#cravenexcursion

8 3/4

1 1/4

.. Down to breakfast at 10 55/60 – Off from Settle at 11 10/60 – Got out at the George Inn (– Pilling) Gisburn at 1 40/60 – Beautiful drive from Settle to Gisburne 11 miles –

t 5 miles from Settle (turned off to the right at long Preston) on our right very prettily situated on the rising ground above the Ribble, Halton-house (Halton West) Mr Yorke’s – let to a Mr Batty from Huddersfield – about 2 miles from Gisburne, the woods about the Park beautiful – a common white gate about a mile from the village opens into a back way leading to the house –

Gisburne a very neat-looking little market town – the church rather anticipant looking on the outside, but nothing particular within – only one monument, and that put up by one of the Listers to one of the Ashtons (styled his benefaction) in 1709 – Going to be a funeral – the church doors therefore open –

Got the clerk’s son, a boy of 13 or 14, for a guide, and walked to the hall – the Gothic approach lodges, close to the village, very handsome – the approach rather too short (perhaps 1/4 mile), but chiefly wooded on both sides, and pretty enough – the hall door open – went in – then walked round to the back part of the house – went into the kitchen, and got a woman servant to show us over the below stairs rooms – the house shewn when the family was not there – Only mylord at home – riding out in the grounds – very infirm – saw a wheel-chair like my late aunt Lister’s that he is wheeled about in – Mr Lister at York with his Craven legion – Miss Lister daily expected from London – the battle of Marston moor, a good painting by Abraham Cooper – Oliver Cromwell, General Lambert, and Captain Lister, all likenesses – Cromwell, 1/2 length by Sir Peter Lely, very good – Dr. Whitaker (in his Craven) mentions this as perhaps the best likeness ever taken of him – the house wants painting and new-furnishing – asked about the upstairs rooms – the woman said the furniture was old and worn out – they were not shewn – the place altogether indicates that its present possessor does not lay out much money upon it – a great deal wants doing – several pictures in oils by Mr Lister, and a new style in oils or resembling them that he has lately learnt in Bath – heads, landscapes – A large view of Gordale, in oils, just finished, taken by Mr Lister the best likeness of the place I remember to have seen –

walked across the park and thro’ the fields to Westby, 1/2 a mile or more, once a village and the original nest, as it were, of our family and Lord Ribblesdale’s – but the village has been taken away – and nothing remains but 2 modern looking cottages – a barn bearing no trace of antiquity, modern dog-kennels, and a large well-walled kitchen garden now in use for the hall – the wild cattle very gentle – milked night and morning, and as quiet as the rest – Midhope, great and little, 2 farm- houses, not so old looking as Westby – a mile beyond Westby – on the moor – nearer to Pendil hill – then the Midhopes must be modern indeed – perhaps recently rebuilt as farm houses – Set out to walk at 1 50/60 – got back at 4 5/60 –

Off from Gisburne at 4 17/60 – Gisburne 11 miles from Skipton, 9 from Colne, and 7 1/2 from Clitheroe – Turned down from the road to the right, and got to Salley abbey and village (4 miles) at 5 10/60 – went a few yards out of one onto the bridge over the Ribble for a distant view of Bolton hall (Colonel Bolton from Liverpool who fought a  duel with ––) mentioned by Dr. Whitaker as the oldest house bishop Pococke ever saw – It was a white-looking gable-ended house, too far out of our way, and possibly not a very direct road – merely a few bits of old walls remaining of Salley Abbey – the neighbouring cottages have widely been built out of its spoils, – but are very shabby – the surrounding beautiful – the monks knew how to choose situations –

From Salley to Clitheroe beautiful drive – the first view of Clitheroe castle very imposing – this castle-capped mound and town beneath it, reminded at 6 35/60 – most beautiful drive from Gisburne to Clitheroe –

went to the castle immediately after ordering dinner and beds – Except a little of the old wall about midway the mound, the shell of a square Tower at the very top of it, and its surrounding wall at 5 or 6 yards distance is all that remains – From this wall immediately surrounding the Tower a very fine view – Pendil-hill very fine – the valley on all sides very rich – the altogether reminded us of Denbigh and the vale of Clwyd – we called Clitheroe (for it is only a miniature likeness) little Denbigh – From Clitheroe to the top of that part of Pendil over which the road goes to Huntroyde Mr Starkie’s, 2 miles – to the farthest and highest point, I should guess to be about 4 miles, going right across from the Town –

Sat down to dinner at 8 – Roast leg of lamb, mashed potatoes – goos[e]berry tarts and cream – all pretty good –

after dinner wrote out pages 34, 35, of this volume of my journal and went upstairs to bed at 12 1/4 – [E two dots O two dots, marking discharge from venereal complaint] – several drops of dischar ge very slightly tinged so that I fancied my cousin coming –

Very fine day – but the road from Settle to Long Preston so dusty, we were quite covered – after leaving Long Preston, the road was more like a by-road (tho’ good) and it was much less dusty (since any dust at all) and much pleasanter –

left margin:

Gisburne.

Westby.

Midhope.

Bolton hall.

Salley-abbey.

Clitheroe.

Clitheroe castle belongs to the old duchess of Bucleugh [Buccleuch]. the castellated house near the castle inhabited by her steward Mr Kerr.

