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Only a brief outline is currently provided here.
Mesolithic people entered the district following the retreat of the ice sheets some 12,000 years ago.
Neolithic people who arrived 5000-6000 years ago found the limestone terraces ideal for cultivation and there is ample evidence of their fields and huts throughout the district, e.g. at Grassington, Malham, Deepdale and above Arncliffe
Several Roman roads cross the district. There was a fort at Elslack and a substantial villa at Gargrave (though no remains can be seen).
Anglo Saxons settled the district after the Romans as is evidenced by the profusion of ley, ham, ton, den and holme place names. Subsequently Norse settlers came in from Ireland mainly occupying the remoter parts of the dales with settlements such as Yockenthwaite, Starbotton, Settle, Selside and Cracoe. They brought with them many commonly occurring descriptive names such as dale, gill and force.
Following the Norman Conquest, the Domesday Bookof 1085/6 records the extent of cultivation in the villages. Land was granted to Robert de Romille who built his castle above a cliff at Skipton. This established Skipton as the centre for the district and in due course a market charter was granted.
The castle passed by marriage and descent to the Clifford family who were the leading family throughout the middle ages. Henry Clifford, the Shepherd Lord, led men of Craven in the battle of Flodden Field in 1513. George Clifford, the Sailor Lord, took part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada and was Queen Elizabeth's Champion in royal tournaments. On his death his estates passed to his brother and subsequently his nephew. His wife Margaret and daughter Anne unsuccessfully contested the legality, but Lady Anne came into her own when her cousin died without issue. She returned to the north in 1649 and arranged the restoration of her 6 castles following their slighting at the end of the Civil War. The other in Craven is Barden Tower. She also restored churches, including Skipton's Holy Trinity standing in front of the castle. She can surely lay claim to be the most famous of all north country women.
The castle itself was a royalist stronghold during the Civil War and successfully held out against several seiges. It was the last northern castle to surrender in December 1645 and then only because clearly the King's cause was lost.
Skipton with good water supplies from the Eller and Embsey becks running through the town was an early participant in the industrial revolution with textile mills being built for cotton, flax and subsequently wool spinning and weaving. Industry was helped by the opening of the section of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal from Bingley in 1773. Immediately the price of coal was halved. The full length of the canal was not completed until 1816. A short extension of the canal in Skipton, the Springs Canal running below the castle, enabled limestone to be exported from the town.
The town's prosperity was further assured by the arrival of the railway from Leeds in 1847. The town continued primarily as an industrial centre through to the late 20th century when the textile industry collapsed. It is now predominently an administrative centre with a flourishing tourist trade as the "Gateway to the Dales". Markets are held on 4 days each week.
The surrounding area has always concentrated on pastural farming with sheep and cattle. Limestone and roadstone quarrying and lead mining were the other main industries. In the last 50 years there has been an increasing concentration on tourism aided by the formation in 1954 of the Yorkshire Dales National Park which includes most of Craven.
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