Washburn Valley

Fewston Reservoir is located in the Washburn valley north of Otley and west of Harrogate in Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1879. The capacity is about 3.5 million cubic metres. It can be found from the A59 road. The overflow from the reservoir feeds directly into the adjoining Swinsty Reservoir. Formerly, this overflow was encircled by a metal walkway from which floodboards could be lowered, but this has since been removed. The reservoir is the property of Yorkshire Water, which manages it for the benefit of walkers, anglers and wildlife. Situated in the charming Washburn valley, sharing an embankment with Swinsty Reservoir, Fewston is popular with walkers and runners. Cyclists and horse-riders can also make use of their own permitted tracks in the surrounding woodlands.

Timble is a village in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the slopes of the Washburn valley, north of Otley and close to Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs. In 1988, the diaries of local man John Dickinson were published, providing considerable insight into the history of the village and the surrounding area. In the 17th century, the village was home to The Witches of Timble, who were accused of witchcraft by local poet Edward Fairfax, and tried but acquitted twice at York.The village has one pub, the Timble Inn. It was closed in 2004 but was re-opened in September 2009 as a Free House following an extensive refurbishment. The Yorkshire Water Way goes through Timble.

Fewston is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated north of Otley and close to Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs. The Church of St Michael and St Lawrence is the village church. The majority of the building was constructed in 1697, although the tower dates from the 14th century. The Washburn Heritage Centre, adjacent to the church, opened in February 2011.

St Michael and St Lawrence's Church is an Anglican church in Fewston, a village in North Yorkshire, in England. A church was first built in Fewston in the 12th century, and the mediaeval tower survives. The remainder of the church was rebuilt in 1697, from which time the font also dates. The tower was restored in about 1800, while the church was further altered later in the century. It was grade II* listed in 1987. The church is built of gritstone with a stone slate roof, and consists of a five-bay nave, a north aisle, a south porch, a three-bay chancel and a west tower. The tower has three stages, diagonal buttresses, round-arched bell openings with an impost band, a coved cornice, and an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles. The porch has a shallow segmental arch, pilasters, a projecting band, and a dated keystone, above which is a pulvinated frieze, a cornice, a coped gable with shaped kneelers, and a cross at the apex.

Blubberhouses is a small village and civil parish in the Washburn Valley in North Yorkshire, England. The population as at the 2011 Census was less than 100, so details were included in the civil parish of Fewston. In 2015, North Yorkshire County Council estimated the population of the village and parish to be 40. Blubberhouses is situated to the south of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and to the north of a Roman road and Fewston Reservoir on the A59 road linking Harrogate to Skipton.

St Andrew's Church is the parish church of Blubberhouses, a village in North Yorkshire in England. The church was commissioned by Louisa Frankland Russell, as a chapel of ease to St Michael and St Lawrence's Church, Fewston. It was designed by Edward Buckton Lamb in the Early English style, and was completed in 1851. The church was Grade II listed in 1987. The church is built of gritstone and has a stone slate roof. It consists of a three-bay nave with a north aisle, a three-bay chancel, and a northwest steeple and porch. The steeple has a tower with two stages, stepped angle buttresses, tall lancet bell openings, deep corbelled eaves and a tall pyramidal spire with lucarnes and a finial. The porch is up seven steps, and is entered under a pointed arch with a chamfered surround. Most of the windows have trefoil heads. Inside, the nave has a stone floor and oak pews, which were relocated from the old church at Thirkleby. There is a hammerbeam roof, with a king post structure, an experiment by Lamb to ensure that the altar can be seen from every location in the church. To aid this, the aisle is separated from the nave by a single pillar. The altar rail and pulpit are made of oak and date from the 17th century.

Swinsty Reservoir is a reservoir in the Washburn valley north of Otley and west of Harrogate in Yorkshire, England. Construction began in 1871 and was completed in 1878. The capacity is about 866 million gallons, with a surface area of 63 hectares. It can be found from the A59 road. The reservoir is below and directly adjoining Fewston Reservoir. The area around the reservoirs is popular with walkers.

Snowden Crags is a prehistoric archaeological site on Askwith Moor in North Yorkshire, England. Local antiquarian Eric Cowling recorded a stone circle and a concentration of cairns at the location in a 1946 survey, but the site remained obscure due to the density of heather covering it for most of the year. It was rediscovered in 2010 by amateur archaeologist Paul Bennett, who described the stone circle in more detail and noted the presence of a robber trench of unknown date at its centre.A neighbouring area of moorland, Snowden Carr, contains a large amount of prehistoric rock carvings that were also recorded by Cowling.

Scow Hall is a historic building near Norwood, North Yorkshire, a village in England. The farmhouse was built as a timber framed aisle hall in the 16th century, and rebuilt in stone in the 17th century. It was further altered and extended in the 19th century. In 1900, it was purchased by Leeds City Council as part of a waterworks scheme, but continued to be let out as a farmhouse until 1926, when a replacement was built. It was thereafter used as a blacksmiths' shop, cow house, dovecote and chicken coop in increasingly poor condition. In 1952, local historian Fred Morrell convinced the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England to study the building, and it was grade II* listed in 1966. In 1976, Leeds City Council sold it to Ann Skelton, who restored the property as a house. The remainder of the farm is owned by Yorkshire Water, which lets it to young farmers for five-year periods as part of a scheme to train them in sustainable agriculture. The house has a timber-framed core encased in gritstone, and has a stone slate roof. There are two storeys and five bays. The doorway has chamfered quoined jambs, a triangular head, and a hood mould. Most of the windows are mullioned. Inside, much of the timber framing remains.

Menwith Hill Elementary/High School was an American facility located at RAF Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, England. It closed in 2015.

Dob Park Bridge is a historic structure connecting Dob Park Mill with Norwood, North Yorkshire, a village in England. A packhorse bridge over the River Washburn at this location was first recorded in the 16th century. It was rebuilt in 1738 at a cost of £50, although it retains some early 16th century material. It was grade II listed in 1966. The bridge is built of gritstone, and consists of a single segmental arch, which is high and round. The bridge is paved with stone setts, and the parapet has flat blocks linked with iron staples.

Royal Air Force Menwith Hill or more simply RAF Menwith Hill is a Royal Air Force station near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which provides communications and intelligence support services to the United Kingdom and the United States. The site contains an extensive satellite ground station and is a communications intercept and missile warning site. It has been described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world.RAF Menwith Hill is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), but made available to the US Department of Defense (DoD) under the NATO Status of Forces Agreement 1951 and other, undisclosed agreements between the US and British governments. His Majesty's Government (HMG) is entitled to possession of the site and retains control over its use and its facilities, though the administration of the base is the responsibility of the US authorities, with support provided by around 400 staff from Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), in addition to United States Air Force (USAF) and US National Security Agency (NSA) personnel. In 2014, the number of American personnel was reduced as part of a streamlining of operations due to improvements in technology.The site acts as a ground station for a number of satellites operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office, on behalf of the NSA, with antennas contained in numerous distinctive white radomes, locally referred to as "the golf balls", and is alleged to be an element of the ECHELON system.The site is one of three main sites operated by the United States across the globe as a major satellite monitoring station and intelligence gathering location. The other two sites are located in America and Australia, having similar roles and working together with RAF Menwith Hill to develop knowledge around American, British and Australian interests. The Australian site is known as the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap.