Grassington antiques fair runs on Sunday 15 November 2026 from 9am to 4pm in Church House on the village Square, for £1, in one of the oldest buildings in the Yorkshire Dales’ best-known market village.
Most visitors know Grassington from television. They park, photograph the cobbles, and queue for a Dickensian Christmas in December.
Fewer know that on one Sunday in November the village fills a 17th-century building with other people’s old things. The fair is small, cheap and local. It sits on a Square that has been a marketplace since the 13th century, above a hillside that was once riddled with lead mines.
Come for the fair, then make the most of the day. The village has more history per square metre than its postcard reputation suggests.
Region: Grassington, Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire Dales
Best for: Browsers, vintage hunters, walkers who want a rainy-day anchor
Getting there: Church House, The Square, Grassington BD23 5AA. The National Park Centre car park is close by
Time needed: 2 hours for the fair, plus 2 to 3 hours for a walk
Grassington Antiques Fair: What to Expect
The fair is called the Grassington Great and Small Antiques and Vintage Fair. Antiques Atlas lists the next date as Sunday 15 November 2026, running 9am to 4pm, with admission at £1 and level access. Discover Grassington’s what’s on page shows the same date and hours.
The organiser is Ilkley Fairs, which lists the phone number 07973 563992. Antiques Atlas describes the stock as a mix of antiques and vintage. I found no stallholder list online, so I cannot promise you what is on the tables. Go early if you want first pick, and bring cash for small purchases.
Treat it as a morning stop rather than a full day out. That is its advantage. You can browse for an hour, then get outside while the light is still good.
Parking is the practical question. The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority lists charges at the Grassington National Park Centre car park from 1 April 2026 as £3.80 for up to two hours and £6.00 for over two hours. The machines take cards only; there are EV charging points, and the toilets are open 24 hours a day. If you plan to fair-browse and then walk, the £7.00 day rate applies.
In mid-November, the Dales light fades by about four, so the fair’s 4pm close is no accident. Plan your walk for before or after, not instead.
Where to Stay: The Devonshire Grassington is a pub with eight letting rooms on the Square. Four rooms take dogs for £10 a night, and breakfast from a menu is included.
Worth Knowing: The listing on Antiques Atlas says the fair has level access.
Church House: Livery Stable, Temperance Hotel, Chapel
The fair’s home is older than most of the stock. Historic England’s listing for Church House gives a date of 1694, and describes coursed gritstone rubble walls under a slate roof, with a central board door in a chamfered quoined surround.
It started life as a dwelling. The listing says it later served as livery stables in the 18th century, then as a Temperance Hotel, before the church bought it and consecrated it for worship in 1924. It has since been used as a public hall and chapel.
Look at the doorway. The listing records raised lettering with an A, a cross, S P and heart motifs, which may point to the people who built it, though the listing stops short of saying who they were.
Gritstone holds the cold. On a November morning, the stone walls make the room cooler than the street, and the floors carry the sound of boots.
Between stalls, you are standing in a building older than the Act of Union.
Where to Stay: Grassington House is at 5 The Square, a Georgian house with nine individually furnished bedrooms, according to the Yorkshire Dales National Park listing. Phone 01756 752406 to book.
Worth Knowing: Historic England’s record says the building was first listed on 10 September 1954 and is Grade II.
The Square and the Great Rebuilding
Step outside and look at the cobbles. Out of Oblivion records that Grassington was granted a market charter in 1281, and says the broad cobbled square in the village centre is the physical evidence of that market. Today the original market has long gone, though a farmers’ market was established in 2004.
The houses around the Square are mostly younger than the charter. The Upper Wharfedale Field Society says Grassington’s vernacular buildings predominantly date to the 17th century, part of a wider English building boom known as the Great Rebuilding. Farmers replaced decaying medieval structures with stone houses. The same source says a two-storey stone house cost about £60 in 1670, roughly four years’ wages for a skilled worker.
That is why Church House, dated 1694, looks the way it does. It belongs to the same wave of stone building, paid for by people who had finally saved enough to build in stone.
Walk the Square slowly. Look at lintels and datestones rather than shopfronts. You will find more history in thirty seconds of looking up than in the entire television version of the village.
If you want the full village guide first, read our piece on Grassington as a Dales market village.
Where to Stay: The Devonshire Grassington sits on the Square, and its rooms are named after characters from All Creatures Great and Small, such as Skeldale Suite and Herriot Suite.
Worth Knowing: The Upper Wharfedale Field Society dates the Great Rebuilding in England to roughly 1570 to 1640, with later waves into the 1700s in the West Riding.
