Grassington is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated in Wharfedale around 9 miles (14 km) from Bolton Abbey and is surrounded by limestone scenery. Nearby villages include Linton, Threshfield, Hebden, Conistone and Kilnsey.
Although often described by local people as a village, Grassington was granted a Royal Charter for a market and fair in 1282 giving it market town status. The market was held regularly until about 1860. A change in land use from the early 17th century, when lead mining began to assume more importance, brought some prosperity, but Grassington's heyday arrived during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The opening of the Yorkshire Dales Railway to Threshfield in 1901 brought new visitors, many of whom settled, some finding work in Skipton or in the developing limestone quarries.
Today Grassington is the main residential and tourist centre in Upper Wharfedale. Centred around its small cobbled square is a selection of shops offering food, clothing and gifts, alongside small cafes, restaurants and hotels.
Grassington Festival [1] is a two-week long annual event encompassing music, performance, and visual arts, held in a variety of venues around the village. In 2008 it included acts by Jo Brand, Dara O'Briain, Clare Teal and Toyah Wilcox.
A Yorkshire Dales National Park information centre is on Hebden Road.
Three miles north of Grassington at Kilnsey is the dramatic, glacially carved overhang of Kilnsey Crag.
Grass Woods, a large area of ancient woodland including the Iron-Age fort, Fort Gregory (also known as Gregory's Fort), is situated just over one mile north-west of Grassington.[1][2]
Electricity generation
In 1909, Grassington received its first electricity from a hydroelectric plant at Linton Falls, which continued to operate until 1948. Today, there are plans to revive the plant through an English Heritage project, using two Archimedean screw turbines to produce 510,000 kilowatt hours per year.[3][4]