6 1/2

12 50/60

Off from Ingleton to Chapel in the dale, 4 1/2 miles, at 8 – drove my aunt (the black mare) – George and the guide walked by the side the whole way –

An old woman shewed us Hurtle-pot – 6d [pence] admittance for my aunt and me – the place is enclosed with a highish wall. and locked up – descended 2 or 3 steps to the door – a great hole, almost like a jelly bag – a subterraneous passage on the right (looking down from the Entrance) thro’ which the water of the Greta enters the great hole or Hurtle pot – 15 or 16 yards deep in the passage – appeared a yard or 2 deep in the pot – a few very meagre trout occasionally caught in this place – ‘Tis not very bad getting down to the water’s edge in the pot – Jingle pot is only a little distant on the other side of the farm house (John Metcalf’s to whom Weathercote belongs) not enclosed – a long, deep, widish fissure thro which the Greta runs –

a shilling each admittance to Weathercote-cave – walled round and locked up – the owner a respectable looking farmer, shewed us it – descended a flight of steps nearly to the bottom – I scrambled down to the very bottom, and went behind the water which falls 75 feet – falls from just above Mahomet’s stone (as seen from above) not from below this stone as represented in Westall’s drawing – this waterfall beautiful – the spray by the reflection of the sun formed a fine iris – I, by going quite to the bottom, saw a double iris – but people generally go too late, after 12 p.m., and therefore see nothing of this effect which adds greatly to the beauty of the scene – near the fall on the left (looking towards it) quite at the bottom is a recess in the cavern in which I could hardly stand upright – Westall has drawn this too high – hence also issues water into the cave when there is a great deal of water – at these times there is also 2 more water vents, one on the right another on the left – Into the recess in the cavern one can go (creep) a hundred yards but there is too much water now – 2 years ago after a thunderstorm the water filled the whole of this Weathercote cave, and ran over at the top – holes made in it in the wall to let it pass – the Greta runs a mile underground before it comes to Weathercote, and then another mile underground before it gets into its channel on the surface – In favourable years as many as 200 people go to see Weathercote –

Left George to drive my aunt back to Ingleton, took John Metcalf as an additional guide, and at 10 40/60 proceeded forwards determined from what Metcalf said to go both to Gate Kirk and Greenside cave – ca[me] to Hars cave, a pretty little jumble among the rocks where the subterraneous Greta appears a little for a few yards, and then falls down to a lower and hidden course –

came to Gate-Kirk cave at 11 – our candle in the lantern had nearly burnt out – with some difficulty we lighted our 3 candles and crept thro’ the cave – 3 or 4 passages, perhaps 30 or 40 yards long, communicating with each other – could only stand upright in 2 or 3 places full of stalactites – crept thro’ all the rest of the way – the rocks sometimes very slippery and in the main passage obliged to crawl close to the water’s edge – the water perhaps a yard deep – there might be some deeper holes in the passage – Westall has made a pretty drawing of the entrance to this passage – 1/2 h[ou]r in Gate Kirk cave – a little farther on a little girl led the way thro’ a small narrow cavern called Boggard-hole, which neither of my guides remembered that we could creep thro’ – Metcalf said money had been formerly hid there – several fourpenny pieces had been found there – Gate Kirk cave a mile from Weathercote –

went forwards from GateKirk and at 12 1/2 got to lower Forsgill, a beautiful fifteen yards fall of the Greta down a scar something like Dowgill scar near Horton – a little higher up is what they call the upper Fors a pretty fall of 7 1/2 yards – just half the other but very pretty – at Greenside cave the spring head of the Greta, at 1 – what a pity we had nor match, nor tinder box – Metcalf fancied it full of water we might probably have gone a long way if we had had lights he said it was one or two hundred yards long – could stand upright very well – for the few yards we durst venture, no water in the cave, and no dropping from above – Going by these Forsgills was a roundabout, and we all agreed we had walked four long miles from GateKirk – all across the heather made it very fatiguing – saw the 2 covies of grouse, 15 or 16 in each – put up several pairs of old birds –

In mounting across the hill (the pastures and fell below Whernside) saw the little village of Winterskill below on the Greta where very fine trout are caught, weighing 2 lbs. – Gave Metcalf 1/2 crown for his Trouble (he had shewed us Westall’s drawings and recommended Hutton’s (the reverend Mr.) tour in these parts) and we parted at Greenside – these Forsgills are worth seeing – the best way would be to drive from Ingleton to Winterskill (along the Richmond road the road we travelled from Horton on Monday) and thence proceed nearly straight up to the falls, to Greenside cave, and then direct to the top of Whernside –

this was the route my guide James Greenwood and I took after Metcalf left us, and we were at the highest summit in about 20 minutes at 1 1/2 – we missed Chapel in the dale on Monday because the Chapel steeple is so like a large chimney, we mistook it for one, thought the building a house, and instead of turning down about the 22 milestone from Lancaster (about 2 1/2 miles from the house near Ribble head) we drove forward to near Ingleton – walked along the summit of Whernside –

fine view of Ingleborough, and of the road we came from Horton along deepdale, of Saleside etc etc on one side, and on the other of the rich valley (then said the guide there is not a richer valley in England) and town of Dent – the hills beyond Sedbury – Skiddaw – the sands beyond Lancaster etc –

crossed down the other side of Whernside to a cottage near Yordas cave § – got a great thing like a rake (without teeth) to stick candles in, – lighted our 7 candles at the lime-kilns close to the cave, and went in, 1/. each admittance (guides never paid for) at 2 1/2 – reconnoitered the whole cavern in about 1/4 hour – the bottom rather soft, sandy and towards the far end gravelly – here the stream passed thro’, and went along a narrow deepish channel we could not pursue – a drip from the top – fine, spacious, lofty vault – thickly encrusted with fine stalactites – a remarkably fine cavern to those who have never seen the caves in Derbyshire, Castleton etc – I began to feel the cavern rather cold, and gladly escaped to realms of day –

after walking about 1 1/2 mile on the road, turned to the left along the fields, (having just before noticed the springhead of the little river Skell close to the road on our left, and sunk considerably below us) and went across the Thornton-fors a beautiful fall of the Skell of 15 yards or perhaps more altogether; for there is a great tho’ divided fall before it comes to the main one – at this fors at 3 40/60 –

from here to Ingleton along the fields, the walk is most picturesque – the Skell runs along a deep glen wooded down to the bottom on each side, murmurs over its stony bed, and joins the Greta at Ingleton – as we walked along the high ground the finest view of Inglebro’ and his noble rocky abutments, rising in 3 huge steps of white ruggedness – Ingleton picturesquely situated – yet the stone walls along the sides of Inglebro’ rather spoil the majesty of his appearance – they bespeak the avarice and power of man to share and divide even nature’s deserts –

