richmondshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how Richmondshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Muker itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Muker, in Richmondshire and North Riding | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/13750
Date accessed: 24th April 2024
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