A BRIEF HISTORY

Bentham is a small rural community, pleasantly cradled between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, with the Trough of Bowland on its doorstep, about 12 miles from the M6 motorway.

The earliest traces of occupation are to be found in Low Bentham. The Romans passed this way, for a section of Roman road has been discovered, as has an Anglo-Saxon cross on the site of the present church - proving the existence of a settlement in the 8th Century.

Over time it was the nearby community at High Bentham that developed to the thriving Market Town that it is today.

It is probable that the name "Bentham" is a derivation of the Anglo-Saxon words "bent" (rough grass) and "heim" (home). In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was the manor of "Benetain" and in Tudor times "Bentum". The oldest existing building is Stonegate House within Low Bentham, whose deeds are dated 1609.

There are many old photographs of Bentham taken since 1900. A selection of these have been put on plaques and placed around the town so that a comparison can be made with Bentham as it was and Bentham today. The project is called Bygone Bentham.

Bygone Bentham