Rambled along Helks wood – peeping here and there at the Skell, here and there at Inglebro’ – gathered the most beautiful white dog rose I ever saw – and wild lilies of the valley – they grow in the beds 10 or 12 yards square – and there are many curious plants in this wood – belonged to a reverend Mr Foxcroft who had a nice place near (at the village of Thornton) – he died lately – left his widow the place for her life, then to his heirs – he was 1st cousin to Mrs Watkinson late of Ovenden, now of Crownest, a poor place, about 3 miles beyond Settle on the Ingleton road –

Got home at 4 1/2 – Dined at Ingleton – Roast shoulder of Excellent mutton – very good dinner Thirsty after so much walking (I had walked full 15 miles 4 or 5 of them over heather) the cold water chilled me – a large basin of hot boiled milk set me right again, and we were off at 7 20/60, and got to our old quarters, the Golden Lion Inn Settle, at 9 1/2 –

wrote out Sunday and part of Monday and went upstairs to bed at 12 – Very fine day – [E two dots O one dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint] –

after returning from Weathercote this morning my aunt had Percy in the gig, and made an attempt to meet me at Yordas cave, but the road was very hilly she was afraid of being too late, and turned back when she had got within a mile of the place –

§ this cave now belongs to Mr Peart the banker of Settle, he having lately purchased the property in which it is situated –

left margin:

Ingleton-caves, Weathercote, etc

Forsgill.

(fall of the Greta).

Whernside.

Yordas Yowdass cave.

Ingleton.

Helks-wood.

8 50/60

12

Down to breakfast at 10 35/60 went to my uncle tolerably this morning for the first time since I left home to do much good which has made me all along feel rather feverish –

we called on Mrs Sutcliffe – Mr Sutcliffe seems the less vulgar of the 2 – but they are a sadly vulgar couple we saw one of their children – he spoke broad Yorkshire – the room dirty, and littered, and untidy past description – Mrs Peart not at all like a gentlewoman, but unless when compared with Mrs Sutcliffe – a good sort of person – her house a very good one, and beautifully neat – a very nice garden and green house into which she shewed us – very civil – her daughter Mrs Robinson, Mrs William Priestley’s particular friends, is an attorney’s wife in the town – her father gave up the business to his son-in-law, the bank at Settle being a better thing – he is very rich – buys a great deal of land – Mrs Robinson not particularly like a gentlewoman but shines among such as Mrs Sutcliffe and perhaps even Mrs Peart –

staid about 10 minutes with Mrs Sutcliffe and 20 with Mrs Peart and got back to the Inn at 12 40/60 – they had all said Weathercote, the cave at Chapel in the dale, was the prettiest thing in the whole neighbourhood – we therefore determined to go to Ingleton, and were off at 1 55/60, and at 4 1/2 stopt at the Bay horse (a pot house) 10 1/4 miles – ordered dinner and beds – Pretty drive – excellent road, but hilly –

Arstwick §, a prettily situated village on our right, soon after we had passed Mr Walkinson’s house (a very poor, whitewashed concern, at a short distance to the left) about 3 miles from Settle – Chapham 3 1/2 miles from Ingleton a very pretty village – the prettiest we have seen – Clapham lodge a tolerably handsome looking modern house – surrounded with fir, Scotch and larch, plantations – good road but very hilly – high rock all along on ur right – the width of the valley is on the left – Ingleton a tolerably neat whitewashed village – neat church –

Had scarcely swallowed my dinner but having got a guide, James Greenwood (past the middle age I should think) set off with him to walk to the top of Inglebro’ at 6 5/60 – at the top at 7 35/60 – down at the slate quarry in 1 5/60 hour – belongs to Mr Hornby of Kirkham as lord of the Manor – bought it of Mr Parker of Browsholm, who bought it of the brother of Mrs Serjeantson (I suppose of Camphill) Gooch, I think –his father left him the manor with all right to mines and minerals Except coals – these he separated from the manor, and left to his daughter Mrs Serjeantson, and she ‘turns out a better fortune than her brother’ – 8 or 9 men employed at the quarry – the slate goes by land carriage to Gargrave, there shipped on the canal – the quarry on the left bank of the Greta a mile from Ingleton – Mr Hornby has a large flax mill, superintended by a nephew of his, at Bentam – Employs there a thousand hands – Got a specimen or 2 at the quarry – home again at 9 40/60, in 1/4 hour from the quarries – all done by blasting – it is the cheapest way – 4 long miles to the top of Inglebro’ – walked it in 1 35/60! – round by the quarries made it 4 1/2 miles back – walked all round to the top of Inglebro’ – said to be a mile –

went upstairs to bed at 11 1/4 very fine day [E two dots O one dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint] –

§ Monday 14 July 1823 this Mrs William Priestley told me the other day, was considered the prettiest village in Craven, and Clapham the 2nd prettiest –

left margin:

Beautiful prospect from Inglebro’ – the mountain was quite clear at the top, but unfortunately it was rather

thick in the valleys, and my view was much impeded tho’ still very fine –

Ingleton.

5 35/60

1

off (from Settle) at 7 12/60 – Got to Horton (Golden lion Inn, opposite the church) at 8 50/60 – 6 miles the rudest road we have Travelled – stone walls all the way – the Ribble on our left – its stony channel frequently almost dry – High white mountains on our left – Penigent to the right 2 miles to the Top of it, starting from Horton – a huge mass rising in bulky majesty from his mountain base – neat white washed church and Inn at Horton –

It surprises me to find such good stabling at all these out-of-the-way places – a Mr Foster, of Chapham, has the largest property of anyone here – The freeholders are all joint lords of the manor –  they wont let the manor for some of the freeholders like to shoot – consequently anyone who likes shoots on it, for none prevents them – and there is always game being close to lord Ribblesdale’s and Mr Farrer’s (of Clapham lodge) preserves – Nothing but stone walls here as about Settle, etc etc –

the Ribble seems to wind more than either the Wharf or Are – 2 or 3 miles from Settle (yesterday) the river made 3 remarkable windings –

and in another place formed a little verdant island pasture – the pastures everywhere very rich – Stainforth a very neat village – mowing there –  the 1st grass cut we have seen –

