Ben Rhydding

Coordinates: 53°55′29″N 1°47′56″W / 53.924697°N 1.798911°W / 53.924697; -1.798911

Ben Rhydding is a village in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Ilkley urban area and civil parish.

The village is situated on a north-facing valley side beneath the Cow and Calf rocks and above and to the south of the River Wharfe. It was in the historic West Riding of Yorkshire.

The village's former name was Wheatley. In the 19th century it was noted for a popular and hydropathic establishment, opened in about 1844 at a cost of £30,000. It was the third major hydropathic establishment in England, "perhaps the most deeply respected and certainly the longest-lived".Ben Rhydding, the name given to the establishment was also given to the railway station built to serve it and by which the village subsequently became known, is allegedly the ancient name of the uplands above Wheatley. In a 1900 history of Upper Wharfedale, a footnote describes the circumstances, citing Collyer's History of Ilkley: