Adam Sedgwick

Undoubtedly Dentdale’s most famous son was Adam Sedgwick (1785-1873) whose achievements are commemorated in the impressive granite memorial standing in Dent market-place, for the erection of which no less than a team of eight horses was required! The son of the then vicar of Dent, he first attended the tiny Grammar School in the churchyard before moving on to the prestigious Sedbergh School. From here he later graduated to Cambridge University finally, in 1818, to become Woodwardian Professor of Geology and the country’s leading expert on the subject. The full story of his amazing rise to fame is also related at the Centre.