Set off to Penigent (from Horton) at 10 after a good breakfast of boiled milk – the coffee bad, that my aunt was obliged to take to milk – Excellent bread here as at Malham – good everywhere, but at these 2 places remarkably so – the dry toast capital – 50 minutes getting to the end of the lane leading to Penigent – 200 yards further to the left, Hull pot hole – about 60 yards long by 30 or 40 deep – the water of this cavern (vide the next page line 12). goes down thro‘ Horton – having sunk from the bed of its stream into the Earth, perhaps 50 or 60 yards before it reaches the cavern –

At a little distance to the left higher up, Hunt-pot hole

peerhaps 30 yards by 20 – the fissure § in the cavern, into which the water falls after having made a pretty cascade into the cavern, is about 3 yards wide in the widest part, and perhaps ½ yard wide in the narrowest part where the spray formed a beautiful rain-bow – this water crosses that from the other hole §§, and comes out at Batty-wife hole (vide line 6 from the top of the next page) – About a couple of hundred yards from Hunt pot hole, there is a cavern, entered by ‘a little pot-hole’ – the guide (Christoper Armistead) has been 100 yards into this cavern – might have gone farther, had he had more candles – the cavern 2 ½ yards high, and wide enough for one person to go along –

At the point of an angle, as it were, between Hull pot and Hunt-pot, a small piece of water (a small lake) called Tarn-bar 7 yards deep of water – perhaps 80 yards across, and 3 times that in circumference – we saw it from a distance on ascending the steepish part of Penigent, and perhaps these dimensions that the man Told us may be Too little –

At the top of Penigent, on the great end, at 12 47/60 – Little end ¾ mile off – we had not time to go to this, nor to take pains to go to the opposite edge to look down upon Littondale, and its villages of  Arncliffe, Halton Gill, etc

Looked down upon Horton, Newhouses, Saleside, and about 2 miles from the latter place a farm house called Gawber, in a meadow field 3 or 400 yards below this house, the source of the Ribble, called Ribble-head – Moulton, a long, lofty range of limestone rock

§§ (Sunday 13 July, 1823. How does the man know this? Is this apparent in the cavern, mentioned line 8 from the bottom? I seem just now (4 p.m.) to have some recollection 

white and water-and-weather-worn like that at the top of Malham Cove, stretching along above Horton, and abutting Inglebro’ – Whernside to the right of him – as it were darting out from behind him to continue the line of rampart on that side of the valley –

1/2 mile directly above Saleside Alum pot – a young man from Leeds was nearly lost there yesterday-week – he had gone to see it with a young woman went too near the edge, the sod gave way – he caught hold of some twigs which fortunately did not break, but he hung over the abyss for some time before he could recover himself – he trembled all the day afterrwards – Beyond Gawber (vide line 2 from the bottom on the other side) Batty-wife hole – the water from Hunt pot hole comes out here, and runs into the Ribble – Chapel in the dale 9 miles from Horton –

At the top of Penigent (great end) looking down on Horton, Pendil hill on the left, Inglebro’ right ahead then Whernside (not the Whernside I saw, that is behind us) – Shadows of the clouds on the sides of the hills have a curious effect – a person unacquainted with the thing, might take them for dark green spots on a calm day – but when the wind is high they run along with the clouds very fast – Could just discern the sands above Lancaster, looking over the foot of Ingleborough to the left – Begin to descend Penigent at 1 1/2 – Returned by Dowgill Scar, a pretty little cove at the bottom of which escapes the water from Hull pot hole, and runs down thro’ Horton – In the centre of the cove, about mid height, a large piece of rock overhanging 4 or 5 yards, under which I sat writing this last minute in my note book – Scotch fir and larch plantation here – too much of it – rather hides the cove –

Got back to the Inn at 2 3/4 – Determined to take the guide, go with my aunt in the gig as far as Alum-pot and Ribble-head, and strike right across up to the top of Inglebro’, go down upon Chapel in the dale and meet my aunt there and the see the caverns –

Off from Horton at 2 55/60 – The guide rode behind George on Percy – Got to Saleside ‘short of 3 miles’ from Horton (rough hilly road) at 3 3/4 – my aunt and George waited with the gig at Saleside, a public house, and 2 or 3 cottages –

the guide and I walked right up the hill, and in 1/4 hour came to Alum-pot, the most frightful looking both the guide and I agreed, we had ever seen – perhaps the association of ideas had some influence – we had both of us the man hanging by the Twig in our minds’ eye – we made it out it must have been at the south end near an ash bush – as well as I could calculate by my watch, a stone about 10 seconds in falling to the bottom,

perhaps 30 yards or more by 20 or more – a shallow stream fell into it at the south east corner, and there seemed to be an archway at the North end perhaps an outlet from this tremendous hole – we could not tell – almost impossible to get near enough with safety to have a good view – the hole is very properly entirely enclosed with a highish wall which we ventured to climb over, safely enough, tho’ strictly warned not to do so by the Innkeeper at Saleside –

About 2 miles beyond Saleside stopt at the farm house on our right (called Gawber xxx) – the guide and I turned thro’ the farm yard down a meadow, and crossing in the next field saw Ribble head

very clear, good water – perhaps 1/2 yard deep – no boling up to be seen – perfectly still – a narrow ditch with a little round head –

It was now so late, I gave up all thought of going to the top of Inglebro’ (it would be 4 long miles there and 3 down to Chapel in the dale) gave the guide 4/. with which he seemed well pleased, and got into the gig, and drove off – Perhaps 1/2 mile from here turned to the left along the road to Lancaster by Ingleton, the road to the right leading to Hawes etc and Richmond – soon came to the 24 mile stone to Lancaster (6 from Ingleton) – at the turn into this road we had opened into the valley between Inglebro’ on our left and Whernside on our right, the river Greta running in a shallow stream along its stony bed, apparently dry in many places – Inglebro’ magnificent – abutted by 3 xxx huge steps, as it were, of bare rugged limestone – far superior in appearance to Penigent howver fine, and Whernside – these great mountains and even Pendil hill also, all much the same shape – a torso rising on immense mountain bases – here the valley worthy of North Wales – the finest mountain scenery we have seen in Craven – this is certainly the best side for the ascent of Inglebro’ – Perhaps of Whernside also –

