The beautiful area of Wensleydale, North Yorkshire has the town of Masham at its heart - a peaceful market town with gracious Georgian aspects around a generous market place, and the home of Black Sheep Brewery.
The area abounds in pleasant walks, from gentle riverside strolls to more demanding excusions into the surrounding moorland. Mark Reid, creator of The Innway Series, has provided a modest walk around Masham for you to download.
Masham itself is a delight. Visitors will enjoy browsing in the town's shops, workshops and galleries, and visiting the two breweries, ancient church and Masham's rich architectural heritage.
Local hospitallity cannot be bettered, with a large range of places to eat and stay catering for every taste. A warm welcome awaits you whether you come to Masham for a day or a week.
Masham's importance as a major sheep market is the reason for the huge market place and its beautiful Georgian houses.
Up to 80,000 sheep were sold here in the annual September Sheep Fairs, and the tradition still continues every year.
The first market charter was granted in 1250, followed by two more in 1328 and 1393, as a plaque by the medieval market cross tells the visitor. The market thrived because of its nearness to Jervaulx and Fountains Abbeys, with the monks' large flocks of sheep.
Masham's church, Saint Mary's, was originally founded, it is thought, in the seventh century and stood somewhere near the present Town Hall on what used to be known as Cockpit Hill. The graveyard - where the public toilets now stand near Little Market Place - yielded 36 burials in a recent excavation.
The present church which has some Saxon stone work and the stump of an eighth century prayer cross is mainly Norman with fifteenth century additions.
Masham was given to the Minster of York in mediaeval times, but since the Archbishop did not wish to make the long journey to oversee Masham's affairs every so often, the parish was designated a Peculiar.
This meant it had its own ecclesiastical court and governed its own affairs. To this day the vicar cannot be ordered to attend the Archbishop but must be formally invited.
In the church are two particularly fine memorials: to Marmaduke Wyvill in the North transept and to Abstrupus Danby in the South. In the church yard are buried the hymn writer William Jackson and the artists Julius Caesar Ibbotson and George Cuit. Many of the gravestones also have poems on them.
In 1992 the Black Sheep brewery began making ales which have since become some of the most popular English beers produced by an independent brewer.
Other points of interest include the Kings Head Hotel - a classic Georgian inn on the south side of the market place - and nearby Swinton Park. This was once a modest Tudor country house which underwent extensive rebuilding by Wyattville and Carr in the Georgian period. It is now a luxury hotel.
Masham Photos reproduced with kind permission from Gary Keat - © 2002 - 2003 Gary Keat