Ravenstonedale

Known locally as Rissendale, this pretty village of stone-built cottages clustered along the banks of Scandal Beck lies on the edge of the Howgill Fells. The parish Church of St Oswald is especially interesting: built in 1738, it is one of the few Georgian churches in Cumbria. It is unusual in that the interior layout follows the ‘collegiate’ plan, where rows of pews face into the central aisle. There’s a handsome oak-panelled three-decker pulpit, complete with sounding board, and the window at the east end commemorates the last woman in England to be put to death for her Protestant faith. Elizabeth Gaunt was sentenced in 1685 by the notorious Judge Jeffreys to be burnt at the stake for sheltering a fugitive rebel. She met her end at Tyburn in London.

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