A short distance to the north of Dent station, Bridge SAC/96 carries a minor road (known locally as the 'Coal Road') across the Settle & Carlisle railway.
This road gets its name from the string of shallow coal pits that were located around the side of Great Knoutberry hill (above and to the east of the station). There were dozens of small pits and they all exploited a single thin seam of coal that averaged around 7 inches in thickness. The coal from these pits was useful to the local residents, but it was of very poor quality. With the arrival of the railway, better quality coal could be obtained more cheaply (and more easily) from further afield, so the Dentdale pits were quickly abandoned.
The patch of white paint on the rail-facing side of the southern parapet wall is a remnant of the time when this sections of the line was fully signalled. It improved the contrast between the red-brick structure and the red signal arm of the nearby 'down' starter signal.
