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the following quaint inscription: "This bridge was repayred at the Charge of the whole West Rideing, anno 1765." Higher up, at the junction of this once important highway with the Ingleton road, is a very old mile-stone inscribed, "To Settle xii," but it has no date.

The gorge of Ling Gill is, as already intimated, highly romantic, but as there are no proper paths along the bottom of it, the visitor must, except in dry weather, be content with a view of the scenery from the paths along its summit. The scramble along the bottom is at any time a rough undertaking, being over large boulders, and dark spreading pools, with here and there a jutting cliff and hanging tree, by which the explorer may have to swing himself from one stepping place to another. Our illustration-the first, we believe, that has been taken-is from an admirable photograph by Mr. A. Horner, of Settle.

A great variety of trees, shrubs, mosses, and flowering plants adorn the various parts of the Gill, among which the following interesting species may be noted :

Tea-leaved willow (S. phylicifolia), bird-cherry (P. padus), red-berry laurel (D. mezereum), one of the few localities in Yorkshire where it is truly wild; goldilocks (R. auricomus), rock-cress (A. sagittata and C. impatiens), vernal whitlow-grass (E. vulgaris), Alpine scurvy-grass (C. alpina), rock-rose (H. Chamacistus), cranes-bill (G. lucidum and G. sylvaticum), water avens (G. rivale), marsh valerian (V. dioica), small scabious (S. Columbaria), melancholy thistle (C. heterophyllus), London pride (S. umbrosa), broad-leaved bell flower (C. latifolia), bird's-eye primrose (P. farinosa), field gentian (G. campestris), butterwort (P. vulgaris), sedge (C. pallescens), blue moor-grass (S. cærulea).

But the most notable plant in the district of the upper Ribble is the now well-known Gothland sandwort, (Arenaria gothica) discovered by Mr. Lister Rotheray, of Skipton, on the 12th of June, 1889, an account of which he furnished in the Naturalist of the same year. The writer accidentally met Mr. Rotheray within a short distance of the site, and we turned aside to view the plant which was then in nice flower. The plant bears some resemblance to another interesting species of sandwort, the Arenaria norvegica, the latter being found in Iceland and Shetland, and on the continent only in Norway and Lapland. The Ribblehead species differs, however, from the one just named, in "its looser habit and narrower leaves." It is a small plant, with a perennial root, and bears 1-4 pure snow-white tiny blossoms on a stem. It grows luxuriantly among loose stones, at an altitude of about 1050 feet above sea-level. "The locality, standing alone," observes Prof. Baker, of Kew, who visited the spot in the September following the discovery, "is not satisfactory as regards the nativeness of the plant, and I expect, confidently, that on further search it will be found upon the limestone cliffs of the neighbouring mountains."

Subsequently hundreds of botanists have visited the spot from all parts of the kingdom, and it is greatly to be regretted that the desire to retain a single specimen," has well-nigh exterminated the little gem. But, fortunately, in the following August (1890), Dr. Silvanus Thompson and his sister, Miss R. F. Thompson, of Settle, discovered it at a new station on the same horizon, but some miles distant from Mr. Rotheray's site, yet the vandals have discovered this place also, and the last report we received was, alas! "it is going fast here, too." As these are the only two known stations of the plant in the British islands, it is earnestly hoped that all who may be attracted to the spot, will mercifully spare the plant from an untimely destruction.

The district is of great botanical interest. A Bradford botanist, Mr. J. Beanland, recently discovered on the fells here at an altitude of about 1500 feet the rare wood cow-wheat, (M. Sylvaticum), which is the first record of its appearance in Ribblesdale. On Moughton Fell, at an elevation of about 1150 feet, the pretty purple saxifrage (S. oppositifolia) was discovered by the Misses Thompson in July, 1891.*

But to resume our explorations. From Ling Gill bridge, by following the east road a half-mile to a barn on the right, a descent of 50 yards may be made to Brow Gill Head, where is another somewhat extensive cavern. The mouth is 6 or 7 yards high and as many wide, and the rocks about are prettily decked with moss and ferns and flowering shrubs, amongst which are the little mealy pink primrose and the tall columbine. On entering, the floor of the cave is found to be curiously fluted in a succession of razor-like edges of limestone, like frozen waves, running parallel with the direction of the stream. These have doubtless been formed by the rapidity of the flow of water through the solid rock, and which is not affected by any side currents of air. About 40 yards in, a lofty chamber is entered, where a huge block of limestone, fallen from the roof above, bars further progress in this direction. The roof hence is very low, yet singularly smooth and flat; and the process of insinuating yourself along this peculiar gap, over the sharp, knife-edged floor, is one which requires not only care, but almost the flexibility of a serpent to accomplish with safety. But when once through, an immense lateral fissure is entered, whose jagged walls rise above the boulderstrewn floor to a height of nearly 100 feet. When exploring this cavern with a party last year, we clambered down this chasm to the right, until it tapered off to a small aperture about a foot wide, beyond which there was the sound of falling water. We lowered our lamp at the end of a walking-stick, and the bright light revealed to us the glassy torrent descending into the gloom. From the large quantity of sand thrown up through the hole where we stood, it is evident the water must occasionally * See Naturalist, 1891, p. 252.

rise to this point. The cavern may be further explored by creeping, and we have been told that one or two persons have succeeded in climbing the waterfall (30 feet) and penetrating the fissure some distance beyond, but without reaching the end. The stream descending through the cave rises on Green Haw Moor, and after a course of about a mile falls into the Calf Hole, an opening in the rocks some 12 yards deep, whence there is a fall of about 200 feet to the mouth of the cave. About 100 yards below the mouth there is a picturesque natural limestone arch over the stream called God's Bridge.

