About a mile north of this point the grandest and most stupendous. of all the Yorkshire ground-chasms may be reached. This is Helln or Alum Pot, which is described elsewhere. You will have to cross the heathery waste, and at the end of the long wall, and then very soon pass through another smaller gate on the left, and by another wall, skirting the thick limestone pavement, beyond which the site of Alum Pot may be recognised by the clump of trees, and short dipping wall which encloses it. The tourist who wishes to see Gaping Gill on this outing, may from the gate at the top of Clapham Bottoms, before mentioned, without going through the gate follow the wall side westward about 600 yards, in the direction of Trow Gill. He will then come to the small gate and track which leads to the great rift, described on page 159. From Gaping Gill the Long Kin Holes and Cave, I may add, are about 1000 yards due east, and just over the allotment wall which runs to the top of Simon Fell.* Simon Fell may be conveniently ascended from any of these formidable rifts, and the ridge followed up to the gusty top of Ingleborough, whence a descent may be made to Ingleton, in time for the evening train north or south. To return to Clapham the tourist may vary the route above described, by going from Gaping Gill through the ravine of Trow Gill and past the mouth of the Cave direct to the village. In the name of Simon Fell we have another instance of what I take to be an indication of the former presence of the Simon Magi, or ancient priests of the Britons, an interesting survival of the rites of the primitive inhabitants of these Highlands, more fully discussed elsewhere. Ingleborough, above, constituting one of the finest natural observatories in the whole country, would, we may be sure, be seized upon by the earliest migrant races, as an invaluable and permanent prospecting ground, and that such was the case is evident from the numerous remains of habitations still existing on and about its summit. Facing the east was Simon Fell, encompassed by extensive natural woods, a fact which may startle the imagination of the beholder at this day, considering the wide bleak and barren wastes which the mountain now dominates. But the names of the places in the vicinity declare this to have been the case ; thus Brant Riggs, or ridges from which wood has been cleared by *In the Gentleman's Magazine, for the year 1761, (Vol. xxxi, p. 127), a writer signing himself Pastor," names several caves and holes on Ingleborough, which I am unable to identify. These are Blackside Cave, Sir William's Cove, (copied from this account into Gough's "Camden " (Vol. iii, p. 282, as St. William's Cave). Atkinson's Cave, and Johnson's Jacket Hole. The last is described as a place resembling a funnel in shape, but vastly deep." Gaper Gill, also mentioned, is no doubt what is always called now Gaping Gill. burning* Selside, from Sel, a wood, and side, a settlement; Borrins, from bor, a wood, and rin, a promontory or point, the latter an affix in various combinations of rin, rein, or rain, which is of frequent occurrence in Craven. Thus there is a headland and building about a mile north of Selside Shaw called Reyn Barn, and there are also other high points and promontories elsewhere mentioned in our rambles, of the same name. The numerous copious streams, and a fine spring on the edge of the hill, along with these forest groves, would provide the tribes with abundant material, both for their bodily maintenance and for the performance of their sacred rites. There is little doubt, also, that the sites of their burial places were marked by heaps of stones or cairns, long since removed for building the adjoining walls. In the neighbourhood of the Long Kin Holes, however, traces of several cairns still remain, and there are also traces of others in the valley bottom at the foot of the mountain. There was a particularly large one close to the east side of the road to Selside, about a mile above Horton Station, which has disappeared, I am told, within living memory. We have no proper account of it, but it was doubtless ransacked and removed in the expectation of finding treasure. It is mentioned by the same clerical writer, quoted on the last page, in the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1761, as follows: "In the valley above Horton, near the base of this mountain, [Ingleborough], I observed a large heap or pile of greet-stones all thrown promiscuously together, without any appearance of building or workmanship, which yet cannot be reasonably thought to be the work of Nature. Few stones are found near it, though 'tis computed to contain 400 of that country cart loads of stones, or upwards. There is likewise another at the base north-east, in resemblance much the same, but scarce so large, and I was informed of several others up and down the country." The large cairn referred to may have been raised to commemorate some dire conflict between the Romans and the native hill tribes, as it lay on the old Roman thoroughfare across Ribblehead to the camp under Smearside. There appear to have been a good many cairns and tumuli about these summit tracts, where "surprises" may be expected to have occurred more commonly than elsewhere. *Brant has also the meaning of steep. M CHAPTER XIV. CLAPHAM TÓ INGLETON. The old road from Clapham to Ingleton-Newby and Furness Abbey-Local properties of the Abbey-Deer park at Ribblehead-Newby Cote-Ascent of the Scars-Caves and pot-holes-A tremendous abyss-The Craven Fault— Rantry Hole-Cold Cotes-The Tow Scar Fault-High Leys and Holly Plat House-Glorious prospect-Yarlsber and the Danish Camp-Ease Gill Glen and Waterfall-Beautiful scenery, geologically explained. HE very pleasant four miles of highway which separate Clapham from Ingleton are best traversed by the pedestrian along the higher or old coach road by Newby Cote. It commands lovely prospects to the southwards, and also affords, from a geological standpoint, a better idea than is to be obtained from the lower road, of the effects of the complicated system of Faults, which give to the neighbourhood its marked features. About a mile from Clapham, on the lower road, is the quiet little village of Newby, which, although it is not mentioned in Domesday, is a very old place, and the capital of an extensive manor. It was originally divided into two parts, both of which were acquired at an early date by the monks of Furness, who in all probability had a