Muker
| Muker | |
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Apr2004.jpg) Muker Village looking west. The beck in the foreground is the Straw Beck, a tributary of the River Swale which it joins a short distance away to the north-east. |
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 Muker
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| Muker shown within North Yorkshire | |
| Population | 249 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | NY8901 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | RICHMOND |
| Postcode district | DL11 |
| Dialling code | 01748 |
| Police | North Yorkshire |
| Fire | North Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| UK Parliament | |
Muker is a village and civil parish at the western end of Swaledale, one of the Yorkshire Dales, in North Yorkshire, England. It is within the district of Richmondshire.
The parish includes the hamlets and villages of Angram, Keld, Thwaite, West Stonesdale and Birkdale, as well as the Tan Hill Inn, the highest inn in England. At the 2001 census the civil parish had a population of 309, reducing to 249 at the 2011 census.
The earliest recorded evidence for occupation in and around Muker takes the form of a skeleton found, with flints, on Muker Common in the early 20th century. Details suggest a burial of Bronze Age date.
The name of Muker is of Norse origin, derived from the Old Norse mjór akr meaning "the narrow newly cultivated field". The location at the meeting of the River Swale and the Straw Beck with plenty of good meadow land around is most likely why the Norse chose to settle here, giving them the opportunity to make a living out of mixed farming and pastoral farming.
Agriculture continued to be the basis of economy in Muker until lead mining became more important during the late 18th century and the early 19th century. Muker was also a major centre for hand knitting during this period. The importance of these industries is reflected in the many cottages, workshops and other buildings constructed at the time.
Muker was historically a township in the large ancient parish of Grinton in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The church of St Mary the Virgin was built during the reign of Elizabeth I. A chapel of ease had stood on this site previously but in 1580 it was substantially rebuilt and a graveyard consecrated so that residents of Upper Swaledale no longer had to transport their dead all the way to the parish church in Grinton. The tower, nave and chancel all date from this period. The church was restored in 1891.
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