A look at the history of The Folly, Settle, with Dr Emma Wells

in Settle

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Standing proud among the comforting ebony-laced gritstone properties which line the old main road into the Craven town of Settle, in the Ribble Valley, The Folly dates to 1670, and was constructed by wealthy local lawyer, Richard Preston. This coursed rubble behemoth of a former domestic lobby-entry plan dwelling now houses the Museum of North Craven Life and associated café.

Though aspects of the property’s history are still shrouded in uncertainty, it is recorded that, following Preston’s death in 1695, it passed within a decade to his elder daughter, Margaret. It was she who sold it on to wealthy gentleman William Dawson, and it remained in the Dawson family until 1980. During much of this time, the property was tenanted out and inhabited by a succession of varied businesses (and families, often with several people occupying each part of the hall), from a bakery in the mid 19th century (when it sold traditional Yorkshire oatcakes known as ‘havercakes’) and a tearoom to, in the early 20th century, a fish and chip bar, a potato wholesalers and on to a furniture shop, bank and salvage business.

The last remaining Dawson owner, Philip, restored the property then sold it to an antiques dealer, and it went on the market and remained there for years, with a brief reprieve in the early 1900s which saw it divided into two and the north range sold for retail and residential use, whilst the rest stood empty.

Fortunately, two years later the North Craven Building Preservation Trust came to its rescue, purchasing part of The Folly with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and restoring the building before opening it to the public in 2001. They then managed to reunite the two ranges, by purchasing the north in 2010 and thereby bringing the hall into one ownership again.

Now Grade I Listed, many of the original characterful elements still remain including a panelled hall with an inglenook fireplace, an oak dog-leg staircase featuring barley sugar balusters.

Address: The Folly, Victoria St, Settle BD24 9EY, United Kingdom


Books by Dr Emma Wells

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