PART II.-EASTERN DIVISION.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Cave

AROUND SKIPTON.

Up Dales-Thorpe-sub-Montem-Threapland-Old houses-Threapland Gill and Elbolton-Curious knoll-reefs-Knave Knoll Hole - Discovery of human skeletons- Beautiful view- Walk to Barden-Simon Seat - Who was Simon?-Other Simon Hills and their pre-historic remains-The School of Simon Druid-Ascent of Simon Seat-Marked stones - Beltane feasts-A Sunset on Midsummer Day.

HIS division of our work will be appropriated to an account of our explorations, and researches into the parish-histories, of the country lying between Skipton and Yore Head, and westward to the Howgill Fells. Again we hope to rescue many an old-time story, and fragment of unrecorded history. And as, moreover, there is scarcely a level mile anywhere within this classic area, -classic by virtue of its own inherent interest, as by the loftiest gifts of pen and palette,-it goes without saying that its scenery also will be found every bit as diverse and entertaining as that described in the preceding Part.

Of Skipton, the chief town in Craven,-and the immediate district, we have already written at length in Through Airedale from Goole to Malham, so that it will be unnecessary to dwell upon these parts here.

Let us then scamper away from the trailing steam-breath of the iron horse, and either drive or walk "up dale" to the quiet little villages of Rylstone and Cracoe. Going through these we discover a nice ramble of some three or four miles, by way of Threapland Gill and the famous Elbolton bone cave, described in Airedale, to the secluded little hamlet of Thorpe-sub-Montem. This little upland nest is so hidden and out of the way, that it is said when the troops of Cromwell were in the neighbourhood, many of the inhabitants from the surrounding villages took refuge within it, and owing to its safe seclusion were never

discovered. It has now but very few houses, but was formerly a rather large village, in which there were about a score families all engaged in plying the useful trade of cobbling; Thorpe-made boots and shoes being famous for quality and wear among the dalesfolk for miles round.

At Threapland there is one of the oldest dated houses we have met with in Craven. The carving looks very much like 1554, but the third figure may be an 8. There is also another ancient building, which has the appearance of having been once used as a chapel. It is ornamented

outside with an emblem of the Trinity, and bears the initials and date T. H., 1674. The hamlet was anciently called Thorpole, a fact that yields a very singular instance of the transition of the A. S. thorp (a village) into threap. In Chalmer's Caledonia (Vol. 1. p. 487), the same form is noted of a place in Scotland. The peaty flat occupying the valley to the north, and below the Catch All inn, was formerly filled with an extensive natural sheet of water, now drained off. The site is still known as the Tarn.

After a peep into Threapland Gill and the little water-murmuring cave, with its prettily-shrubbed front, where the fresh green of the wild gooseberry leans out conspicuously, the tourist may ascend the north bank and proceed along the tops in the direction of Elbolton, which is the farthest of the curious round hills he has now before him. The walls and weathered rock about Elbolton will afford a rich field of investigation to the geologist, abounding as they do in a variety of fossil remains, including especially fine specimens of Productus gigantea, which are sometimes found almost as big as a human skull. Trilobites, fish teeth, and examples of Sphenopteris, a rare fern, are also occasionally met with; while in the shale debris of these so-called knoll-reefs, bits of amethystine fluor, or "Blue John," as it is termed in Derbyshire, may be picked up, a peculiarly-formed mineral which is always an indication of the presence of lead. Botanically, the ground is similarly rich; several of the saxifrages occurring, along with abundance of the pretty, mealy, pink-primrose, and various other plants.

These detached little hills, or knoll-reefs, are a very noticeable feature in the landscape, and appear as smooth and round as so many slipped, glaciated boulder-stones. They are said to have been built up in a somewhat similar manner to the coral islands in our southern seas, although they are not wholly or true coral reefs, as we now understand the term. They lie along an outcrop of black limestones, yet in these knolls we are told there are irregular masses of red gritstone,—in Elbolton occurring at fully 200 feet from the summit of the hill; while a bed of light-coloured clay from 1 to 3 inches in thickness, underlies the limestone at a depth of 40 to 50 feet, regular in its course from west to east, and with a north-east dip. A vein of lead, moreover, traverses

the entire series of these mound-like hills. The precise method or origin of their formation, from these various complications, raises a subject of absorbing interest, and one very tempting to speculation.

