CHAPTER IX.

LAWKLAND AND THE SCAR CAVES.

A lovely walk--Lanes of wild flowers-Lawkland-The Old Hall of the Inglebys -The smallest church in Yorkshire--Cross Streets and the Roman highwayBuckhaw Brow-Kelcowe Cave-Buckhaw Brow Cave-Cave Ha', an old bear den Interesting discoveries-Austwick Beck-A story of the coaching days.

NE of the sweetest country walks I know of from Giggleswick is to go under the railway viaduct from the Craven Inn, and by way of Lawkland to Cross Streets for Clapham or Austwick; or return to Settle by Buckhaw Brow and the Ebbing and Flowing Well the latter a round of about six miles. To Clapham by Lawkland it is also six miles. When you get up to the Ridge, a little beyond Grain's House, the view is very pleasing, with the rich green valley below, in which nestle the little towns of Settle and Giggleswick. Above is the grand line of scars extending from Attermire to Ingleborough-the Schoolboys' Tower on Giggleswick Scar being a prominent object-while the majestic range of the Ingleborough fells occupies the whole of the prospect northwards. Here, I should say, we are on the south side of the great Craven Fault, so that we get a very comprehensive view of the effects of that extraordinary fracture upon the surrounding scenery.

Our road hence is a perfect picture in the loveliness of its floral display. The high and broad banks are decked with fruiting hazels, graceful willows, blush and white roses, luscious honeysuckle, with here and there a wild gooseberry or rasp, and among their spreading branches climb the purple blossoms of the tufted vetch, large masses of creamy cicely, pink knapweed and betony, tall plumy thistles, clustering St. John's wort, red campion, and the frail white blossoms of the lesser stitchwort, delicate harebells, white and blue, nodding foxgloves, yellow, branching nipplewort, golden-rayed ragwort, great willow-herb, purple cranesbill, figwort and valerian, climbing bryony with its dark, glossy leaves, sweet violets, and the "pansy freak'd with jet,”—

O! these lack not

To make you garlands of.

Keeping along the Kirkby Lonsdale road, where it joins the Settle and Lancaster road, a little beyond Paley Green farm, our path is still through the same continuous wild-garden. In some places the great bell-flowers, musical with the murmur of many bees, form dense and undivided masses, while clumps of male fern, and the bright spangle of colour present an endless variety of rich "studies" to the artist. Near the little hamlet of Lawkland there grows a few plants of the beautiful borage, its brilliant azure flowers being conspicuous by the way-side. It is the only plant of its genus that is found in this northern climate of ours; its true home being on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean.

We have now reached Lawkland, with its thick, climbing woods on our left, and in the shelter of them stands one of the "stately homes of England," old Lawkland Hall. The place has no doubt received its name from the hollow ground here, now drained, having been the site of an ancient lake. In some early deeds relating to the property I find the name written Laikland.* The Hall has a lofty frontage, and has small square windows, and a massive central square tower. The latter is ascended by a spiral staircase continued to the summit. The walls are of great thickness, and on the south side is an old sun-dial. In the east wing is the chapel in which services were held up to the time of building Likewise, the stream that waters it is known by the suggestive name of

Fenbeck.

the Roman Catholic Chapel in the village, about a century ago. Α portion of the interior is pannelled with black oak, and in several of the windows are pieces of stained glass with armorial bearings. The ceiling of the drawing-room is also decorated with the arms of Ingleby impaling Bradshaigh. Over the north entrance door is a shield bearing the arms of Ingleby. This side of the house is in the Elizabethan style of architecture, but the tower and south front are probably of the time of Henry VII. The Hall and Manor have been the property of the Ingleby family for three centuries, and up to thirty years ago was their continuous residence. The house is now let and occupied by the Rev. B. E. Watkins, M.A., late rector of Treeton, near Rotherham.

The family of Ingleby appears to have been originally of Engelbi, near Lincoln, and to have spelt its name in that way previous to settling at Ripley. The spelling has since then varied. Lawkland Hall and Manor were purchased about the year 1572 by John Ingilby, of Acomb Grange, second son of Sir Wm. Ingilby, Kt., of Ripley Castle, of his uncle, Peter Yorke, of Middlesmoor, Co. York., who was governor of Leith, in Scotland, temp. Edward VI. He likewise purchased the manor of Clapham from William Clapham, Esq., of Beamsley, together with Clapdale Castle, and also became lord of the manor of Hutton Rudby, in Cleveland. He was twice married, first to Anne, daughter of Wm. Clapham, of Beamsley, and secondly to Alice, sister of Sir Thomas Layton. His will is dated 1608, and he was buried at Hutton Rudby. Thomas Ingleby, son by his first wife, was lord of the manors of Lawkland and Clapham. He eventually sold the manor of Hutton Rudby. He died in 1622, aged 58, and was buried on Easter Day in the north choir of Clapham church. Successive generations of the family have also found a last resting-place in the same old church. Lawkland Hall and Manor have since remained a possession of the Inglebys, and while this for so long a period has been their parent home, various members of the family had other seats in the neighbourhood.

Up

A little further on and we pass the diminutive Roman Catholic Chapel, which was built in 1790, when the Inglebys turned Protestant. to twelve years ago it had a resident priest, but is now served from Settle. The neat little church, which has seat-room for about fifty worshippers, may vie in the smallness of its dimensions with the famous little edifices of St. Lawrence in the Isle of Wight, and Culbone in North Devon.*

* Their dimensions in the order of their diminutiveness are these: (1) St. Lawrence's, originally 20 feet long, but a chancel having been added, it is now 30 feet long and 12 feet wide. (2) Lawkland, 20 feet by 19 feet. (2) Culbone, 33 feet by 12 feet. There are several very small churches in Cumberland, notably at Wythburn, under Helvellyn, and Wastdale Head. The last mentioned is 36 feet by 14 feet, 6 feet to the eaves, and 17 feet high to the middle of the rafters. These particulars I have obtained on the spot.

