* and Segleswyk. Probably the le, which occurs in three out of the four renderings, should be h, and was misread, or badly copied, by illiterate scribes. That some of these Dent members were people of substance, even at that period, is evident from the amount of tax paid. In the next century a family of the name of Sigeswike was living at Walburn Hall, in the parish of Downholme, four miles north of Leyburn. The property was acquired by marriage with the heiress of Peter Greathead, and remained a possession of the Sigeswicks or Sidgewicks for upwards of a century. Whether these were connected with the Dent Sedgwicks is not yet proved. The first appearance of the family as property owners in Dentdale, so far as I can make out, is in 1597, when by fine passed 39-40th Eliz., Leonard Sigeswike and William Burton are entered as plaintiffs, and William Robinson and Edith, his wife, and Richard Grenicar and Christiana, his wife, as deforciants, touching 17 messuages with lands in Kirthwayte in Dent and Dibdale [Deepdale].‡ In 1379 a Thomas de Sigeswik', and wife, were living at Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon, who would appear to be the progenitors of the Sigeswicks or Sidgwicks afterwards connected with Fountains Abbey. George Sigeswike was a shepherd of the Abbot in 1480, and a member of this family settled on Malham Moors, at the time they were in the possession of that monastery.§ We have thus three contemporary families, seated in different localities, yet at no great distance from each other, Ripon and Malham, Downholme, and Dentdale, and all, happily, agreed as to the orthography of the family name, viz., Sigeswike. But whether they all sprang from the same stock is a genealogical point that needs settling. In the main street at Dent a large rough block of shap granite is inscribed, "Adam Sedgwick." It was raised by subscription, and, while appropriately commemorating this honoured name, serves the useful purpose of a drinking-fountain. In addition to the old Church and Grammar School, there are a few other institutions of interest at Dent. The Congregationalists have a Chapel here, dating from 1809, or shortly after George Whitfield's visit to Dent. There are also Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Chapels, * In the property fines of the Tudor period alone the name is spelled twenty different ways. In a window in the north aisle of the parish church at Downholme, the arms of this family are thus depicted: Or, a chevron gules between three bells proper. But in 1561, and subsequently in the reign of Elizabeth, the family held various lands and messuages in Sedbarrgh als. Sedberghe als. Sedbraughe and Ingmyre. In 1561, Ralph Sygwyke also held the manor of Bolton on Swale. See Yorkshire Rec. Ser., vol. 2, pp. 245, 247, 285, 287; 5, pp. 3, 177; 8, p. 79. § See p. 356. and a small Meeting House for the Society of Friends. The latter is an old establishment, formed some time after the new Society built the famous little house of worship at Brigg Flatts, near Sedbergh. The Dale became a well-known stronghold of Quakerism after the visits of George Fox, and its supporters suffered many hardships during the unhappy period of religious discord. In 1682 George and Anthony Mason, of Dent, and John Dent and James Dickinson, of Sedbergh, had cattle taken from them worth £51, for non-attendance at the Parish A National School for boys and girls was erected in 1845, and in 1881 the useful Reading Room was transferred to new and more commodious premises. There are two or three small but comfortable inns at Dent, besides several private houses, where visitors are accommodated. The principal inn, the Sun, has a pictorial sign-board with inscription, similar to one at Kirkby Stephen, which may tempt many travellers, who are not the exclusive patrons of Adam's fountain, to wet a parched lip with the "best ale under the Sun." Our view of Dent, we may add, is taken from Throstle Hall, on the south side of the village, and is from a photograph by Mr. George Swift, of Dent. CHAPTER XLVII. FLOOD SCENES IN DENTDALE. Gill scenery near Dent-The raven in Dentdale. Recent remarkable floodAuthor's experiences-Lake scene from Dent churchyard-View of Colm Scar and Hackergill-The Scene in Flintergill and High Gill-No market at Dent -Adventure to Sedbergh-Renewal of storm-Aspects at Gate House-A break-down-Peculiar odour-View of Brackengill-A "cloud" cataractSublime water-scene-Other floods-Fatal waterspout on Whernside. W E have far from exhausted the scenic interest about Dent in the places already described. A walk up the rock-paved shades of Garda, in Flintergill, close to the village, is delightful in dry weather, and to the geologist the various sections above the Scar Limestone afford a rich treat. Helm Gill, Dove Cote Gill, (with its small cave), Pease Gill, Oliver Gill, and High Gill are also ravines of great beauty and scientific attraction. In High Gill, above Gawthorp, there is a long cave, which at one part of its course expands into a lofty chamber, revealing a fine cascade. Colm Scar, too, is a magnificent upheaval of "blue rag," which forms some grand precipices overlooking the dale on the south. In this locality a pair of handsome ravens reared five young ones in the Spring of 1892. The nest was unfortunately discovered by a stranger from Lancashire, and all the birds were carried off. This is greatly to be deplored, as the raven, which is one of the most striking ornaments of our mountain cliffs, is becoming almost as rare as the eagle in England.* All these very deep and narrow gills, lying on highly-inclined slopes, are the channels sometimes of sudden and prodigious floods. On the morning of August 25th, 1891, the writer witnessed what was, without doubt, one of the biggest floods of the present century. Every gill-beck, which a few hours previously had been but a purling stream, became the flood-gate, as it were, of a furious torrent of magnificent and startling proportions. The water in the valley bottom was in some places a good half-mile across, and every moment saw it grow wider and deeper. Low * Early in the century the raven appears to have been somewhat numerous in the dale, and in the parish accounts are entries of 2d. a head paid for its destruction. 