Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BARDEN

BARDEN, a township in Skipton parish, W. R. Yorkshire; in Wharfdale, 7 miles ENE of Skipton. It includes the hamlet of Drebley; and has a post office under Skipton. Acres, 6,115. Real property, £1,332. Pop., 371. Houses, 63. Most of the surface is moor and fell, and anciently was a forest. Barden Tower, built by Henry Clifford, "the Shepherd-Lord," after his restoration to his property and titles, a plain structure in the Tudor style, was in good repair so late as 1774, and is now a picturesque ruin. A chapel of the same age, attached to an adjacent farmhouse, is still in use. The Shepherd-Lord, as says the poet Wordsworth,

―did not in wars delight;
This Clifford wished for worthier might;
Nor in broad pomp, or courtly state;
Him his own thoughts did elevate,-
Most happy in the shy recess
Of Barden's lowly quietness.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a township"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Barden CP/Tn       Skipton Tn/AP/CP       Yorkshire AncC
Place: Barden

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