Get in touch!
DalesDiscoveries.com
  • Home
    • Love Letter
  • Where to visit
    • Wensleydale
    • Swaledale & Arkengarthdale
    • Nidderdale
    • Malhamdale
    • Dentdale & Sedbergh
    • Wharfedale
    • Ribblesdale & the Three Peaks
    • Skipton
  • Eat & drink
    • Cafes and tea rooms
    • Pubs >
      • Dog friendly pubs and cafes in the Yorkshire Dales
      • Dogs friendly accommodation
    • Fine Dining
  • Things to do
    • Family fun
    • Ways to explore
    • Outdoor activities
    • All Experiences
  • More inspiration

Thwaite

Thwaite in Swaledale is a small hamlet, popular thanks to its location on the Coast to Coast, Pennine Way and Herriot Way. Most visitors enter Thwaite by crossing the much-photographed bridge over Thwaite Beck. 

Thwaite is a norse name meaning a clearing: this area was once more densely wooded. It's thought that people may have lived here since the Iron Age (600 BC!) as there's an earthwork bank and ditch just outside Thwaite. Most of the present buildings were built around the time when lead mining was an important industry.

​Few of today's visitors know about some of Thwaite's most famous former residents - the Kearton brothers who were born here, and who effectively became the world's first professional wildlife photographers in the 1890s. David Attenborough has spoken admiringly of their pioneering work, which he says inspired him and many others.  
Picture
Image by Valerie Hunter

They were not rich and their first camera was a simple box camera but they were entranced by nature and their surroundings and went to extraordinary lengths to capture pictures of animals. Over time they started to use more complex cameras but they were all heavy instruments, using plate glass, so it was almost impossible to sneak up on a grazing animal in the way a modern photographer might do with a telephoto lens. 

The brothers came up with some bizarre ways to get closer to animals. One of their methods used an ox which had been hollowed out by a taxidermist so the brothers could place it in a field or near a bird's nest, taking pictures from the inside of the ox, with the lens poking out from the head! After this success they used other 'camouflage' such as sheep, and made disguises for themselves such as trees and even a rubbish dump. ​

​All images below are by Guy Carpenter, Gullwing Photography

Find more places to visit in the Yorkshire Dales

Wharfedale
Grassington
Kettlewell
Burnsall
Appletreewick
Kilnsey

Bolton Abbey Estate

​
​
Swaledale & Arkengarthdale
Reeth
Richmond
Muker
Thwaite
Keld
Buttertubs
Langthwaite
Gunnerside
Crackpot Hall
Corpse Way
Swale Trail
Wensleydale
​
Hawes
​
Leyburn
Masham
Middleham
Askrigg
Wensley
Aysgarth
Carperby


Ribblesdale & Three Peaks
Settle
Settle-Carlisle Railway 
Yorkshire Three Peaks
Clapham
Feizor
Hoffman
Ingleborough
Ingleton
Stainforth
Nidderdale
Pateley Bridge
​
Scar House Reservoir
Coldstones Cut
Fountains Abbey

​Brimham Rocks

About DalesDiscoveries.com

This independent not-for-profit website was created using recommendations from Dales insiders' - people who live in, and love the Yorkshire Dales. 
​
​Copyright Susan Briggs 2021
The Tourism Network
The Old Mill
Millgate
Masham
HG4 4EZ

​​
Email

​Sometimes places open or close unexpectedly. Please always check opening times in advance.
​

Love letter to the Yorkshire Dales

Picture
Image; Guy Carpenter
Sign up for our free & upbeat Love Letter to the Yorkshire Dales. 

​