Running roughly north-west to south-east, it is the valley of the Arkle Beck, and is the northernmost of the Yorkshire Dales.

The history of the dale, its people, and farming, lead mining, and local crafts is displayed and documented in the Swaledale Museum in Reeth.

It passes through several small settlements: Raw, Arkle Town, Langthwaite (where a narrow back road leads to Booze), Eskeleth and Whaw.

Eventually the dale ends and the road reaches the Tan Hill Inn, the highest in England, just outside the Park, near the Pennine watershed.

Beyond Tan Hill, the road divides again, heading westward to Brough, south to Keld and south-west to Kirkby Stephen.

The moors on both sides of Arkengarthdale are used for the annual Scott Trial, a cross-country motorcycle endurance event.

[4] Most of the mining structures have now disappeared leaving only the spoil heaps and the line of an 3,600-foot (1,100 m) long chimney from the site of the smelting mill.

[5] In the 19th century a lead ingot with the name Hadrian stamped on it was found, at Hurst, east of the dale.

[9] Following the Norman conquest in the 11th century a large part of North Yorkshire was given to Count Alan, a member of William's family.

[12] Attempts by Crown agents to change the leases of the 55 tenants of small-holdings in the area led to protracted disputes.

[13][15] This greatly reduced the cost of transporting lead and coal from the mines since carts could be used instead of pack-horse trains.

The architectural style is unusual in such a rural setting as the commissioner's churches were normally intended for urban areas.

[27] But with the decline of the price of lead from £33 a ton in 1801 to £13 10s in 1831 a depression followed during which people left the dale in search of work; some to the factories in Derbyshire and Lancashire, others to the mines in County Durham, a significant number also emigrated to America.

[31] The dale stretches for 11 miles (18 km) starting at Reeth, and running in a north-westerly direction, until it reaches higher ground on the road to Tan Hill.

[33][34] Lead is found in veins running through the extensive limestone and chert beds which extend from Swaledale.

[35][36] The other early method used was the digging of bell pits with lateral tunnels, called drifts, following the vein.

By the end of the 19th century one could enter the Moulds Level in Arkengarthdale and travel six miles underground to the Sir Frances Mine in Gunnerside Gill, Swaledale.

His company continued until 1911 when the lead-mining industry in Yorkshire collapsed due to the slump in the price of lead.

[42] Modern research of parish records has failed to find evidence of this disaster, except for the deaths of three miners drowned after an underground lake was breached.

[43] In 1820, miners in Little Punchard Gill created a canal level along which ore and spoil could be floated to the surface.

It had improved fire chamber design and a 33 feet (10 m) water wheel, but used the existing chimney which ran half a mile up to the top of the moor.

This kind of flue was large enough to allow men to climb up the inside and scrape off the condensed lead.

In 1870 there was a strike at the Faggergill Mine over the new management's insistence that the morning shift should start at a fixed time.

[14] At the beginning of the 20th century, Mathew Edward Stones was widely known for his skill at water and metal divining using hazel twigs.

[60] The lowest part of the dale, below Arkle Town and including the hamlet of Raw, is in the civil parish of Reeth, Fremington and Healaugh.