Arrived at the Cross Streets Inn we are at the junction of the roads to Austwick (1 mile), Clapham (2 miles), and Settle (4 miles), and the view hence is exceedingly grand of the lofty crags of Moughton to the north, with their long "dining-table" top forming a curious level ridge abovethe line of white scars. Far up the dale we can descry the lonely Crummack farm, whose only sight of a human dwelling is the single house where we now stand. If after a heavy rain you are here the Norber beck presents a striking scene as it lashes the face of its high dark cliff with foam. Cross Streets was at the divergence of two Roman military ways from the east and south, continuing westwards to Clapham and Ingleton, and joining other military ways which passed Wennington to Overborough and Lancaster. Numerous coins, &c., have been found in the neighbourhood, and the two camps above Stainforth and Settle I have already elsewhere described.

Having in a previous chapter described the Scar road as far as Buckhaw Brow (815 feet), the highest point of the main road between the Yorkshire and Lancashire coasts, we may as well continue our walk to Clapham. We should, however, mention that before coming to the Ebbing and Flowing Well, Kelcowe wood is passed on the right, and beyond it is the Ox Scar, at the foot of which, and within 20 yards of the road, is the little Buckhaw Brow Cave. The meaning of Kelcowe seems obscure. It may be a corruption of kil, a spring, and howe, a hill, in allusion to the adjacent ebbing and flowing well, which, as previously explained, must have been an important tutelary spring appropriated to sacred uses in Saxon times, as well as in the more primitive ages preceding. In fact, the prefix Kel or Kil may have a Celtic meaning, and indicate the presence of a church or cell, (Cym. Celt. cell), as in Ireland; and the latter part of the word come from A.S. cofa, a cove, as in Cowes, (ie., the coves) in the Isle of Wight. If this be so it establishes my supposition that the original village and church at Giggleswick stood nearer the old well and tarn than at present. Perhaps, also, the mysterious Saint Alkelda, to whom the church is dedicated, is nothing more than a contortion of the A.S. halig keld, i.e., holy well. In this Kelcowe scar there is a small cave, in which various Roman fibulæ, and coins of the reign of Vespasian, were unearthed about fifty years ago. The cave, like many others in the district, had no doubt been a settled habitation during and subsequent to the Roman invasion.

A little above the ebbing and flowing well, on the Giggleswick side, there is a wide breach in the scar known from time immemorial as Nevison's Nick. The story runs that in the days of the "Merry Monarch "the bold highwayman, who had been having a rather lively time of it down Skipton way, in order to make good his escape, mounted his trusty steed and rode off in the direction of Winterburn. But he

was closely pursued, so casting a pin for luck into St. Helen's Well he, undaunted, struck the hills, and crossing Hanlith Moor leaped the chasm at Gordale head, and away he went over Malham Moor and by the bridle-path to Langcliffe, where he had to descend and mount the fells again. Coming to the "Nick" in Giggleswick Scar he spurred his horse and leaped the gap in safety,-his wonderful steed avoiding the crevices of the limestone pavement with very nice agility-and then with pistol raised galloping through the quiet village of Clapham, to the great alarm of the natives, he took the Kendal road and was soon lost among the hills again! There are, however, other versions of this tradition.

Leaving the old coach-road by Brunton House we now take the low road through Cave Ha' wood. The mouth of the cave, or hole,-an old bear-den,—can be seen up in front of the scar from the road. It is only a depression or opening in the face of the scar and is now very difficult of access, owing to the yielding nature of the rock and soil. Some years ago important discoveries were made in it. In the upper deposits were found various implements and flakes of chert and flint, as well as other ancient remains in stone and iron. These were mixed up with existing animal remains and recent works of art, by the evident operations of badgers, rabbits, &c. Lower down, beneath a bed of undisturbed cave debris, (composed chiefly of angular fragments of limestone), remains of goat or sheep, dog, and cave-bear were turned up. On the upper floor immense quantities of the bones of mice were found strewn among the broken-up pellets of owls, proving that these creatures must have been very abundant here. There is a hole overhead where the owls appear to have lived, but this apparently has not been explored. The owls, no doubt, captured and brought in the mice for food. Similar deposits have been noted in the Victoria Cave and other ossiferous caverns in the district. The cave has long been the haunt of a colony of jackdaws, and on this account has earned its present local sobriquet of Jackdaw Hole.

Now we come to Cross Streets again, and descend over the good two-arch bridge across Austwick Beck. Ordinarily this is but a murmuring trout-beck, but in times of flood I have seen the whole space between the walls on its upper side filled with water, a width of twenty yards. Before the bridge was built, half-a-century ago, it was a well-known ford, and the only place on the coach road between Leeds and Kendal where, it is said, 16 horses could drink at once in a line side by side.

What incidents of this road might we not relate of those merry old posting days! As we are now within a short distance of Clapham, passing the beautiful domain of Ingleborough House (J. A. Farrer, Esq., J.P.), I may as well conclude this chapter with a tale racy of that bygone age, and which will serve to illustrate in an amusing manner the superstitions of the times. The story has been communicated to me by