Emmerdale, Yorkshire Dales National Park

:This article is about the fictional village. For information about the soap itself, see Emmerdale.
thumb
Emmerdale (previously Beckindale) is a village in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Emmerdale was founded in the early 1500s and originally went by the name Beckindale until 19th May 1994 when it was renamed in honour of the Sugdens and their original farmhouse, Emmerdale Farm following a plane crash in December 1993. 
== History ==
On 17th May 1507, the village of Beckindale was established. The name Beckindale suggests Viking settlement and it indicates a beck in the dale. Hence Beckindale. Beckindale had a sub parish called Demdyke.
In the 1500s and 1600s, Beckindale had a priory and a nunnery which stood where the Cricket Pavilion now stands. The main farming family was the Sugdens, who is the oldest family in the village and still live there to this day.
Many of the buildings in the main village date from the 1700s. The oldest surviving building in the village is Mulberry Cottage which was built in 1656, followed by Tenant House which dates to 1671 and Home Farm, then known as Miffield Hall, which was built in 1681, and is the largest property in the village. The buildings on Main Street are built out of rubble style limestone which is often found in Dales villages. The old Millhouse was built in the 18th century where the old nunnery once stood. Around the year 1776, the original The Woolpack was built. 
In 1803, Hannah Elizabeth Pearson was hanged at the back of what would later become the new Woolpack after being accused of poisoning her sister-in-law. Her body would later not be found until 1978. 
In 1826, opposite Tenant House, the village school was built by the Verney family, who for many generations had been the lords of the manor since Tudor times. The Miffield Estate, owned by Lord Miffield, was the biggest employer in the village at this time and owned a large majority of it too. In 1855, Joshua Sugden was killed saving Lord Miffield's son's life, and Lord Miffield gave the Sugden family the lease of Emmerdale Farm out of gratitude. 
In 1891 The cricket tradition of the Butterworth Ball starts between the villages of Beckindale and Robblesfield. 
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, opposite the shop and near the Village Hall and school. 
The whole of Beckindale was rocked to its foundations on the night of 30th December 1993 when an Eastern European airliner, flying over Britain on its way to Canada, exploded over the village and crashed. All 250 passengers on board were killed as well as 9 villagers from debris from the plane as it crashed. Demdyke Row, Skipdale Bridge, Home Farm stables and the Woolpack wine bar were all completely demolished.
On 19th May 1994, following the tragedy of the crash, the village was renamed Emmerdale in honour of Annie Sugden and the Sugden family who had farmed in the village since the 1400s, as well as marking a new beginning. 
The 1990s also marked the arrival of the Dingle family who would grow to be one of Emmerdale's longest-lasting and most influential families as well as the largest and fastest-growing. 
Even after the devastating plane crash, the village has met many other disasters such as the local chruch burning down in 2002 at the hands of a schizophrenic Zoe Tate causing it to be rebuilt at the old location of the village school house and former tea room buildings. As well as the storm of 2003/2004 and the helicopter crash in 2015 which both caused destruction in the village and cost the lives of several residents. 
== Gallery ==
Emmerdale Sign.JPG
Emmerdale_village.jpg
Wikia-Visualization-Main.png
== Roads in Emmerdale ==
* Church Lane
* Connelton Lane
* Cricketer's Row
* Hotten Road
* Main Street
* Robblesfield Way
* Widdup Lane
==Background information==
*The village has had three different filming locations, Arncliffe from 1972 to 1975, Esholt from 1976 to 1997 and finally the Purpose-Built Set at Harewood House from 1998 to present, resulting in the layout and exterior of the village houses shifting slightly in appearance. 
==See also==
*List of buildings in Emmerdale
Category:Locations
Category:Cities and towns