Burtersett
| Burtersett | |
|---|---|
 Burtersett
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| Burtersett shown within North Yorkshire | |
| OS grid reference | SD890892 |
| • London | 210 mi (340 km) SE |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | North Yorkshire |
| Fire | North Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
Burtersett is a small village in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) east from Hawes and Gayle.
Oral account of Burtersett, July 1965:
The hamlet of Burtersett or 'Butterside' came into being soon after the Norman Conquest of Britain. The area of land in Wensleydale west of Bainbridge was considered waste, but when William the Conqueror commissioned a survey of the land he had conquested, waste lands were classed as King's Forests. This large area including Raydalside was also King's Forest.
Some years later the North side of this forest was given to the Abbot of Savingy in Normandy on condition he sent twelve monks to minister to the spiritual needs of the French soldiers stationed at Richmond. The rest of the area was policed by twelve foresters or gamekeepers. Two head foresters resided at Bainbridge and ten ordinary foresters settled in clearings up and down the Forest of Wensleydale. Each of these ten foresters had a side to patrol, they made clearings and fenced in certain land and made homes and farmsteads within the side they had to patrol. Butterside was one clearing; Apperside, Counterside, and Marside others. Other clearings were where no villages have grown such as Snaigside, Widdleside, Grayside and Raydalside.
From such humble beginnings Burtersett developed but up to about 1800 it consisted of a few scattered farms, the most substantial being 'Hillary Hall' where John Hillary, an early convert of George Fox, resided. Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealand climber who was the first man to scale Mount Everest, is a direct descendant of John and Mary Hillary or Hillary Hall, Burtersett.
In about 1860 suitable stone was found in the hills adjoining the village and quarries were opened. In the 1870s the railroad was extended to Hawes linking Wensleydale with the outside world and this gave a vigorous demand for this kind or stone. The lead mines in Swaledale were closing down and many Swaledale lead miners came to Burtersett in search of work. During the last 30 years of the nineteenth century the quarry owners built 17 new houses for their workers and restored others which had fallen into decay. The opening up of the quarries more than doubled the population of the village.
In 1876 the Congregationalists built a Chapel for public worship and to be used on weekdays as a day school for the younger children. The older children went to Hawes Council School. A day school teacher was appointed.
Methodism has been very strong amongst the lead miners in Swaledale and when they brought their families to Burtersett they soon saw the need for a Wesleyan Chapel for worship. In 1870 a small chapel was built and soon a very good choir was established. There was also a good choir at the lndependent chapel but the choirs always united for any special events at their respective chapels. These choirs were in constant demand as a United choir at many chapels in Wensleydale and sometimes in Swaledale if transport could be arranged. About 1904 the Wesleyan chapel was found to be too small for the congregation and it was extended and renovated.
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