Driveways in Hampsthwaite

Hamal's clearing on the Nidd

The name is Old Norse, meaning the clearing of a man called Hamal. In 1304 Edward I granted Hampsthwaite a charter for a yearly market and fair, and the old parish once stretched far up the dale, taking in Birstwith, Felliscliffe and Thornthwaite until they became separate parishes in 1866. From 1875 to 1951 the village had a station on the Nidd Valley Railway between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge.

The heart of the village is still small: High Street, Hollins Lane and the green, with the Joiners' Arms, the village shop, the Memorial Hall, the primary school founded in 1860 and St Thomas a Becket's Church, whose tower dates from the 15th century. The old Hampsthwaite Bridge carries the road north over the Nidd. Beyond the centre, 20th-century and newer estates spread south and west towards West Lane.

The land north and west of the village is an Area of Great Landscape Value, just outside the Nidderdale National Landscape, which is one reason the village has kept its rural edge.

Homes and cars in Hampsthwaite

Around the village (census area LSOA Harrogate 008E), there were 566 households in 2021:

• 46% lived in detached homes, 36% in semis, 16% in terraces and 2% in flats.
• 79% owned their home, 8% rented from a social landlord and 10% rented privately.
• 55% of households had two or more cars or vans, and only 6% had none.

In a village with few buses and long drives to work, the car comes first. Typical Hampsthwaite jobs:

• Widening a drive on a family house so two or three cars fit without blocking each other.
• Replacing an old tarmac or concrete drive that has broken up after years of frost.
• A gravel or setts drive for a stone cottage near the green.
• Turning space on a longer plot, so cars can leave forwards onto a narrow road.

The conservation area and listed buildings

The centre of the village is a conservation area. Listed buildings close by include St Thomas a Becket's Church, Hampsthwaite Bridge over the River Nidd, Cockhill packhorse bridge, Grove House and Rowden House, High Stores House, Laurel Cottage, Manor Farmhouse, Hollins Hall Farmhouse, old boundary stones near the school, a sundial and a K6 telephone kiosk, all Grade II.

If your home is in the conservation area:

• talk to North Yorkshire Council's planning team before removing a stone wall, hedge or gateposts to open up the frontage,
• use materials that sit well with local stone, such as gravel, setts or a buff resin, rather than bright concrete blocks,
• check whether listed building consent is needed for changes to a listed house or its boundary.

Outside the conservation area, a new front drive that is permeable, or drains to a lawn or border, is permitted development. Impermeable paving over five square metres that drains onto the road needs planning permission.

Till over gritstone

The British Geological Survey maps the village on Harrogate Till, a gravelly sandy clay left by the ice, over Millstone Grit mudstone, siltstone and sandstone, including the Upper Follifoot Grit. That has two effects on a drive:

• Slow drainage. Clay till holds water, so a permeable surface needs a deeper open-graded base or a route to a soakaway or border. A test hole shows how quickly it drains.
• Frost. Wet clay heaves in hard frosts, which is one reason old, thin drives here crack and lift. A properly compacted stone sub-base of the right depth is the answer.

The Environment Agency's flood map shows no Flood Zone 2 or 3 land within 300 metres of West Lane. The low ground beside the Nidd north of the village is a different matter, so check your address if you live near the river.

The kerb and the quote

Dropping the kerb. North Yorkshire Council offers a domestic licence at £310.20 with the work done by an approved independent contractor, or will quote to build the crossing for a £102.36 fee, with no quote fee if a crossing isn't possible. On narrow village roads and near bends, the council looks closely at visibility. See our dropped kerbs page.

We don't publish prices. We work out each Hampsthwaite quote after measuring the drive and checking the ground, and the figure is fixed for the agreed job. The points that move it most:

• Breaking out the old drive and taking it away, often a big share of the work.
• The clay. Deeper sub-bases and drainage for slow-draining till.
• Stone and setts. Materials chosen to suit the conservation area take more time to lay.
• Walls and gateposts. Moving or rebuilding stone boundaries adds labour.
• The crossing. A new or wider crossing sits alongside the drive itself.

Around Hampsthwaite

• Killinghall driveway page: South-east towards Harrogate, a village of family homes.
• Jennyfields driveway page: South, on Harrogate's north-west edge.
• Harlow Hill driveway page: Further south, on the high ground by Harlow Carr.

Surfaces that suit a Nidderdale village: gravel & stone, block paving & setts, resin driveways.

See all areas: View all areas.

Questions people ask in Hampsthwaite

Sources: ONS Census 2021, LSOA Harrogate 008E (TS044, TS045, TS054 via Nomis); Wikipedia: Hampsthwaite; Planning Data: conservation areas and listed buildings; BGS Geology Viewer, 1:50,000; Environment Agency flood map for planning; North Yorkshire Council: pavements and kerbs (dropped kerbs); GOV.UK: permeable surfacing of front gardens.