large, open field with a wall across it, that has not been removed, and which can be seen in places above ordinary water-mark. It appears to have been made by the stopping up of a pot-hole in the tarn by flooddebris, some say a dead sheep having got lodged at the outlet was the first cause, and the pot in consequence filled up and overflowed the depression in which it is situate to the extent of nearly two acres.

Between the tarn and the Ribble is another immense churn-like rift, about 30 feet across, known as the Turn Dub. Its depth has never been ascertained, but it is generally supposed that the water from Alumn Pot, above Selside, a mile to the north-west, enters it from under the Ribble. This was found out many years ago, when the marble quarries above the Pot were worked, and the discoloured water flowing through it had the same murky hue when it appeared in the Dub. The latter discharges its surface waters into the river below. Above High Birkwith there are also a number of water-sinks which, it is thought, drain into the same cavity.

The two farms of High and Low Birkwith, a mile north of the tarn, are very old establishments, and in the 12th century belonged to Jervaux Abbey, and afterwards, as appears by the deed of agreement between the Abbot and Convent of Jervaux and the Abbot and Convent of Fountains, quoted a few pages back, in 1224, a portion, to the extent of 14 oxgangs, or probably not less than 250 acres, was granted, with the lodge at Birkwith, to the latter monastery. An "inclosed meadow " about the lodge likewise formed part of the grant. In former days the present farm at High Birkwith was a busy hostelry, where packmen and waggoners rested on their rough journeys between Settle and Hawes.

The monks of Furness were also the proprietors of pretty extensive properties in this neighbourhood, and at the Dissolution their possessions at Birkwith and Ling Gill were returned in the Val. Eccles., 26th Henry VIII., as of the annual value of £6 19s. They also had various other properties about Ribblehead, including the large tract of Park Fell, which forms the northern buttress of Ingleborough, and which would appear to have been enclosed, and appropriated to the purposes of rearing stock.

Near Birkwith there is a cave, which has been penetrated a distance of about 600 yards, but it is low and wet, and usually difficult of access. Below Low Birkwith, at the junction of the Cam Beck with the Ribble, is a peculiarly-formed Pot called Nanny Carr Hole. It is now shallow and of contracted proportions, but was formerly a rather spacious cavity, having a constant supply of water, and being of no great depth, provided a convenient bathing place to the youth of the district. During the construction of the Settle and Carlisle railway it was much resorted to for this purpose by the workmen.

CHAPTER XLII.

MOUGHTON FELL AND ALUMN POT.

Beecroft Hall and the Wilsons-Moughton Fell -Erratic boulders-Interesting geological sight-Moughton Fell Cave-Selside-Alumn or Helln Pot-A stupendous chasm-What means Alumn or Allan ?—The Celtic river Allan, and local family Aleman, a suggested explanation-Immense size of the rift— First descent of the Pot-Subsequent descents and explorations-Professor Dawkin's description.

EAVING Horton station by the wicket-gate on the west, or up side, you may pass over a large drift-hill to the retired farm-house at Beecroft. This was formerly a fine old hall, and the chief seat of the ancient manor of Beecroft, which in Elizabethan days comprised about a score tenements, with lands belonging thereto. After the dissolution of monasteries the manor came into possession of the Crown, and in 1568 we find it the property of Thomas Hennage, Esq., who also held the rectory of Horton at this time. About a century later the old hall was occupied by the Wilson family, and in the time of George I., the Rev. Thos. Wilson, D.D., a great benefactor to the church, resided here. Dr. Wilson received his early education at Sedbergh Grammar School, and became Dean of Carlisle. He died in 1778. His wife was a daughter of Josias Morley, Esq., of Scale House, Rylstone, who was lord of the manor of Beamsley and Clapham.

The tourist on leaving Beecroft Hall may proceed southwards over Moughton Fell, and by making a gingerly descent of the scars into the lonely Crummack valley, reach the romantic hamlet of Wharfe. From Wharfe there is a good road through Austwick either to Settle or Clapham.

On the top of Moughton hundreds of ice-transported carboniferous sandstone boulders lie scattered about the bare limestone and on the patches of denuded boulder-clay, which here and there nurture picturesque clumps and spreads of flowering heather. The stones, however, are small, and not to compare with those on Norber. At the Coom or Colm Scar* (there is a scar of like appellation at Dent) quarries under the south-east side of Moughton, the base of the mountain limestone, * Hutton (A.D. 1781) writes it Culmes or Coums, vide Tour to the Caves, p. 47.

2B

resting horizontally on the upturned Coniston flags, displays one of the most curious and interesting geological phenomena that is to be seen in Yorkshire. In the calcareous rock at the foot of Moughton there is also a small cave. It was first opened out about 25 years ago by Mr. Clapham, of Austwick Hall, to whom this part of the land at that time belonged. Excavations were carried on to a depth of about 50 feet, when they were stopped, as nothing was discovered, except on the floor layer near the mouth, bones of a few small animals such as foxes and rats; and if the latter belong to the common rat (Mus decumanus) the deposits cannot be older than about the middle of last century. The entrance to the cave, which commands a lovely view, can now be reached only by means of a ladder.