Sleep at Horton – or Ingleton is only six miles off from the place where it appeared as if one ought to ascend – at the mile stone marked 18 miles from Lancaster and 10 to Settle, turned off (tho’ 1/4 mile from Ingleton) to Settle having missed Chapel in the dale § , and being anxious to get to Settle in tolerable time having ordered beds there and a dinner at 8 – we had inquired just before we got to this last mile stone and were told by one of the lime-kiln men that Chapel in the dale was to the right 4 miles back on the road we had come –

Got back to Settle at 8 55/60, and sat down to dinner (2 roast fowls spitted after we got in, very good, etc.) at 9 3/4 – went upstairs to bed at 11 3/4 –

Mrs Peart the banker’s wife Mrs William Priestley’s friend to whom we had brought a letter for Mrs William Priestley, and Mrs Sutcliffe the apothecary’s wife, Mrs Veitch’d sister to whom we had brought a letter from Mrs Veitch, had called on us, and left their card in the morning – Very fine day – [E two dots O one dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint]

left margin:

Horton.

Penigent.

Stainforth.

§ this fissure must be very deep – as nearly as I could calculate by my watch, a stone was twenty seconds in falling to the bottom or in falling till we ceased to hear it –

Alum-pot.

view from Penigent.

Saleside.

Alum-pot.

Gawber, farm-house.

Ribble-head.

Settle.

vide page line 8 from the Top.

§

6 3/4

12

off at 8 with James Lund, our guide, to the cove – about 3/4 miles from the Lister arms – viewed it from the bottom, close under it, stupendous – can form no adequate idea of it at a distance – climbed with some labour and heat up the steep hill on the left (as we looked Towards the cove) for the sun began to shine, and reached the summit – a water worn bed of limestone rock – most curios – something in the glacier-style – scrambled down 3 or 4 yards to the place (just above the water, where our guide had let down 95 yards of line before his plumb reached the stream gushing out at the foot of this tremendous perpendicular precipice – lay down all my length – crawled to the edge – the man held my feet – while I stretched my head over the brink, and looked down – most awful – but as the man observed; this is not the deepest part of the cove – the crag on my left entirely appeared as he had said at last 20 yards higher – there are 2 terraces – but you cannot walk on them all round the cove, since they broken in the middle; and several yards’ width just over and on each side the stream of water form the plain perpendicular down which I looked – about 2 years ago after a breaking up of the snow and violent thunderstorm, the water for 2 days rushed in a current 9 yards broad over the top of this perpendicular, and fell 30 yards broad at the bottom bearing down a wall that stood in the way and tearing off the green sward – there was a beautiful iris formed by the spray, and the sight was ‘very grand’ – the same sort of thing had been known to have happened once before –

Proceeded up the sea of rock along Cawm Scar – a magnificently savage valley – from that crag said our guide pointing to a tremendous precipice, a little boy fell perhaps 30 years ago, and was dashed to pieces – he and his brother were there – he had seen a cowslip which he wished to get, and in plucking it, his foot slipt – 9 or 10 years ago, a stout young man of 18 or 19 had missed his way near the cove, fell down it and every bone in him was broken – Cawm Scar terminated by the cove, is, taken as a whole, superior, I think, to Gordale – it is worthy of North Wales – I can scarcely imagine anything in England can be compared with it – Looking down along the scar to the cove, Pendil hill to the right 20 miles off – Flasby fell 8 miles off – at the bottom of it (behind it) lies Skipton – above Skipton Rumblesmoor a fine background, and continuing the line, white moor up to Pendil-hill – Fountains fell behind the Tarn a fine piece of water a mile across every way – 4 miles round about – you cannot walk directly round on account of the ‘moss’ (boggy ground) to the North west, where the ducks breed –

Lord Ribblesdale’s house (Tarn-house) a sung, neat-looking place, surrounded with fir plantations, is about a mile and half from the Tarn – what they call ‘the sinks’ (of the river Are) about 1/4 mile from the Tarn – at this distance a small stream from the Tarn divides into 2 shallow pools, and sinks thro’ the limestone gravel – you hear a faint underground murmuring of the water, and this water is said to rise, and form the head of the Are 14 or 15 yards from a barn or cattle–shed in a field a little south of Malham, perhaps 1/4 mile from the village – this spring I ran down the field to see, as we passed in leaving Malham – our guide was sure this spring communicated with the Tarn and the sinks; for, whenever lord Ribblesdale’s keeper shut the clew of the Tarn, 6 or 7 hours afterwards the spring ceased – he had tried this several Times – the keeper telling him the hour at which he should stop the clew – and chaff thrown into the water at the sinks, had reappeared at the spring near the barn – at the sinks we saw several young trout, just come to life, about an inch long – waggon loads full of trout along the sinks, and the streams leading to them, in November – they come there from the Lake to spawn – make a little hole with their tails, then deposit the spawn, and cover it up with the gravel – Lord Ribblesdale allows any gentleman to fish in the tarn from the 1st of May to the last of July – but never afterwards – and in August the trout are finest – Fountains fell forms the background of the tarn (there is a pretty good Inn, I believe, not far from it – at all events, a very neat rather gothicised farm-house appeared among some fir-plantation) – the tarn-scar forms the background of his lordship’s house, and, Extending Eastwards shuts in the valley on this side – Grit stone just above the cove (to the left in going), all the rest of the hill limestone – got back to breakfast at 12 –

From Malham to the cove ¾ mil thence to the tarn 1 ½ mile – From the tarn to Tarn-house 1 ½ mile – from Tarn house (Lord Ribblesdale’s carriage road that he had made by the direct road) to Malham 3 miles –