The cave known as Knave Knoll Hole, in this hill, is a narrow, pit-like cavity, 70 feet deep, descended by ladders, and is chiefly interesting from the recent discovery within it of a complete human skeleton, and portions of several others, along with bones of various animals, all of neolithic age. The view from the top of the hill is most beautiful, with the little town of Grassington nestling high up under the wide moors, and enclosed on the north side with dense, luxuriant woods that stretch far away above the crystal river. The moors beyond culminate in the round boss of the Great Wham, and the undulating edge of Great Whernside. How pleasant it is to be up here on a still summer's day! The rich, green meads below us are spangled with buttercup-gold, and dotted with cattle and sheep, while, perhaps, the only sounds audible in the hot sunshine are the cocks' crowing on distant farms, and the lark's voice high overhead.

But probably the most beautiful and extensive view in this part of Wharfedale is that to be obtained from Simon's Seat, and as this is but a few miles' delightful walk from Thorpe to Burnsall and Barden, we will transfer awhile our steps and our thoughts thither. The whole of this range of hills possesses features of interest which do not seem ever to have been discussed. There are numbers of mounds and heaps of stones (some of which have doubtless been dispersed) and curious marks upon the rocks, which are well worth a little consideration. So far as Simon's Seat is concerned, we have long supposed that this eminence, occupying one of the most commanding junctions in Wharfedale, must have been secured as a look-out post, or possibly a permanent station, of the ancient races inhabiting this neighbourhood even long before the Roman conquest. It is, moreover, very remarkable that the name Simon should be of such frequent occurrence, not only in Yorkshire, but in other parts of England as well. The inference seems, at first, conclusive that these are but modern appellations derived from some local personage of note, possibly a former owner of the land. But considering that personal names, as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, &c., when applied to hills, are of such rare occurrence, we must look for another solution of the name. Whereas Simon Hills, Simon Fells, and Simon Stones, are frequent throughout the land, and are apparently as old as the oldest names of our mountains. Who, then, was this mysterious yet universal Simon? It is certainly remarkable that in almost every instance within my knowledge, places so designated are, in some way or other, associated with the remains of ancient earthworks, barrows, tumuli, marked stones, and the like. It is so at Symons or Symonds Yat, on the Wye, Simon's

Bath, on Exmoor,* Simon Howe, above 'the vale of Goathland, Simon Fell, by Ingleborough, Symondstone near Read, in Lancashire, so written in early Norman charters; Simonstone, a hamlet near Hawes, where flint implements have been found beneath peat; Simon's Seat among the Howgill Fells, and Simon's Seat, in Wharfedale, the subject of these remarks. As regards the Howgill Simon's Seat, I have not there discovered any traces of early occupation-it is a lofty, bare, grassy hill, but standing as it does at no great distance from the Roman highway to Tebay and Appleby, and whereabouts early tribes were probably congregated, the site is strongly suggestive of the name being of the same origin as the rest.

If, then, there be any British Druidical or Romish connection with these places, how is this ancient name explained? Prof. Rhys, in his admirable little work on Celtic Britain, points out that among the oldest instances in Welsh poetry of the use of the word derwyddon, druids, is one where it is applied to the Magi or Wise Men, who came with presents to the infant Jesus; and its Irish cognate drui is not only used in the same manner, but is usually rendered into Latin by magus, a magician. But now and then also, he adds, point is given to this term by making the druid into SIMON MAGUS, whose appearance on Celtic ground is otherwise inexplicable. The Goidelic Druids accordingly appear at times under the name of the School of Simon Druid, and a curious passage relating thereto may be found in O. Mulcorry's Glossary, preserved in Trinity College Library, Dublin. These Simon Magi were soothsayers, priests, and medicine men, but their principal character was perhaps that of magicians, in which guise the Simon Magus of Scripture is depicted in the 8th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The Romans, likewise, held in superstitious deference the same awe-inspiring Simon Magus, whom they commemorated at Rome by a statue erected in the Tiber, and which bore this inscription in Latin,-Simon Deo Sancto. But strangely, it seems as if this particular memorial had been the means of bringing about a false dedication of the tutelary god Sangus, mentioned in our account of Overborough, for in the year 1574 a stone was dug up in an island of the Tiber, inscribed Semoni Sanco Deo Fidio, &c., from which it would appear as if the early fathers had misread and misinterpreted this stone, it being the individual stone and inscription which they had

* We once heard a story about some doughty, legendary hero, called Sigmund, while passing a night at the lonely little inn here on Exmoor. Tradition, indeed, assigns the name of the place to this valiant, mythical personage, who is said to have been a giant-killer, dragon-slayer, and what not, but in all probability both the person and his prowess are simply an exaggerated survival of tales passed down from the mystery-dealing Druids, or Simon Magi, mentioned in the text.

This Manuscript (numbered H 2, 16, Col. 116) is in Celtic Irish.