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The
building of the Settle - Carlisle Railway began in 1869 and continued
until 1876, it being the last of the major engineering undertakings
of the Victorian era to be entirely constructed by 'navvies' or
'navigators', the name by which the workforce on such projects
was then known. This vast incoming labour force was partly accommodated
in three large shanty-towns high up in the fells around Dent Head,
Ribblehead and Arten Gill, where the two huge viaducts were under
construction. Click here
to play a sample of the video footage that will be playing in
the centre. |
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a sizeable overflow had also to be boarded-out in Dentdale itself,
the already crowded little farms and cottages being crammed with
sometimes five or more extra lodgers! A proliferation of workshops
for blacksmiths, stonemasons and sawyers appeared in the Dale,
as did numerous temporary ale-houses to quench the prodigious
thirst of the multitude of workers, and for a time Dentdale must
have assumed an appearance similar to that of the Wild West in
the days of the Gold Rush! |
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full story of this terrific undertaking is well illustrated at
the Centre, together with a working scale model of the Settle
- Carlisle railway as it approaches the magnificent Arten Gill
viaduct high above Dentdale, a feature to delight all enthusiastic
train-spotters young or old. The model was built by railway enthusiast
Brian Irwin of the Denton Carlisle Modelling Group. His website
can be accessed here.
More information on the Settle -
Carlisle Railway is available here
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The
Dentdale Story
