Dunsop Bridge - History

History

Dunsop Bridge was in the West Riding of Yorkshire until the 1974 reorganisation of local government.

Dunsop Bridge was developed into a village in the mid 19th century as a result of the lead mining industry in the area. Before that, there were only a few isolated houses and farms in the area. Thorneyholme House, close to the centre of the village, was home to John Towneley, 13th Lord of Bowland, in the period up until his death in 1878. Prior to that, it had been home to Richard Eastwood, an acclaimed breeder of racehorses and shorthorn cattle.Eastwood, an acclaimed breeder of racehorses and shorthorn cattle. Eastwood, land agent to the Towneleys, was the last known Bowbearer of Bowland. He died in 1871 and is buried at St Hubert's, Dunsop Bridge.

From the late eleventh century, Dunsop had fallen under the ancient Lordship of Bowland which comprised a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes and covered an area of almost 300 square miles (800 km2) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn (Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford, Grindleton), Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram, Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby).

In 2009, it was reported that Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan had stepped forward on behalf of the Towneley family to claim the title of 15th Lord of Bowland. Previously, the Lordship had been thought lost or in the possession of the Crown having disappeared from the historical record in late nineteenth century. The Towneleys had owned the Bowland Forest Estate from 1835 and it transpired that the title had been retained by an extinct family trust. Controversially, Lord O'Hagan went on to sell the Lordship of Bowland at auction. The 16th Lord of Bowland was later revealed to be a Cambridge University don who specialises in the history of Lancashire, its place names and dialects and has ancestral links to the Forest. The 16th Lord made an official visit to the village in April 2011. His Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland, Robert Parker, was in attendance, together with representatives from the Bowland Higher Division Parish Council, the Forest authorities, community leaders and other dignitaries.

Dunsop has a more ancient historical significance, however. The river formed the easternmost boundary of the territory of Amounderness in the ninth century and is cited in a grant made by King Athelstan to Wulfstan of York in 934 AD.