By Isla Quinn
Start with the river. The Wye runs through Bakewell under a bridge with five arches, and the sources say the bridge is older than most of what stands around it.
Where it is
According to Wikipedia, Bakewell is a market town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales, on the River Wye, about 15 miles (24 km) south-west of Sheffield. It is the largest settlement, and the only town, inside the Peak District National Park. The town centre sits about 410 feet (120 metres) above sea level. The parish had 3,949 people at the 2011 census; in 1841 it had 1,976.
The name, and a market
Wikipedia says the name probably comes from a personal name, Badeca or Beadeca, plus the Old English word for a spring or stream. It appears as Badecanwelle in 949 and Badequelle in the Domesday Book of 1086. A market was established in 1254. The same article lists 183 listed buildings.
Bridges
Wikipedia dates the five-arched bridge over the Wye to the 13th century and lists it as Grade I. Holme Bridge, from 1664, is Grade I as well. A Peak District visitor website describes the older crossing as a medieval stone bridge and says Weir Bridge is nicknamed the love locks bridge, covered in padlocks. It adds that the padlocks’ removal is planned with no date set, so we say no more about it.
A spa that did not happen
Wikipedia records that a chalybeate spring was found in Bakewell and a bath house built in 1697, which began an unsuccessful attempt to make the town a spa in the 18th century. Richard Arkwright began Lumford Mill in 1777, the article says, and it was built about 1782. It was sold to the Duke of Devonshire in 1860 and damaged by fire in 1868.
The Old House
Wikipedia’s article on the Old House Museum calls it a typical 16th-century yeoman’s house, built in 1534 and extended in 1549, originally a tithe dwelling owned by the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield. It is Grade II* listed. Former residents named there include a Tudor tithe collector, Richard Arkwright, who housed mill workers in the building, and a Victorian family who lived in one of the cottages. The visitor website says the museum has Tudor artefacts and patchwork quilts.
The pudding
Wikipedia describes Bakewell pudding as an English dessert with a flaky pastry base, a layer of sieved jam and a topping of egg and almond paste, served warm or cold. The tart is a separate thing. The town’s article says it has shortcrust pastry, an almond topping, and sponge and jam filling, and the visitor website says it has an almond sponge top.
The origin story is well known. Mrs Greaves, landlady of the White Horse Inn, asked her cook for a jam tart, and the cook spread the egg and almond mixture over the jam instead of stirring it into the pastry. It set like a custard. Wikipedia gives 1820 for this, notes that other sources say 1860, and then takes both apart: the inn was demolished in 1803, and Eliza Acton printed a recipe in 1845, which rules out 1860.
Dates in order
- 920: All Saints’ Church founded, according to Wikipedia.
- 949: Badecanwelle, according to Wikipedia.
- 1086: Badequelle in the Domesday Book, according to Wikipedia.
- 1254: market established, according to Wikipedia.
- 1534 and 1549: the Old House built and extended, according to Wikipedia.
- 1664: Holme Bridge, according to Wikipedia.
- 1697: bath house, according to Wikipedia.
- 1803: the White Horse Inn demolished, according to Wikipedia.
- 1836, 1845, 1847, 1861: printed pudding recipes, according to Wikipedia.
Side by side
The town article says the Old House dates from Henry VIII and was extended under Elizabeth I. The museum article says it was built in 1534 and extended in 1549. Those are two different extension dates and we are not choosing. The earliest printed pudding recipe is 1826 in one reference book according to Wikipedia, which adds that the 1826 edition it checked has no such recipe, and 1836 in a London magazine. Our reading: the pudding is older than its famous story and younger than its famous inn. That is our inference.
What kind of sources these are
Three Wikipedia articles, which anyone can edit, and a Peak District visitor website. We read no town council, museum or heritage body page. We give no opening hours, prices or transport.
What we left out
We left out the market schedule, trail directions and the padlock bridge’s future. We left out Chatsworth and Haddon Hall beyond their being nearby, and any named bakery or café, because no source gave us one we could check.
Quick answers
Is a Bakewell pudding the same as a Bakewell tart? No. According to Wikipedia, the pudding has jam under an egg and almond filling; the tart has shortcrust pastry, an almond topping, and sponge and jam.
Where is Bakewell? In the Derbyshire Dales on the River Wye, about 15 miles south-west of Sheffield, and the only town inside the Peak District National Park, according to Wikipedia.
When was the Bakewell pudding invented? Wikipedia says the inn story gives 1820, others say 1860, but the inn was gone by 1803 and Eliza Acton printed a recipe in 1845.
Related on this site: windsor-chair-high-wycombe-bodgers, hedgelaying-regional-styles-how-a-hedge-is-laid, christmas-pudding-stir-up-sunday-history
Roam first. Shop later.