The parish includes the hamlets and villages of Angram, Keld, Thwaite, West Stonesdale and Birkdale, as well as the Tan Hill Inn, the highest in England.

[5] Muker was historically a township in the large ancient parish of Grinton in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

A chapel of ease had stood on this site previously but in 1580 it was substantially rebuilt and a graveyard consecrated so that residents of Upper Swaledale no longer had to transport their dead all the way to the parish church in Grinton.

Although at one time a centre for lead mining, the main economic activities are now woollen clothing, tourism, grouse shooting and sheep farming.

The pub, which is called the Farmers Arms, closed in the early 2020s, but was re-opened in September 2024 as a community-owned venture.

Originally the vicarage, the Muker village tea shop was built in 1680 and retains much of its 'olde worlde charm' today.

Muker was featured in the television series All Creatures Great and Small in the episode titled "Hampered"; the village was seen as the location of the Darrowby Flower Show.

[12] Muker is featured in the British television series All Creatures Great and Small, in the episode "Hampered", as the venue for the Darrowby Flower Show.