From Malham to Skipton 11 miles – Lord Ribblesdale has a great deal of property about Malham – great part of the village is his – he buys whatever property he can there – both the public houses belong to him – he always goes to the Lister arms – the other Inn is as neat looking, but it is only 2 stories high – the Lister arms is 3, and called the the 1st, that is the best – Lord Ribblesdale’s steward says his lordship has paid off a great deal of money lately – he has still a great deal of property left –

Off from Malham at 1 40/60 – thro’ Malham dale (neat church there to which the Malham people go) Arctow, Otterburn, Long Preston, to Settle – Got into the great road from Skipton to Carlisle a little before Long Preston very good road – Got to Settle (the Golden Lion) at 4 20/60 – 11 miles from Malham to Settle – at 4 ½ went out – walked (one of Mr Hartley’s (our host’s) little boys our guide) to the Top of Castleberg (210 feet high) from which a good view of the town – no church – the people go to Giggleswick church about ½ mile off – A half-penny each person admittance to walk up to Castleberg – private property belonging to Messieurs Birbeck, and (Dawson, I think) walked a little about the town –

sat down to dinner at 7 – wrote the journal of yesterday  very fine day – went up to bed at 11 ¼ – [E two dots O two dots, marking discharge from venereal complaint] – tho I think not more than a few little drops

left margin:

Malham-cove.

Cawm-scar.

(View.)

Tarn & Tarn-house.

Source of the Are.

Distances

Settle.

5

12 3/4

Had a few spoonfuls of boiled milk and a mouthful or 2 of bread and and butter and took George and set off with Mr Proctor at 6 40/60 to Dowkabottom hole –

got there at 7 50/60, having walked about (near) 2 miles on the Littondale road and then turned up the hill on our left, and and gone a mile before we came to the rock-surrounded basin in the large pasture belonging to Mr Tennant of Chapel-house, in which the caverns (close to each other) are situated – to a stranger they would not be easy to find –

scrambled down a narrowish, steepish descent (ladies commonly have and ought to have a step-ladder) into the large one – you descend first into a fine large lofty stalactitic, conical space; then wind thro’ a narrow vaulting varying in height, but where one could everywhere stand upright – no where very wide – from 2 or perhaps 3 yards high to 1 wide – 2 or 3 ascents in the cavern, very steep; and the water worn rock rather slippery – a pool or 2 of shallow water – we went (about near 200 yards Mr Proctor said) till we came to a § small opening barely sufficient for one to creep into – Mr Proctor Told us it was not worth while trying it; for nobody cared to take the trouble as the cavern ended within a yard or 2 of it § – we returned and found we had been just 16 minutes in this cavern – about 1/2 way, in holding up my candle too suddenly, I lost my light – and George slipped and made a famous clatter – On coming out of the larger cavern, we immediately descended the smaller by an easier entrance, tho’ I had not perceived it at all on going down at first – this smaller cavern is a mere sunken cave, one tolerably large, lofty chamber, and very little Except of passage beyond it – this took us only five minutes – no water in it –

On emerging and reconnoitering the rock-surrounded basin, found a small sink in the ground the bottom covered with stones, that some gentleman christened the devil’s oven – the aptitude of the name not obvious – on mounting to the top of the scar called Hawkswick Clouder limestone trap-rock? like the Elwsy rocks near Llangollen as it were, several steps of rock) looked down Littondale – Hawkswick, Arncliff, (just above which Ambar Scar a fine feature in the scenery) – Litton, and Halton Gill, beautifully scattered along the dale at our feet – Pendil hill topmost in the distance – could not see Penigent – Whernside magnificently stretching his shelvy side along the East of Kettlewell-dale,

Returned along Kilnsey pastures – over several walls, to the top of Kilnsey crag, and at 9 50/60 stood wrapt in admiration at the magnificent prospect stretched out before me – A rich valley mountain girt from Kettlewell down to Bolton bridge, Litton-dale opening into it on my left, and yielding its stream (Littondale beck) a Tributary to the broad transparent Wharf here and there retired from its gravelly bed, then foaming round a few large stones scattered in its course, and winding in a thousand mazes till lost to the eye behind the wooded headland on which stands Netherside house – At my feet, our Inn and the 8 or 10 houses forming the village of Kilnsey – Just opposite on the other side of the water the village of (18 or 20 houses) Coniston its little chapel and 3 arch-bridge across the river – the high mountain range called Coniston moor, and Grassington wood and Rilston [Rylstone], bark and Thorpe fell, and the distance closed beyond Bolton bridge by Romalds [Rombalds], pronounced as if Rumbles-moor – to the left of Coniston moor, Whernside majestically rising and shewing a considerable length of Elevation above the mountain-mass from which it springs – It is the trap-rock of Whernside that forms the fine scenery on the right from Kilnsey to Kettlewell – and on the left, next beyond Kilnsey crag, is ‘wind-bank belonging to Mr Barstow of York’ vide the next page line 16 from the top. (of Fulford, that married one of the Joness?) and beyond this wind-bank wood, (till just just close to the town of Kettlewell and there they call it Snipes) and the valley closed by Kettlewell Cam – Langstroth –dale and the Wharf running along it to the left of Kettlewell, and the dale leading to Coverdale to the right – This valley from Kettlewell down towards Bolton bridge is closed by Kettlewell Cam or Kettlewell fell and Rumblesmoor –

Netherside house looks admirably – like an old baronial mansion, finely situated – Descended Kilnsey crag down what they call Hunter’s Stye-nick – very steep struggled, and rather a difficult concern – my aunt met me at the bottom – close to us the remains of what was (in Cromwell’s time) once the spacious family mansion of the Wades Kilnsey hall –

we turned to see a small lead mill – they were stamping the ore with a common mallet (or rather a flat piece of iron fasted to a handle) and melting it in the open fire – came in to breakfast at 10 3/4 – everything very good –

