The Yorkshire Dales

Towns & Villages

HAWES

At 800 feet above sea level, Hawes is the highest market town in Yorkshire and Upper Wensleydale’s most important settlement.



Noted for its regular sales of sheep and cattle, the town is surrounded by dramatic limestone fells and at one time was a key centre for both lead mining and limestone quarrying.

Hawes  - Photo: Richard Slessor CCL

Hawes - Photo: Ken Walton CCL

In the 21st century it is more famous for the manufacture of crumbly Wensleydale cheese - the favourite snack of those comic northern characters Wallace and Gromitt.

Exhibitions at the Dales Countryside Museum are genuine crowd-pleasers and not far from here is the delicate Cotter Force waterfall.

 

Cotter Force Hawes -
Photo: Stephen Charles CCL