Why is Hesket Newmarket special?
Hesket Newmarket is a small historic hamlet in a sheltered location on a terrace above the valley of the River Caldew with attractive architectural and historic character. This includes:
- At the meeting point of some twelve roads, bridle-tracks and footpaths linking Hesket Newmarket to the high sheep-grazed fells to the south and west and to the patchwork of small fields and cattle pasture surrounding the village
- The main focus of settlement surrounding the edges of an long sloping elliptical village green that once hosted the market from which the hamlet derives its name
- A secondary development along the roads leading into the hamlet, and around the How Beck, to the east of the hamlet
- Numerous listed buildings dating mainly from the late 17th to early 19th centuries, including the Market Cross in the centre of the green and the unusual cross-shaped Hesket Hall Farmhouse
- Several of these buildings being former public houses and a smithy, buildings that testify to the hamlet’s historic role as a market and meeting place for the scattered farms of this part of the Lake District
- Working farms and grazing sheep, cattle and ducks in the centre of the village and in the fields that descend into the village
- Wide green verges and spring-fed greens enhancing the close relationship between Hesket Newmarket and the surrounding landscape
- Abundant wildlife, including large flocks of swallows
- Significant long views through the conservation area to the rolling hills and woodland that surround the hamlet
- A thriving commercial hub catering to visitors with camping and bed and breakfast accommodation, a tea shop, pubs and a brewery, and a post office and general store.
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