Rathmell is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish in the 2011 census was 305. It is close to the River Ribble and about three miles south of Settle. Other towns and villages nearby include Wigglesworth, Tosside, Giggleswick and Long Preston.

Origins

The name Rathmell comes from Old Norse 'red' + 'sandbank'. Indeed, the area has a long history of Norse settlement. Rathmell was formerly a township in the parish of Gigggleswick, in 1866 Rathmell became a civil parish in its own right. On 1 April 1938 432 acres was transferred from Gisburn Forest.

Dissenting academy

Rathmell is the birthplace of Richard Frankland (1630–1698), the nonconformist divine. He was ordained by presbyters under the Cromwellian regime, but was ejected from his ministry at the Restoration. He retired home to Rathmell, where he founded a dissenting academy, which migrated to Manchester after his death. This academy was the germ of the institution now known as Harris Manchester College, Oxford. The location of the original Academy at Rathmell is marked by a memorial plaque on the end of a small terrace of cottages which still bears the name "College Fold".

Notable people