Richmondshire

Where is Richmond? Everything you need to know about the market town that will be featured in the next episode of Dan and Helen’s Pennine Adventure starring Helen Skelton and Dan Walker A couple walking their dogs alongside the eroded banks of the River Swale between Easby and Brompton on Swale in Richmondshire. (Pic credit: James Hardisty) The town will be featured in Channel 5 show Dan and Helen’s Pennine Adventure tonight (August 29) and UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been the MP of Richmond (Yorks) since 2015. Did you know with a Digital subscription to Yorkshire Post, you can get access to all of our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Rishi replaced Liz Truss as the UK’s Prime Minister last year and is the UK’s first Prime Minister of Asian heritage. Rishi Sunak was selected as the Conservative candidate for Richmond (Yorks) in October 2014. He succeeded William Hague , a former leader of the party, Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. Richmond is the market town and civil parish in the district and county of North Yorkshire. It was situated within the larger former local government district of Richmondshire. Richmondshire encompassed a large northern area of the Yorkshire Dales, including Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, Wensleydale and Coverdale. The population of the administrative county in North Yorkshire is 53,730 since mid-2019. In December 2019 Richmond (Yorks) constituency had a total electorate of 82,569 and a total turnout of 69.9 per cent. The town’s name is the most duplicated UK place name, with 56 other locations worldwide. It was founded in 1071 by Alan Rufus, a Breton nobleman, on lands received by William the Conqueror, though it was called Hindrelag originally. The construction of Richmond Castle was completed in 1086 with a keep and walls surrounding the area now known as the Market Place. Richmond was part of the lands of the earldom of Richmond, which was irregularly held by the Dukes of Brittany until the 14th century. John V, Duke of Brittany, died in 1399 and Henry IV took his place. Richmond is one of a few settlements that was spared from being raided during The Great Raid of 1322 by bribery. In 1453, the earldom was being discussed on Edmund Tudor, and it was merged with the crown when Edmund’s son became King Henry VII in 1485. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the Covenanter Army led by David Leslie, Lord Newark, took over the castle, and conflict began between local Catholics and Scottish Presbyterians. Robert Williance became the first alderman of Richmond in 1608 and two years before, whilst hunting on the nearby Whitcliffe Scar, the horse Williance was riding became nervous when thick mist descended, dropped over the edge and fell more than 200 feet to the valley floor. Williance survived this fall with a broken leg and erected a monument on top of the cliff as a show of gratitude for his survival. However, he died later that same year. The mediaeval town and centre of the Swaledale wool industry flourished greatly in the late 17th and 18th centuries, with the burgeoning lead mining industry in nearby Arkengarthdale. The town’s Georgian architecture originates from this period. One of Europe’s first gas works was built in the town in 1830 and a permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Richmond Barracks in 1877. During the First World War, Richmond’s own Green Howards Regiment raised 24 battalions for the war effort and the castle accepted a role as a barracks and training camp for new recruits and members of the Non-Combatant Corps. In 1915 the first troops took over the area south of Richmond in what was later to become Catterick Camp, the planning of which was commissioned by Lord Baden Powell during his residence at the town’s barracks. Richmond’s 19th century prison block continued to be used to house prisoners into the Second World War. Did you know with a Digi