[3][4] The early settlement was nearer to the foot of the scar than it is now, in a field called Pesbers by the lane to Winskill.

In about 1200 the monks of Furness Abbey built a corn mill on the Langcliffe side of the Ribble which caused a protracted controversy.

This judgment still stands, as the Ribble forms the western boundary of Langcliffe, but the mill pond and its fields now pay their rates to Giggleswick.

At that time Henry Somerscales bought the manorial rights and in 1602 rebuilt Langcliffe Hall in the Elizabethan style.

[8][9]: 114 The muster rolls of 1513 show that nine men from the village fought the Scots army at the Battle of Flodden.

Cotton spinning was industrialised by the mid-18th century, but weaving remained a domestic activity based on the putting-out system.

[7] Langcliffe High Mill was a spinning-mill, built in 1783–84 by George and William Clayton and their brother-in-law, R. Walshman.

From that factory they brought experienced operators to Langcliffe, many of them children, for whom they provided lodgings, clothing and basic education.

[7] This was one of Yorkshire's earliest and largest cotton-spinning mills: 14 bays, 5 storeys high, housing 14,032 spindles.

[16]The building of the Settle-Carlisle Railway made heavy industry possible in Langcliffe and in 1873 a Hoffman Continuous Kiln was built for the Craven Lime Company.

The continuous-kiln had been patented by German inventor Friedrich Hoffman in 1858 and the kiln at Langcliffe had 22 chambers, in which limestone was burned continuously in a circuit that took around six weeks to complete.

Local legend has it that Samson lost his footing while jumping across from Langcliffe Scar or Ribblesdale, resulting in him breaking off his toe.

The church site, and the funds for the construction, were given by John Green Paley (1774–1860), a son of Langcliffe who had prospered with the Industrial Revolution as a director of Bradford's Bowling Iron Works and of two local railway companies.

"[23] The green altar-frontal was made from a dressing gown belonging to Lord Halifax, the former Viceroy of India.

Thomas Paley (1540–1592) of Giggleswick is recorded as having married Elizabeth Preston in 1561 in St. Alkeda's church, but their son Johannes (1572–1597) in time moved out to Langcliffe.

A part of this family became established as gentry in Suffolk, and Maj.-Gen. Sir Victor Paley, KBE, CB, DSO, DL achieved distinction as a soldier.