HIGH ABBOTSIDE is a large township, comprising the scattered hamlets of Sedbusk, Simonstone, High Shaw, Low Shaw, Hardrow, Cotterdale, Fossdale, Litherskew, Cams House and High Lunds, and comprises the same area as the Hardrow ecclesiastical parish. High Abbotside is on the north bank of the river Ure or Yore, in Wensleydale, 1 mile north from Hawes and about 16 miles west from Leyburn. The Earl of Wharncliffe, who is lord of the manor, John Chaytor Metcalfe esq. of King Edward’s Place, Wanborough, Wilts, and Thomas Stuart esq. of Hawes, are the principal landowners. The tithe, amounting to £163, belongs to Trinity College, Cambridge, and lessees. The Earl of Wharncliffe has a shooting-box at Simonstone, 1 mile north from Hawes. The soil is rich loam; subsoil, limestone and sand. The land is entirely in pasture. Stone quarries are worked here. The area is 6,230 acres of land and 31 of water; rateable value, £4,915; the population in 1911 was 348.