To return to Horton, we may follow the ancient road up the valley, passing the site of the large cairn mentioned on p. 177, to the halfdeserted village of Selside (3 miles), whence a visit can be made to that most extraordinary-looking of all the Yorkshire ground-chasms,-Alumn, Allan, or Helln Pot. It lies about a half-mile west of Selside, and may be reached also by a rough walk from Gaping Gill, as described on p. 176. The writer has walked from Clapham station by Clapham Cave and Gaping Gill to Alumn Pot, and back to Clapham, in the time permitted by an afternoon excursion-train. It is 12 rough miles.

This immense and unquestionably very ancient pot-hole, as well as the stream that falls into it, has been variously spelt Alumn, Alum, Alem, Allan, Alan, Allen, Hellen, Hellan, Helln, and latterly Hell. The oldest forms are apparently the first-named. There is a river Allan in Scotland, and a stream called Alun which joins the Dee near Chester. Prof. Rhys (Celtic Britain, page 274), thinks these may be derived from the old British town, Alauna, near the Allan, at Ardoch. That the neighbourhood of Simon Fell, on the eastern declivity of which the Pot is situated, was inhabited by hordes of Celts, I have already abundantly shewn, while the neighbouring cairn just referred to may be a relic of the same age. But if this be thought to suggest no reasonable interpretation, the name may, perhaps, be a personal one, like many others in the district. It is a matter for speculation, however, how we are to reconcile the terminal mn, which occurs among some of the older writers, with any likely name or meaning of local significance. There is a suggestion in the spelling Alumn or Alemn, in the local knightly family name of Aleman, a member of which, one William le Aleman, (see p. 384), held two carucates (at least 200 acres) of land in Horton in the time of King John, and this he gave to the monks of Fountains Abbey. In A.D. 1180, Richard le Aleman, who was lord of Studley, near Ripon, held a moiety of the manor of Linton in Craven. Perhaps the great pot-hole lay at some time on the Aleman estate.

of visitors and people from the district were present to witness the descent. Capital provision was made by Mr. Birkbeck, alike for the internal and external necessities of the party, and a number of navvies, under the direction of Mr. Sharland, one of the engineers of the new railway, were employed to look after the mechanical contrivances. Two ladders, each about 8 feet long, were also sent down to facilitate, if needed, the work of exploration. Prof. Dawkins observes that the actual vertical descent measured on this occasion was 198 feet, and that the Pot gradually narrowed in descending, until at the bottom it was not more than 10 feet wide. He then proceeds to describe the interior as follows:

After running the gauntlet of the waterfall we landed in the bed of the stream, which hurried downwards over large boulders of limestone and lost itself in the darkness of a large cave, about seventy feet high. We traced it downwards, through pools and rapids to the first waterfall, of about twenty feet. This obstacle prevented most of the party going further, for the ladders were too short to reach to the bottom. Ey lashing them together, however, and letting them down, we were able to reach the first round with the aid of a rope, and to cross over the deep pool at the bottom. Thence we went on downwards through smaller waterfalls and rapids, until we arrived at a descent into a chamber, where the roar of water was deafening. Down to this point the daylight glimmered feebly, but here our torches made but little impression on the darkness. One of the party volunteered to go down with a rope, and was suddenly immersed in a deep pool; the rest, profiting by his misadventure, managed to cling on to small points of rock, and eventually to reach the floor of the chamber. We stood at last on the lowest accessible point of the cave, about 300 feet from the surface. It was indeed one of the most remarkable sights that could possibly be imagined. Besides the waterfall down which we came, a powerful stream poured out of a cave too high up for the torches to penetrate the darkness, and fell into a deep pool in the middle of the floor, causing such a powerful current of air that all our torches were blown out except one. The two streams eventually united and disappeared in a small black circling pool, which completely barred further ingress.

The floor of the pot and the cave was strewn with masses of limestone rounded by the action of the streams; and the water-channels were smoothed and grooved and polished, in a most extraordinary way, by the silt and stones carried along by the current. Some of the layers of limestone were jet black, and others were of a light fawn-colour, and as the strata were nearly horizontal, the alternation of colours gave a peculiarly striking effect to the walls. Beneath each waterfall was a pool more or less deep, and here and there in the bed of the stream were holes, drilled in the rock by stones whirled round by the force of the water. High up, out of the present reach of the water, were old channels, which had evidently been watercourses before the pot and cave had been cut down to their present level.

In the sides of the pot there are two vertical grooves reaching very nearly from the top to the bottom, which are unmistakably the work of ancient waterfalls. There was no stalactite, but everywhere the water was wearing away the rock and enlarging the cave. We found our way back without any difficulty, a small passage on the right-hand side enabling us to avoid the very unpleasant task of scrambling up two of the waterfalls. We arrived finally at the top, after about five hours' work in the cave, wet to the skin.