Dowkabottom hole in a large pasture belonging to Mr Tennant of Chapel-house – great part of Hawkswick belongs to him (he has 900 acres, and 3 brothers of the name of Tennant (but no relations to Mr Tennant of Chapel-house) have very nearly all the rest of the town – Mr Tennant and the duke of Devonshire joint lords of the manor – of the lead got in the manor they take one pig in 5, ready made, clear of all Expense – the pigs we saw at Kilnsey were run 123 lbs. the 11 lbs. above the cwt. [hundredweight] were said to be enough to pay for fruitage to Hull – the lords of Coniston manor (all the freeholders are joint lords) only take 1 pig in 13 – there is no lord of Kilnsey – it was Fountains-abbey land – but Lord Grantley takes 10ths on account of the right of the abbey – Mr Tennant married Mr Wilson of Eshton’s sister who left 2 children, a son and a daughter – on which account Mr Wilson had somehow got the management of Mr Tennant’s Estate, and allows him 300 a year – a great debt – perhaps £9,000 on an Estate of 1,700 acres total, in Kilnsey, Hawkswick, and some other place I think – Mr Trueman has 5 or 6 hundred acres at 10/. an acre some of it near the river is worth 40/. an acre but so on the moors not worth 6d (pence) and the farm is too dear as times are at present – Wind-bank (vide line 4 from the bottom of the last page) put up to auction 10 years ago – valued at £5,500 but knocked down at 8,100 – title not good; the present possessor claimed, and got and keeps the property –

the lime made from Kilnsey and Kettlewell stone remarkable for its whiteness – they come from all quarters for it to whitewash their houses with – none burnt at Kilnsey, but burnt at Kettlewell –

Off from Kilnsey at 12 – passed along the foot of Grassington 6 miles from Kettlewell. Bain’s Yorkshire Directory i. 510. and thro’ Linton, and Rilston, to Skipton – Pretty drive as far as Linton – then dullish to Rilston, a pretty village, and thence to Skipton pretty enough – fine approach down upon Skipton –

Stopt there at the Devonshire arms at 3 – a good bustling coach-house – well built house – neat assembly room in it – nice garden at the back – went to the castle – walked about the garden – 2 little girls (perhaps 7 and 8) daughters of the steward Mr Hodgson, allowed by their father to shew us the old uninhabited parts of the castle – those occupied by lord Thanet when he comes down with his family in the autumns not allowed to be shewn to anyone – gave the little girls 6 d (pence) each – looked in at the church windows – saw nothing particular –

off from Skipton at 5 1/4 – Turned short of Gargrave to the right – Got out at Eshton-hall walked in front of the house to look at it – pretty place – rather handsome looking house – thro’ Aredale, and Kirby Malham- dale (a good church there) to Malham, and got out at the Lister arms, the farthest last of the 2 public houses in Malham, at 8 20/60 – a beautiful drive from Skipton – the rocks about Malham particularly the cove a fine object but certainly not so striking at a distance as Kilnsey crag –

At 8 1/2 (as immediately as possible) took a man standing at the Inn door as our guide and went to Gordale – magnificent – climbed up the rock as high as where the water gushes out – a little below this level is a cavern, indeed there a 2 caverns – I must Explore them some time or other – the guide said one was a large one – and no one had ever been to the end of the other – my aunt frightened to see me mount up – and it certainly was tremendous – saw Janet’s cave waterfall, very well worth seeing, very pretty indeed not 10 yards out of our way, but generally overlooked that is not shewn by the guides –

did not get back from Gordale till 10 7/60 and sat down to a good dinner roast leg of lamb ham rasher and eggs etc at 10 20/60 – w[e]nt upstairs to bed at 12 – Very fine day –

drove Percy from Skipton – he did not like to trot the latter 1/2 the way, and I would not push him – he goes as lame as ever [E two dots O two dots, marking discharge from venereal complaint] –hilly road today all along particularly from Skipton to Malham and rather roughish sometimes – They call it 12 miles from Kilnsey to Skipton direct – by Grassington about 13 – the mile posts say from Kettlewell to Skipton 16 miles – that I should think we have come about 14 miles – (Kilnsey 3 miles from Kettlewell vide page 39.)

§ (Sunday 13 July 1823).

From what the guide at Malham (James Lund, one of the 2 shoemakers living in the village) Told us while we were at Gordale, I did not see 1/2 Dowkabottom hole – this small opening led to a finer cavern than that we had gone thro’; and it must have been Mr Proctor's idleness or fear (for the place is rather awkward for a little bit at first, that made him say, it was not worth while to any further – Had James Lund known the place well enough, we should have gone again the next morning – it would only be about eight miles to it over the hills; but the man who would be the best guide (the other shoemaker I believe) who had shewn it to James Lund several years ago, was a strict Methodist, and nothing could persuade him to go with us on a Sunday –

left margin:

View from Kilnsey Crag etc

Grassington

Linton, Rilston.

Skipton

Eshton hall.

Malham.

Gordale.

6 10/60

9 25/60

Downstairs at 7 went to my uncle but still to no purpose – Had a basin of boiled milk and bread and butter and at 7 35/60 set off with a guide to the top of Whernside – Procktor, mate on board the Holmpton Captain Mabb (a Hull private ship in the employ of government) in the West Indies under Lord Rodney – mentioned several names familiar to me – among the rest ‘Dr. Bulcock’ head surgeon of the hospital at St. Lucie (now Dr. Belcombe of York) – he had the place 4 or 5 or 6 years – it was a very good thing – they sewed the dead up in blankets, and threw them into the Sea – it was too much trouble to bury them; and, when only one was dead, they let him wait a little in his blanket to carry out 2 or 3 or more at once –

went thro’ Coniston about 1/2 mile from here – the small church or chapel, which Whitaker speaks of as the oldest building now remaining in Craven, has been thoroughly repaired within these seven years – the roof underdrawn etc etc and now looks so like a thing of yesterday, I did not stop to Examine it –

Got out of the road and had 2 or 3 highish walls to climb – then being on high ground, a fine view of Kilnsey and the crag, and beyond of Litton dale, and Kettlewell-dale – in the former saw the villages of Hawkswick, and Arncliff; Arnbar sear, the village of Litton that gives name to the dale, Halton gill, Foxop, and a single house called Cosh, belonging to one old man jointly with the duke of Devonshire the latter wished to buy the old man’s share, but all the answer he would give was, ‘he is only a foote orit’ meaning the duke had only a 1/4 of it – after Halton Gill and Foxop, Cam-fell. –