2D trees and walls gradually sank out of sight, and cows and sheep even, which had been hurriedly driven up 'to the hill sides, stood motionless and looked on, apparently, with no little dismay. The scene from Dent churchyard was, indeed, most striking. Though it continued raining in sheets, everyone in the village turned out of doors to view the great flood. They came out covered with thick rugs, macintoshes, and open umbrellas, and many were the exclamations made, and visible expressions of astonishment, among the group of onlookers. Nay, I nivver seed owt like this afore," one old native exclaimed ; "Well, this licks all!" said another, &c. 66 From a farmer's point of view it was a bad look-out, but as a spectacle it was marvellously grand. Looking down the dale the picturesque round knoll of Helm Knot, with the wide-spreading woodfringed lake beneath, reminded me not a little of the view of Helm Crag, over Grasmere, in the Lake District. Over all the hill tops the grey clouds hung closely, while southwards the wild, dark front of Colm Scar looked unusually stern and weird, scored as it was with many quickdescending rills,-frozen by distance,-while three of them, broader and stronger than the rest, literally leaped from the summit in white waves down the jagged face of the great storm-battered cliffs. Innumerable rattling torrents fretted the steep hill-sides; one of the most prominent being a large and grand white wave of foam shooting down from the mist at the head of Hackergill, which then disappeared in the mazes of the dark wood below. Accustomed as one generally is to walking up the almost dry bed of Flintergill, the transformation in that umbrageous and precipitous ravine was, indeed, marvellous. It was filled from bank to bank with deep, tawny foam, and the hurrying rocks rolling and smashing against each other, sounded like subdued thunder, while the tall, dark pines and overhanging foliage added not a little to the grandeur and impressiveness of the spectacle. The bridge at the foot of the gill was inadequate to discharge beneath it the whole of this great torrent, which, washing over the road, filled it as far as Dent Bridge to a depth of at least three feet. The water, likewise, rose to within two or three feet of the field-gate below Low Hall, and the Holme, too, was under water, a circumstance never known to have occurred before. In several places at the west end of the village, the macadam in the road burst and sent up spouts of water a foot in height, and the same curious phenomenon was observed on the top of a low hill, in a grass field close by, doubtless caused by underground streams collapsing against the hard rock. Water, indeed, came out of places not known before. The cave in High Gill was choked from floor to roof, and from its mouth there poured a boiling flood of amber-coloured foam, which, uniting with the swollen torrent in the gill, created such a current of air that it was impossible to breathe while standing within twenty yards of the fork of the waterfall. As it happened to be market-day in Dent, the market, of course, could not be held, and there were no arrivals. But the postman with the mails from Sedbergh fortunately arrived in Dent before the flood was at its height. In the afternoon, as it shewed signs of clearing, I set out for and managed to reach Sedbergh (a walk of 6 miles), although the venture, as it proved, would have been much better postponed. The rain again fell in torrents,* smoking mists hugged the mountain summits, and a thousand white rills descended from them and plunged down the long seething slopes. Large rocks were rolled into the road, fences were washed away, and rushing spouts tumbled at rapid intervals through gaps they had made in the walls by the road side. Opposite Gate House the valley was one wide lake, and the garden before the house had the appearance of a miniature reservoir, caused by the overflowing of a fountain, which fell in a broad cascade over the garden wall bounding the highway. On mounting the road, which was like ascending a waterfall, I stumbled against a drowned calf, and a little further on encountered a deserted cart, with broken shafts, which I was told belonged to a man who had attempted to reach Dent from Sedbergh with goods for the market, but after one or two narrow escapes and a final breakdown, he had been obliged to give up the journey. At one part of the way, and for a distance of several hundred yards, where the dale was narrowest, a peculiar sulphureous smell pervaded the atmosphere, which I was unable satisfactorily to account for. The rain storm was unaccompanied by either thunder or lightning, but the disturbed electrical condition of the atmosphere had, doubtless, something to do with producing such an odour. The clash of rocks, combined with the rush of waters down the mountains, was sublime, and many were the very striking scenes witnessed on this adventurous trip. But the most remarkable spectacle along the whole route was undoubtedly the waterfall in Brackengill, on the opposite side of the valley. Never, perhaps, has mortal eye beheld a more sublime water-scene in the county of broad acres! The summit of the towering gill was capped with blooming heather, while close above the soft leaden-grey clouds loomed mistily. An immense volume of water, that appeared to come out of the clouds, descended in one long, continuous foam-white cataract, many yards in width, and visible through its whole descent of more than 500 feet down the lofty umbrageous glen. I could not help being struck by the resemblance which it bore to the famous Giessbach Falls, on Lake * At Brigg Flatts, Mr. Handley's rain-guage registered 5.30 inches in 30 hours! |