Bedale is a market town and also civil parish in the area of Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is located 34 miles (55 km) north of Leeds, 26 miles (42 kilometres) south-west of Middlesbrough as well as 7 miles (11 km) south-west of the county town of Northallerton. It was originally in Richmondshire and also noted in the Domesday Book as part of Catterick wapentake, which was likewise known as Hangshire (so called from Hang Bank in Finghall and also because of the many hangings made use of to execute looting Scots); it was split once again and also Bedale stayed in East Hang. Bedale Beck is a tributary of the River Swale, which develops among the Yorkshire Dales, with its predominance of agriculture and its related tiny conventional professions, although tourism is significantly important. An electoral ward of the very same name exists, which ward includes Aiskew parish as well as had an overall population of 4,601 at the 2011 Census. In October 2018 the town was twinned with Azay-sur-Cher, a town in the Loire Valley in France.