grange and chapel here. At the dissolution of monasteries, the manor was annexed to the Duchy of Lancaster, and after having passed through various hands, was purchased about a century ago by the Farrers of Clapham. The various properties of the wealthy Abbey of Furness are recorded in the Liber Regis of 26th Henry VIII., and from these "First Fruits" of the appropriation the following noteworthy transcript may here be introduced. The list is interesting, as including the names of many local places, now supporting but a scant population, and situated amid the very wildest and most remote parts of these rugged Highlands. Such for example, are Cam House, Ling Gill, Thornes Gill, Rainscar, and Gearstones,— while in the neighbourhood of Ribblehead, comprised within this ancient survey, were large deer and horse parks. The enumeration is an exact copy of the original : Redd'et firmis in Lonsdall, viz.: Kesden £10 12s. 4d.. Thynook et Hardacre £2 9s. Od., Hesyllhawe et Greynclose £3 6s. 8d., Villa de Newby £6 5s. 11d., Newby Coote £4 1s. 7d. ob', Claypham Towne £2 7s. Od., Stakhouse £5 6s. 8d., Selffed £13 3s. 4d., Southouse £8 2s. 8d., Souterstale £13 6s. 8d., Brunt Skarre £3 6s. 8d., Wynterstayll £8 Os. Od., Raneskall £2 8s. Od., Camhouse £3 38. 4d., Lynghyll et Byrkw'th £6 19s. Od., Netherlonge £3 18s. 8d., Thorns £2 10s. 4d. ob', Beerstons et Coltepke £5 98. 2d., et Yngman Lodge £6 6s. 8d. In toto £110 18s. 4d. The manor house at Newby (now a farm-house), called Newby Hall, is an ancient stone gabled building of fine proportions, and containing on the ground floor two beautifully arched doorways. There appears to have been a chapel in the hall, for the arrangements of two of the upper rooms are such as to warrant the assumption. A decorated window occupies the south-east corner of this part of the building, and the roofs of both apartments, now unfortunately covered in, are constructed of old carved oak. From Newby Cote the ascent of Ingleborough is less of a climb, and also shorter in point of distance, than from Ingleton or Clapham. Go up the wall side by the houses, and when on the top, by keeping slightly to the right, the Knowe Gap stream will be encountered coming down from the north under Ingleborough. The stream is a good guide to the summit, which can be seen due north ahead. Or, if the tourist wants a fine open walk over the breezy fell, without going to the top of the mountain, let him strike north-west when at the top of the scar on going from Newby Cote, and in less than a mile he will discover a number of interesting deep rifts or shakeholes in the limestone plateau. They are mostly within an area of a half-mile, and the nearest of them is about midway between Newby Cote and the house and plantation of Crina Bottom, which can be seen a long way off in the same direction under Ingleborough. Their names, which indicate some physical or other characteristic, are in the order of succession, Raspberry Pot, Fluted Hole, Pillar Hole, Long Kin West, Rosebay Pot, Fern Pot, Moss Hole, Mud-foot Hole, and Cave Pot. Most of them, while only narrow and unimposing on the surface, having the appearance of mere rifts or cracks caused by earthquakes, are of prodigious depth. In fact it is impossible to ascertain the real depth of some of them owing to the projections of rock and the contracted nature of the fissures. Lying adjacent and parallel to the Craven Fault it is not improbable that their initial origin may be due to that great displacement, as little or no water is apparent in several of the holes. The Pillar Hole is so narrow that it can be stridden, and its approximate depth is 150 feet. The Long Kin Hole West, so called to distinguish it from one of like name, already described, east of Gaping Gill, is likewise a narrow but tremendous abyss, shaped on the surface like a letter L, and sometimes in consequence called the L. Hole. It has been plumbed to a depth of nearly 300 feet but this cannot with certainty be declared to be the full depth. Little more than half a mile east from Crina Bottom, and just to the north of the above shakeholes is another, which in the absence of a name Mr. Balderston has christened with the somewhat alarming appellation of the Boggart's Roaring Hole. He says that on throwing stones into it they appeared to go much further than the line, with a peculiar clatter that began to creep upwards, "something between a roar and growl," a resentful tone that may be supposed to belong to the presiding genius of this dark and unexplored cavern. Its depth from the ground is said to be 145 feet. We are here at an elevation of about 1,400 feet, and by going westwards half-a-mile the Jenkin beck may be crossed at a point where it is swallowed up by a cavity in its rocky bed called Rantry Hole. Along the course of the beck are other swallow-holes, which engulf, or are submerged by the stream, according to its supply. Near Crina Bottom, opposite, is another long and deep fissure, not yet opened out, but running water can be heard beneath, and stones thrown into it rebound with a jingling noise, apparently to a considerable depth. From Crina Bottom there is a cart-lane down to Ingleton, (11⁄2 miles). But to resume our walk along the road to Ingleton from Newby Cote. In about a mile we cross the anticlinal of the Tow Scar Fault, and observe on our left the little hamlet of Cold Cotes, occupying the shallow valley caused by the westward downthrow of the faulted strata. The Tow Sear Fault, which is in reality the Mid Craven Fault, rises to the southwest of Graygarth, along the southern abutment of Hunt's Cross, crossing the Twiss and Doe, just above the Catleap Fall, and continuing in a south-easterly direction by Ease Gill and Slatingber, bringing up the Mountain Limestone against the shales overlying the Coniston Limestone. It is visible for the most part in an anticlinal ridge, the folds of the rock, however, which are largely obscured by drift, being only apparent at the base. At Cold Cotes, the Upper Coal Measures are brought up against the limestone; and outcrops of coal may be seen in the Warth field, between Cold Cotes and Greenwood Leghe, and also at other points nearer Ingleton. Here appositely may be introduced details of a section of the coal-measures as exhibited in a gill near Yarlsber, (from the Government Survey Memoirs): Red and white speckled soft sandstone (thickness unknown). 1 Seat-clay 1 ... Grey" soapstone with small ferruginous irregular nodules.. 8 |