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Dent Marble

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A dale is a valley , especially an open, gently-sloping ground between low hills with a stream flowing through it. It is used most frequently in the North of England and the Southern Uplands of Scotland ; the term " fell " commonly refers to mountains or hills that flank a dale. As with many other words, dale was preserved by Viking influence in Northern England .

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21-688: Dent Marble is a highly polished form of limestone which occurs in the Dentdale district of Cumbria in England. The stone is noted for the presence of fossils which gives it its distinctive look. The stone is actually a crinoidal limestone and is not a true marble, but is known as a marble because it polished quite well. Dent Marble has been used for staircases, floors and hearths in railway stations and large buildings in England, Australia and Russia. The trade died out when import tariffs on Italian marble were relaxed, and Dent Marble became less popular. The limestone

42-577: A geological boundary between the Carboniferous Limestone of Deepdale and the Craven Dales to the south and the older Silurian and Ordovician rocks of the Howgill Fells to the north. The Upper Dentdale Cave System, which is 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Dent, was recognized as a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1998. The cave system extends for 1 mile (1.6 km) beneath

63-698: Is a dale or valley in the north-west of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in Cumbria , England . It is the valley of the River Dee , but takes its name from the village of Dent . The dale runs east to west, starting at Dent Head, which is the location of a railway viaduct on the Settle-Carlisle Line . Dentdale is one of the few Yorkshire Dales that drain westwards to the Irish Sea. Dentdale

84-529: Is currency unit dollar , stemming from German thaler or daler , short for joachimsthaler coins manufactured in the town of Joachimsthal in Bohemia. The word is perhaps related to Welsh dol (meadow, pasture, valley), Russian dol (valley, reverse side) and Serbian/Croatian/Bulgarian/Russian dolina (basin, doline is a geological term for certain surface depressions in karst areas). The uses are semantic equivalents to many words and phrases, suggesting

105-561: Is increasingly difficult for young people and family groups to stay in the dale as housing becomes more unaffordable. There are over 200 listed buildings and structures in Dentdale which include the railway viaducts, bridges, barns, farmhouse, mileposts and even telephone boxes. Only one structure is Grade I listed, that of the Church of St Andrew in Dent . The famous Settle-Carlisle Line passes across

126-471: The dale have been recognised as important, as only one other marble works in England ( Derbyshire ), is also extant, all others having been demolished completely. High Mill has been converted into a dwelling, and is now a grade II listed structure. The limestone used is particular to the area, and is called a crinoidal limestone , a dark stone with a high carbon content and laced with the white fossils of sea-lilies. Various types of limestone were worked from

147-528: The dale. The C5101 road runs through the dale from the nearest main road at Sedbergh (the A683 and A684 ) to Newby Head Moss, east of the dale head, where it meets the B6255 Hawes to Ingleton road. Western Dales Bus operate a year round Saturday and summer Sunday service between Dent station and Sedbergh with stops en route. The Dent Fault cuts across the valley close to the village of Gawthrop , marking

168-636: The eastern edge of the dale being carried over the becks that feed the River Dee on Dent Head Viaduct and over Artengill Beck on Arten Gill Viaduct . The walking route of the Dales Way crosses through the dale in a rough east/west axis. The route and the seclusion of the dale make it popular with walkers and lovers of The Dales. National Cycle route 68 (also known as the Pennine Cycleway ) that runs from Derbyshire to Berwick-upon-Tweed passes through

189-483: The first time. The stone is not actually marble, it is a highly polished form of Black Limestone. 54°16′41″N 2°27′14″W  /  54.278°N 2.454°W  / 54.278; -2.454 Dale (landform) It appears in various contexts, such as up hill and down dale "over every hill and dale", and "up all hills, down all dales . The word dale comes from the Old English word dæl , from which

210-502: The inefficiency of the use of the water, calculating that only 20% of the available water from Artengill Beck was being converted into power. This led to him changing his career and creating hydro-electric power at his estate, Cragside . Exporting the marble from Dentdale was difficult, and had to be done by pack-horse trains to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Gargrave . The opening of the railway from Settle to Carlisle in 1876, allowed for