Grassington Moor: The Mines Above the Village
Look up from the Square, and you see a mining landscape. The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority says mining began on a small scale in the 16th century, and by the early 19th century the Duke of Devonshire’s mineral agents were working the veins as intensively as they could.
The detail is in the infrastructure. A cupola smelt mill was built in 1792 with reverberatory furnaces that could burn continuously, the Authority says, and its flue ran 1.7 kilometres, which it calls the longest in the Yorkshire Dales. Yarnbury House was built in 1826 to house the mineral agent.
Historic England’s scheduled monument entry adds dates. Low Mill dates to 1605, the Duke’s Level drainage tunnel was driven between 1796 and 1830, and the Brake House Wheel was built in 1821. The last traditional lead mine on the moor was abandoned in 1882, and a barytes mill was built on the High Grinding Mill site in 1955. The monument was designated in 1978.
Workers lived within about four miles and walked to the mines each day, according to the National Park Authority. That is a long walk before a shift at a level.
The Authority points walkers to the Grassington Lead Mining Trail, which has interpretation panels. The moor is exposed, wet underfoot and cold in November, so wear boots, take a map, and check the forecast. I could not find a verified distance for the full trail, so check the Authority’s route guide before you set off.
On a still day, the quiet up there is complete, broken only by wind in the heather.
Where to Stay: Grassington House has a two-AA Rosette restaurant and lists hours from Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 8pm, which is useful after a cold moor day.
Worth Knowing: According to Historic England, the Dukes of Devonshire used the engineer John Taylor from 1818 to modernise the mines.
Linton Falls and Ghaistrill’s Strid
For a lower, easier walk, follow the River Wharfe. Walks4All describes a route from Grassington car park to Linton Falls, Ghaistrill’s Strid and Grass Wood, 8.3 kilometres long with about 200 metres of climbing. It rates it moderate and puts the time at 2 hours 15 minutes.
Ghaistrill’s Strid is a narrowing of the Wharfe, where fast water squeezes through rock. Walks4All says strid comes from an archaic word for a narrow channel. Do not try it. The Wharfe is cold and can run fast after rain.
Linton Falls is a limestone waterfall, and in autumn, the sound reaches you before the view does, a steady, low roar that grows louder as you near the footbridge.
Autumn colour in Grass Wood helps the afternoon, and the route returns you to the Square for tea and a pub. Leave by 1pm if you want to finish before the light goes.
Where to Stay: The Devonshire Grassington allows dogs in four of its rooms, which suits the Wharfe walkers.
Worth Knowing: Walks4All says some pubs in the village centre featured in the All Creatures Great and Small remake.
Practical Tips
- The fair is Sunday 15 November 2026, 9am to 4pm, £1 entry, at Church House, The Square, BD23 5AA.
- National Park Centre car park charges from 1 April 2026 are £3.80 up to 2 hours, £6.00 over 2 hours and £7.00 up to 24 hours. Machines take cards only, and toilets are open 24 hours.
- Use the AllTrails app for the Linton Falls route, and carry a paper map for Grassington Moor.
- Go early to the fair for the best choice, then walk in the middle of the day, and be back on the Square before dusk.
- Check the weather on the moor, where cloud and wind come in fast.
- Ring the fair organiser on 07973 563992 to confirm the date before travelling.
Responsible Visiting
Keep to marked paths on the moor, because old mine shafts and spoil heaps are hazardous. Do not enter any level or shaft. Keep dogs on leads near livestock.
Reader Q&A
When is the Grassington antiques fair in 2026?
Sunday 15 November 2026, from 9am to 4pm at Church House on the Square. Entry is £1.
Where is the fair held?
Church House, The Square, Grassington, BD23 5AA. The listed building dates to 1694.
How much does parking cost in Grassington?
At the National Park Centre car park, it is £3.80 up to 2 hours and £6.00 over 2 hours. Card payment only at the machines.
Is Grassington Moor safe to walk?
It is open moorland with old mining remains. Stay on marked paths, never enter shafts or levels, and take navigation.
Can I bring my dog?
Check with the organiser for the fair. On the Wharfe walk, keep dogs on leads near livestock.
Can I stay in Grassington?
Yes. The Devonshire Grassington has eight rooms, and Grassington House has nine, both on the Square.
Where to Stay
The Devonshire Grassington, Grassington. Pub with eight rooms on the Square, four of them dog-friendly, at £10 a night.
Grassington House, Grassington. Georgian house at 5 The Square, with nine bedrooms and a two-AA Rosette restaurant.
By four o’clock the stallholders have packed their boxes, the Square is empty of cars, and the lights come on in windows that have looked out on that cobbled market since long before the television crews arrived.
