Craven is a local government district in the English county of North Yorkshire, centered around the market town of Skipton.
The modern district came into being with the 1974 changes to British local government, as the merger of Skipton urban district, Settle Rural District and most of Skipton Rural District .
Craven, or Cravenshire has been used a name for the area around Shipley for centuries, although the boundaries have differened, occasionally Craven has included the local towns of Keighley (now part of the City of Bradford) and Barnoldswick (now administered as part of the Lancashire borough of Pendle).
The name Craven is Celtic in origin and is related to the Welsh word craf, or 'garlic'. In the middle ages, the area was known for its wild garlic.
Craven is also an Old French word believed to mean "broken" and used in Trial by Combat.