To reach Ling Gill, or Brow Gill, from Ribblehead, follow the Selside road one mile, and cross the Ribble by a wooden bridge below Ingman Lodge (Lodge Hall), whence a path goes over the hill to Nether Lodge, at the foot of Ling Gill.

Ingman Lodge has been a fine old mansion, and retains even yet a pleasing and imposing appearance of antiquity. It was a possession of the monks of Furness,* and a clump of trees before the house is said to mark the site of an ancient burial-ground. The house appears to have been rebuilt in 1687, as that date, and the initials C.W.-being those of a local family named Weatherhead-appear over the canopied portal. Two large battle-axes are cut in the stone on the sides of the doorway. The family, however, lived here some time before the date named. Among the wills proved at York is one of Elizabeth Weatherhead, widow of Christopher Weatherhead, of Ingman Lodge, dated 11th May, 1651. The Weatherheads are an old Craven family, and appear formerly to have been especially numerous about Skipton.

Just below the station houses at Ribblehead, and close to the road, was a deep pot-hole called Batty Wife Hole, which was filled up when the railway was made. How it got its name we have been told was this. Many years ago a man named Batty, living in the neighbourhood, had been some time separated from his wife, but at length agreeing to make it up, they appointed a time to meet at this place, and talk things quietly over. The woman, alas! arrived so late, that the old bitterness arose, and an altercation ensued, when she either accidentally fell into the hole. or was deliberately thrown in and was drowned. It is said, however, that in his old age the man's conscience was so much disturbed, that he was often seen to hobble to the spot, and with dejected mien peer into the hole and exclaim-" Betty! Betty! where art thou, my lass ?"

Of the pot nothing remains but two low-arched holes 14 feet apart, the water running down that on the left with a peculiar rumbling noise, and then, curving back into the other, re-appears at the bottom of the road, near the finger-post. The course of the stream was shewn some years since by the accidental upsetting of a cask of petroleum in a well See West's History of Furness.

near the station houses, which came out at both of the places named. On the road, about 100 yards past the finger-post, there has been a small landslip, leaving the rock exposed, below which the water in flood issues with great impetuosity. It is supposed to traverse a cave on Ranscar, the entrance to which lies about a half-mile to the north-west

There are three cave-holes on Ranscar or Rainscar (see p. 349), all within about thirty yards of each other. The middle one is, perhaps, the best to explore, but it usually contains much wet, and though extending, with its branches, several hundred yards, has no petrifactions worth mentioning. The entrance is close to a conspicuous thorn-tree, near the end of the scar, westward, and it lies in a rudimentary pot, filled with huge fragments of limestone, one of which has blocked the mouth of the cave. With some exertion the cave-hunter may clamber down, or lower himself with the aid of a rope from the top.

From Ribblehead (1080 feet) the tourist may proceed by Newby Head (inn) to Hawes (10 miles), or ascend Whernside (2414 feet) and down Deepdale, by the dobbie-haunted Yallas Gill, to Dent (8 miles); or he may reach Dent by rail to Dent Head (6 miles) and thence down the beautiful valley (4 miles) as described in an ensuing chapter.

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CHAPTER XLIV.

HAWES, YORE HEAD, AND GARSDALE.

Cam End-Boundary of the Mowbray Chase-Hawes-Meaning of Hawes-Upper Yoredale, a forest of red deer-Hawes Chapel-Charter for market-Romantic scenery-Hardraw and Simonstone-The scar waterfall-Geological peculiarities -Meaning of Hardraw-Buttertubs Pass-Mossdale Gill-Disastrous floodPlant life-Hawes Junction-Around the Moorcock-Old pack-horse roadHellbeck Lunds-A seat of Danish pirates-Wild animals-The last wild boar -Grizedale-Gift of the valley to Jervaux Abbey-A walk through Garsdale -An old coach-road-Scientific character of the dale-Bow Fell TarnGarsdale celebrities-No inn in Garsdale-Grand approach to Sedbergh.

B

Y Newby Head (1430 feet), or by Cam End from Ling Gill, we now leave Craven and descend to the interesting little town of Hawes. At Caldkeld als. Cathkeld, on Cam, (Ribblehead) the old Mowbray Chase joined the great Forest of Wensleydale, which was bounded on the east by the northern heights of Langstrothdale," as Heaven water falleth into ye Forest of Wenceydale and Langstrothdale to a place called Crookdale Head." The whole of the country to the south and east of Penyghent was in the Percy Fee.

Had Hawes been a pre-Norman settlement, we should have held the name to have sprung from the A.S. and Scand. hagen, haigh, hay (pl. hayes) meaning a fenced enclosure. But as we find no very clear proof of so early an occupation, we think it is simply so-called from the provincial word haws, used to denote a neck of land, or pass between one valley and another. The village is often yet spoken of locally as Th' Hawes. There are, however, appearances of a Roman camp at the ancient village of Gayle, and near the hamlet of Hardraw, 14 miles north of Hawes, we have undoubted evidences of the old Celtic presence.

Upper Yoredale was probably too wet and barren to have been regularly occupied in remote times. Even yet it has the unenviable reputation of being the rainiest corner in all Yorkshire. Old Leland, writing in the time of Henry VIII., says it is a "forest of redde deere, longynge to the Kinge," and Camden, fifty years later, informs us that wild deer, goats, and "stags of extraordinary size, with branching horns," find there a safe harbour.

We do not discover any reference to Hawes until long after the Conquest. The place is not mentioned on any of our older maps.

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