Howgill’s Barn near Sedburgh, Cumbria.
The people of Howgill’s Barn are rightly proud of their town, Sedburgh. A small market town in East Cumbria, yet just within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Sedburgh is a traditional and unspoilt town. History is very much the thing, Sedbergh is mentioned in the Doomsday book, (Set-Berg, meaning ‘flat-topped hill’). It has been a market town since 1251 and the famous Sedbergh School started in 1525. As part of ‘1652 country’, Sedburgh recognises that George Fox, a founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), spoke in St. Andrew’s Church (which he called a “steeple house”) and on nearby Firbank Fell (now known as Fox’s Pulpit) during his travels in the North of England in 1652. Briggflatts Meeting House was built in 1675. There is a remnant of the north country’s more violent past in Ingmire Hall which includes part of a peel tower and ‘Castlehaw Tower’ which is a small motte and bailey castle which saw service as a look out during WWII.
In more modern times, Sedburgh has joined the likes of Hay on Wye to become a book town. What’s a book town? Follow the link to find out more? Another accolade for the town is that it is a ‘walkers are welcome‘ town. Also, what are those cannons doing lying around the town?
Anyway, stay at Howgill’s Barn and explore Sedburgh’s history.