The attractive, small, stone-built old market town of Sedbergh lies at the foot of the Howgill Fells. It has been in Cumbria since 1974 but remains in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Set at the confluence of four valleys and four rivers where ancient trade routes merged, Sedbergh boasts many fascinating historic houses and interesting yards. The town centre comprises a narrow main street with yards running from it. At the junction of Main Street and the road to Dent is St Andrew's Church, which includes some spectacular Norman features. Sedbergh School is a public school on the outskirts of the town which was established in 1525. Famous "old boys" include former England rugby star Will Carling. The area is very much linked with George Fox, who preached and found inspiration in Sedbergh and the surrounding area during the earliest days of the Quaker movement.
Sedbergh is pleasantly situated in a secluded vale, among rugged mountains, at the N.W. extremity of the county, upon on the small river Rother. The township of Sedbergh is divided into four parts, called hamlets, viz. Frostow and Soolbank, Marthwaite, Cautley and Doughbiggin, and Howgill and Bland. The town of Sedburgh does not contain any thing of particular interest, except the Grammar School, founded by Edward III. of which the Masters and Fellows of St. Johns College, Cambridge, are Patrons, value, about £600. per annum; the present Master is the Rev. Henry Wilkinson. There are three Fellowships and eight Scholarships, at St. John's College, Cambridge, for students from this School. This is also one of the Schools which is entitled to send a candidate for Lady Elizabeth Hastings' Exhibitions. Among the many eminent men educated at this School, was Robert William, a physician of very considerable eminence, and born at The Hill, near the town, in 1757. He was educated in the principles of the Quakers, and received his scholastic tuition in the Grammar School, of the place of his nativity, under the care of the Rev. Dr. Bateman, and the celebrated Mr. Dawson. By his death in 1812, the profession was deprived of one of its brightest ornaments! the sick of a humane and discerning physician; and the world of an estimable and upright man. The humane Dr. Anthony Fothergill, was born at Sedburgh, in 1732 3; and his medical studies were diligently pursued, first at Edinburgh, afterwards at Leyden, and finally at the Sorbonne at Paris. He obtained the degree of M.D. at Edinburgh, in 1763, on his Thesis, "De Febre intermittente," and soon after he commenced practice at Northampton. In 1778, he was elected F.R.S. and in 1781, he removed to London; and in 1784, to Bath. In 1803, having acquired a fortune sufficient to enable him to relinquish the duties of his profession, he sailed for Philadelphia, where he resided till the political disputes between Great Britain and America assumed a warlike appearance, in 1812, when he returned to London. He died May 11, 1813. See Nichols' vol. IX. p.211, wherein is a detailed account of the various works he published, and of the humane acts be performed.