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Emmie village 2015

Emmerdale Village.

Emmerdale Village is a village in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Founded in the early 1500s it was originally named Beckindale until 19 May 1994 when it was renamed Emmerdale after the devastating 1993 plane crash. It was renamed Emmerdale after the Sugdens and their original farmhouse.

The name Beckindale suggests Viking settlement and it indicates a beck in the dale. Hence Beckindale.

See also w:c:emmerdale:w:c:emmerdale:Beckindale (History of the village before its May 1994 renaming)

Village History[]

Emmie Main Street 2002

Emmerdale Village at Harewood, Yorkshire. Built in 1997 as a replica of Esholt.

From 1588 to 1978 the squires of Beckindale were the benevolent Verney family. In the 1500s and 1600s Beckindale had a priory and a nunnery which stood where the cricket pavilion now stands. The main farming family were the Sugdens whose presence in the village stretches further back than the Verneys.

Many of the buildings in the main village date from about 1700. The oldest surviving building in the village is Mulberry Cottage which was built in 1656, followed by Tenant House in Church Lane which dates from 1671. The buildings in the Main Street are built out of rubble style limestone which is often found in Dales villages. The old mill was built in the 18th century where the old nunnery once stood.

In 1803 Hannah Elizabeth Pearson nee Gough was hanged at the back of what is now the Woolpack after being accused of poisoning her sister in law.

Emmie beckindale 1986

Emmerdale Village (then known as Beckindale) in 1986 on a cold night. Courtesy of Beckindale Bugle. http://www.beckindale.com/2007/12/1986-night-mobile-phone-arrived-in.html

In 1826 opposite Tenant House the village school was built by the Verney Family. The Miffield Estate was the biggest employer in the village of Beckindale situated 39 miles from Bradford and 52 miles from Leeds. In the 1850s Josh Sugden sacrificed his life for the Earls son in the Crimean War. Out of gratitude he leased Emmerdale Farm to him.

Josh Sugden's grandson Joseph Sugden maried Margaret Oldroyd and they had a son Jacob in January 1916 followed by another son Edward. Jacob supposedly bought the freehold of Emmerdale Farm in the 1930s. In 1945 he married farm labourer's daughter Annie Pearson. They had 3 children John Jacob "Jack" Sugden, Peggy Sugden and Joseph "Joe" Sugden.

Joseph Sugden died in 1963 and Margaret Sugden died in 1964. That year Jacob and Annie's eldest son Jack left the home after a row with his father over intensive farming. Jacob spent the last years of his life drinking away the farm profits in the local pub The Woolpack facing the village green. Jacob died on the 10th October 1972 of liver failure. His death saw the return of Jack Sugden after 8 years and Beckindale's overdue emergence into the 20th century.

Untitled

The corn chandler's house in Beckindale Main Street, which, in 1976, became the new premises for The Woolpack.

In 1976 the building used to house the Woolpack was vacated due to subsidence and landlords Amos Brearly and Henry Wilks found a new building, a former corn chandlers dwelling in a more central part of the village, Main Street, opposite the shop and near the Village Hall and school. In 1991 Amos Brearly retired to Spain and Henry Wilks died shortly after.

The Plane Crash in December 1993[]

Emmie plane crash wide angle shot of destruction

Beckindale on the night of the plane crash after the airliner struck.

1993 was a year of big change for Beckindale. The original Emmerdale Farm, which the Sugden family had lived in since about 1855 was vacated due to subsidence. Hawthorn Cottage became the new Emmerdale Farm. The whole of Beckindale was rocked to its foundations on the night of 30th December 1993 when a huge Eastern European airliner, flying over Britain on its way to Canada exploded over the village and crashed. Fireballs shot down from the sky, gas mains exploded, and all 250 passengers on board were killed as well as 9 villagers. Demdyke Row, a house near the smithy (later the surgery), Skipdale Bridge, Home Farm stables and the Woolpack wine bar were all completely demolished.

The villagers who died were w:c:emmerdale:w:c:emmerdale:Archie Brooks, w:c:emmerdale:w:c:emmerdale:Elizabeth Pollard, w:c:emmerdale:w:c:emmerdale:Leonard Kempinski and w:c:emmerdale:w:c:emmerdale:Mark Hughes, all killed due to debris from the plane as it crashed.

In January 1994 villagers struggled to face the future after the crash and the village was renamed Emmerdale in May 1994 (see section below) out of respect of Annie Sugden and the Sugden family, and to mark a new beginning. Since then though there has been a storm, several fires, a River Home explosion and a few murders in the village.

Rename from Beckindale to Emmerdale in May 1994[]

Emmie post office

Emmerdale Post Office in the late 1990s.

In May 1994 the village was renamed Emmerdale after the Sugden family who had farmed in the village since the 1400s. This decision to rename the village was to forget the plane crash and to stop sightseers using the village as "the one where the plane crashed".

1994-present[]

Places in Emmerdale Village[]

Former places in Emmerdale/Beckindale[]

Streets/Roads/Lanes in Emmerdale Village[]

Gallery[]

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