I have been in Bransdale many times mostly volunteering with the National Trust …

… but those visits have been very localised, coming and going in the back of a pick-up.

Today I had the opportunity for a walk around the dale accompanied by a resident and seeing views and places I’ve never before noticed. Plus the weather was kind to us.

The featured photo is a view west across the dale. Centre is the twin farmsteads of Low and High Elm Houses. Two farmsteads with a complex history.

The two seem to have been farmed separatly until some time in the early 19th century when both came into possession of the Duncombe/Feversham estate, although a 17th-century reference to “Helm House” is believed to refer to High Elm House which has a date stone of 1666, considered to have been reused¹‘MNA144991 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144991> [accessed 9 January 2023]. The lintel over the door to the byre has the inscription “Mr Thos Chapman//1780”²‘MNA144944 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144944> [accessed 9 January 2023].

The interesting thing about Low Elm House is that it was a corn mill. This really surprised me, being the strangest of locations for a water mill not adjacent to a stream. I found out later that the supply had to be culverted a distance of 450 metres. The remains of the mill pond is extant behind the house³‘MNA144214 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144214> [accessed 9 January 2023]. By 1867, when High Helm House was put up for sale the mill was described as “formerly in full operation” and “might be restored“⁴‘To Be Sold by Auction | Yorkshire Gazette | Sunday 03 February 1867 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000266/18670203/078/0001> [accessed 9 January 2023].

In the late 18th-century, Low Elm House was owned by a George Petch, who sold it in 1780 to Isaac Scarth who farmed the property until the early 19th century⁵‘MNA144991 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144991> [accessed 9 January 2023]. Isaac Scarth was the father of John Scarth who was one of Bransdale’s most colourful characters, I have posted about him before.

Also in 1780, High Elm House was sold by Richard Wood to Thomas Chapman, the name inscribed on the brye lintel⁶Ibid..

Between 1814 and 1828, both farms were bought by the Duncombe/Feversham estate, which amalgamated them into a single 48 acre unit⁷Ibid..

The 1851 census records John Richardson living at Low Helm House and farming 48 acres with John Garbutt at High Helm House, 30 acres⁸Ibid..

Mrs Garbutt, presumably a widow, occupied High Helm House when it was sold in 1867 but the size had decreased to 26 acres⁹‘To Be Sold by Auction | Yorkshire Gazette | Sunday 03 February 1867 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000266/18670203/078/0001> [accessed 9 January 2023]. The inclusion of the Low Elm mill in the 1867 sale implies that the two farms were by then re-joined but the acreages don’t seem to tally. Elm House Farm was again listed for sale in 1892 this time occupied by Joseph Knaggs¹⁰‘Sales by Auction | York Herald | Saturday 30 April 1892 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000500/18920430/002/0001> [accessed 9 January 2023].

However Low Elm appears to have again been a seperate working farm in 1913¹¹‘MNA144991 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144991> [accessed 9 January 2023].

The discovery that another corn mill existed in the dale is intriguing. It must have been in direct competition with Bransdale Mill, which seems to have been a far superior construction. I understand though the this track along the west side of Bransdale up to Stork House was at once the major access in and out of the dale. Perhaps this gave it some benefit.

• 1
  ‘MNA144991 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144991> [accessed 9 January 2023]
• 2
  ‘MNA144944 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144944> [accessed 9 January 2023]
• 3
  ‘MNA144214 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144214> [accessed 9 January 2023]
• 4
  ‘To Be Sold by Auction | Yorkshire Gazette | Sunday 03 February 1867 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000266/18670203/078/0001> [accessed 9 January 2023]
• 5
  ‘MNA144991 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144991> [accessed 9 January 2023]
• 6
  Ibid.
• 7
  Ibid.
• 8
  Ibid.
• 9
  ‘To Be Sold by Auction | Yorkshire Gazette | Sunday 03 February 1867 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000266/18670203/078/0001> [accessed 9 January 2023]
• 10
  ‘Sales by Auction | York Herald | Saturday 30 April 1892 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000500/18920430/002/0001> [accessed 9 January 2023]
• 11
  ‘MNA144991 | National Trust Heritage Records’. 2015. Nationaltrust.org.uk <https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA144991> [accessed 9 January 2023]