dead links in Geoff the Duck's post of 2001

blicky - Dent Primary School. - I can't find it's successor

blicky - This page contains a verse from the Terrible Knitters. I hope some of this helps. the website no longer exists,


Dent Village Heritage Centre

History of Dales knitting

extract from Robert Southey's poem about the terrible knitters of Dent - Though predominantly a farming community various cottage industries lived alongside the farming in this area. One famous example in the past were the Dent knitters who were referred to in Robert Southey's poem as "the terrible knitters of Dent."

"Oh the terrible knitters of Dent
Their fingers are gnarled and they're bent
And the tourists are staying where inn signs are swaying
And the fountain sings Sedgewick's lament."

Apparently both men and women used to knit as a way of supplementing their incomes, creating mittens and socks. It is reported that an experienced knitter could produce ten woollen caps a day using the knitting sticks handed down though generations. However, by early 1800 the trade had collapsed but visitors to the Dent Craft Centre can still see how it was done.

sandra