231-589: The local beds; a white stone, a black stone and a grey stone, all of which were usd in the industry. Often, these would be put together for flooring to produce a chequered pattern, with large amounts being exported to Australia. The back and grey flooring was used in the Church of St Andrew in Dent. Several railway stations on the Settle–Carlisle line (including Dent ) had a Dent Marble fireplace installed in them. Other notable uses include; Dentdale Dentdale

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252-399: The marble to be transhipped via Dent railway station. Later, use of imported Italian marble supplanted the use of Dent Marble, as the import tariffs on that stone were relaxed. During its latter years, the works at High Mill in Dentdale actually worked with imported Italian marble, before finally closing in 1906–1907, and the works at Low Mill closed a year later. The remains of the works in

273-532: The mills. At least one of these was converted to the Dent Marble industry by 1810. Whilst fishing on the Dee at Dentdale in the 1840s, William Armstrong saw a waterwheel in action, supplying power to a marble quarry. It struck Armstrong that much of the available power was being wasted and it inspired him to design a successful hydraulic engine which began the accumulation of his wealth and industrial empire. Dentdale

294-490: The two mills were known as the Stone House Marble Works; Stone House being the hamlet the two mills were located in. The hamlet saw an increase in population, with a special mention in census returns detailing the numbers involved. In 1835, William George Armstrong was on honeymoon in Dentdale and was interested in the use of water to power the water wheels at the marble works in the dale. Moreover, Armstrong noted

315-459: The valley floor under the River Dee and is notable for providing a unique insight into how caves are formed in valley floors. Dent Marble was quarried and polished in Dentdale between 1760 and 1909. Both the viaducts that carry the Settle-Carlisle line over the dale are constructed from Dent Marble. The opening of the railway afforded the opportunity to export the marble out of the dale for

336-450: The word " dell " also derived. It is related to Old Norse word dalr (and the modern Icelandic word dalur , etc.), which may have influenced its survival in northern England. The Germanic origin is assumed to be * dala- . Dal- in various combinations is common in placenames in Norway. Modern English valley and French vallée are claimed to be related to dale. A distant relative of dale

357-525: Was discovered to be of use as a decorative stone about 1760, and production of the polished stone as marble flourished. By 1810, water-powered mills were being used to drive the marble-cutting saws at High Mill, and the polishing works at Low Mill. The stone used for processing was quarried at Artengill, Dent Head, Great Coum and Rise Hill , though it has been identified as occurring at Garsdale , Gawthrop and Sedbergh . The stone that occurred within Artengill

378-521: Was first settled in the 10th century when Norse invaders first entered the dale. The dale was also known to the Romans although there is no evidence of settlement during that period. The dale was one of the last of the Yorkshire Dales to be Enclosed in 1859. The typical occupations in the dale were farming and worsted related. Several mills used the fast flowing waters of the River Dee to supply power to

399-416: Was of a varying thickness. However, it could be quarried easily from the surface with levers and wedges, with no records of blasting or drilling being evident. The quarrying without explosives has also been attributed to the need not to jolt or damage the stone, as this would make it unsuitable for polishing. Some seams were exposed in gills (streams) that had been worn down by the action of water. Dent Marble

420-437: Was originally cut at High Mill, and polished at Low Mill works in the dale prior to being used. Both mills were located on Artengill Beck, with High Mill being nearer to Arten Gill Viaduct , and used water power to enable cutting of the stone, with the mill-wheel at High Mill being 60 feet (18 m) in diameter. Low mill was previously used for carding cotton before being repurposed for the Dent Marble industry, and collectively,

441-503: Was originally in the Ewecross wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire , but was transferred to Cumbria in 1974. Dent village is the main shopping and social centre of the dale. There are two other major villages; Dent Head and Gawthrop . Additionally there are two hamlets at the top of the dale - Cowgill (where Dent Station is located) and Stone House . It has been noted that it

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