Bedale Beck

The beck was the location of water mills, at least two being recorded in the Bedale area by 1297.^[6] The most famous is the mill that still exists at Crakehall, which was renovated in 1980 and again in the new millennium and grinds corn on special open days.^[7] Both of the mills at Aiskew and Crakehall had millraces. Crakehall's is still there and transports water. Aiskew Mill had closed but was reopened in 2010 as a community bakery.^[8]

In the 18th century an attempt was made to make the beck navigable from Bedale to the River Swale. The plan was abandoned owing to a lack of investment and in 1855 the railway was opened, which superseded the plans for a canal.^[9] The area below the weir and the sluice gate are still known as 'The Harbour'.^[10] The scheme was part of a grander plan to convert the Swale into a navigation from the River Ure up to Bedale, which involved installing a lock just west of Leeming village, known as Leeming Lock. The lock survived until it was blown up in the Second World War, though no-one knows if it was deliberate or accidental.^[11] The plan also meant diverting the watercourse that flows past Floodbridge Farm and now joins Bedale Beck further downstream than previously.^[10]

Flooding on the beck has led to problems. In 1900 floodwaters undermined the trackbed of the railway line west of Bedale, causing a locomotive to derail and killing its fireman.^[12]

Along with others that feed into the River Swale in Hambleton, Bedale Beck has been identified as having poor ecological quality ^[13] and having too much sediment entering the water, which damages the habitat for fish, raises phosphate levels and contributes to flooding.^[14]

Both Bedale and Leeming have been identified as being the main receptors of flooding along the beck owing to their low-lying and flat nature (especially between Bedale and Leeming, which has been described as a 'level floodplain')^[15] in comparison to the rest of the beck's course.^[16]