Opened by the "little" North Western Railway in 1849, the station was originally known as "Settle", as it was the first station to serve the town, although situated some distance west of its centre. When the Settle-Carlisle Railway opened on 1 May 1876, the name was changed to "Settle Old" to distinguish it from on the line a mile to the east; Settle Old became "Giggleswick" on 1 November 1877. The station did have more substantial buildings in the past, along with a goods yard, water tower and signal box. These were all demolished/removed after the station closed to goods traffic and was downgraded to unmanned halt status in 1970.
Facilities
The only buildings now provided here are standard waiting shelters - a new bespoke one was opened on the westbound platform in November 2016. The two platforms are of differing construction - the westbound is wooden, whilst the eastbound equivalent is stone/concrete. They are linked by a barrow crossing, so the station is fully step free. Train running information provision is limited to information posters and a telephone link to the signal box at Settle Junction. Tickets can only be bought on the train, as no ticketing facilities are available here.
Service
On Monday to Saturdays, five trains a day headed from Giggleswick southbound to and Leeds and westbound to Lancaster. All but the first westbound service of the day continue to Morecambe and there used to be a single through train to and from to connect with the sailing to the Isle of Man. Four trains ran each way on Sundays throughout the year since the May 2011 timetable change. From the start of the May 2018 summer timetable, additional services have been introduced. Eight trains each way now run to Lancaster and Skipton, with five of the former continuing to Morecambe and seven of the latter to Leeds. One additional train each way runs on Sundays. One additional train each way was introduced from 20 May 2019 on weekdays and Saturdays, with two additional trains running to and from Morecambe. The winter 2019 timetable update has seen all five departures extended from Lancaster through to Morecambe, with one running right through to/from Heysham.