On rising a little higher came to a miner sinking a shaft for lead – 23 or 24 yards deep, and then bringing up sandstone grit from under the superincumbent limestone # – he hope of coming at lead very soon – gave me 2 little specimens – by and by came to a great deal of very broken moory ground, vent in fissures on all sides, and very fatiguing to get over – such perpetual jumping about them a great deal of wet ground – the water took all the blacking of my boots, and came in at the buttons –

at last came to what looked like the conical head of Whernside – steepish, but tolerably verdant –, and looked down from the highest summit at 10 3/4 – here no vegetation – the ground looked as if it had been ploughed, so entirely had the running of waters washed away all grass or heather – there was snow on the top only a few days or a week ago – heard the calls of the moorbirds and saw several of them running about – a few scattered nout-berry plants 1/2 way up the mountain, and large beds of them in flower (pink and white like strawberry bloom) all round the foot of the conical head –

Great part of Whernside is in what is called

§ (with a good glass you may see York minster from here – the day tho’ very fine has not been very clear; at least, was not when we were at the top) –

Coniston manor, belonging to all the freeholders in proportion to their freeholds – Mr Noel of Netherside hall (vide page 37.) had had this manor for the last 3 or 4 years but has only paid 1 year’s rent (£ 50) and has behaved very scandalously about it – he was borne at a house in Coverdale, not far from Kittlewell – a large family – the estate sold and divided – he went out in a low station in the India Company’s service – made his money in India or by marrying the widow of a nabob – by whom he has no family –

Mr Yorke’s manor joins to Coniston manor and he is now at law with the Coniston

people about 1500 acres which they claim – this present Mr Y– [Yorke] has left Halton (built by his father) and has come to Bewerley (near Pateley bridge) he has built a great deal since his marriage but has ‘stopt his hand a little for the present’ insinuating he was doing too much for his pocket – he has succeeded his uncle who kept himself always very poor by giving everything away – but the estates were entailed –this Mr Y– [Yorke] lately married – to ‘a lady with more blood than suet’ –

Descended the hill Towards Kettlewell – stopt at a cottage to inquire the way to Dove-cove – went, as we hoped, to the place; but after a very tedious march, could not find the cove – descended thro’ a thick jungle (very fatiguing) towards a stream in Coverdale or the dale leading to it that falls into the Wharf at Kettlewell – crossed this stream along the rough stones lying in it 3 times – got a little wet –

reached the Coverdale road (only frequented by corn badgers) at 1 1/2 mile beyond Kettlewell – Picturesque walk to this miserable little town prettily situated – very small – the land would not keep the people but for the cotton weaving and mining for lead – the pasture ground at the bottom of the valleys most rich and excellent – lets just near Kettlewell for 50/. an acre – the Church just new built – small but neat –

from Kettlewell to Kilnsey (3 miles) very fine – on the right left a bold range of limestone rock, reminding me much of the Elwsy rocks near Llangollen – on the right a bold ascent of wood surmounted with rock terminated by Kilnsey Crag – at the bottom of the dale rich pasture ground meandered by the Wharf, a broadish, shallow stream, here and there foaming round a few largish stones scattered along its bed – the road lies between cobble-stone walls, which mark all the divisions – were there quickwood or any sort of green hedges, instead of these stone walls, the landscape would of course be doubly beautiful – the rich, beautiful green of the pastures strikes me particularly – the land is most Excellent – supports an immense quantity of stock –

my guide (Mr Procktor) ætatis 63, rather maimed in his youth, and so tired I left him at Kettlewell to take his own time; and he did not arrive till 3/4 hour after me – I got back at 1 55/60 –

spoke to our landlord Mr Trueman, who was many years huntsman to Colonel Lloyd at Horsforth who gave him a silver cup commemorative of his faithful services – From what Mr T– [Trueman] said we doubted whether to go immediately to Dowkabottom, or to Dove Cove in a cart – a boy Expected home who could be guide to Dowkabottom at 3 – no boy arrived –

spoke to Mr Proctor – Mr Trueman mistaken about Dove cove – or rather as to seeing the place on the top of the hill called Dove-scar, when the water sinks into the rock, and part reappears at Grassington, part above Kettlewell, there is absolutely nothing to see, and the cove or cavern we looked for must be somewhere, perhaps not more than 3 or hundred yards from where we were this morning, beyond Kettlewell –

Determined therefore to sit quietly at home this afternoon get my writing done, go to bed early, and set off with Mr Proctor to Dowkabottom at 6 tomorrow morning – afterwards proceed to Gordale, etc –

a gig with a gentleman and lady, and a car with 3 or 4 ladies arrived about 4 – all to sleep here – my aunt walked by herself as far as Coniston – George rode out the horses –

tho’ a fine air, and remarkably fine sunless day for my walk, yet a more fatiguing ramble for 6 10/60 hour of surely 13 or 14 miles I never remember to have taken I was much heated – had a basin of hot milk on getting home and am hardly comfortably cool and my things dried on, now at 5 40/60 – after having written all the above of today - In fact, my chemise is still quite humid –

left margin:

Little Whernside. (Coniston).

pages 39.40.41

# Sunday 13 July 1823 there is sandstone above the limestone on the summits of Penigent, Ingleborough, and Whernside the greater near Ingleton.

Kettlewell.

page 40.

Dove-scar.

5 1/4

12

Clean bed, comfortable enough, and I believe well aired tho’ I slept in my drawers flannel waistcoat and great coat for fear of damp – could not go to my uncle yesterday or today which makes me rather feverish –

Off from Ilkley at 7 – very pretty drive very good road to Addingham, 3 miles – Had we gone to the small Inn on our right some distance before we came to the town, we should not probably have been so well off as at Ilkley – a few scattered houses; a neat, rather modern church; and, near it, a large probably cotton mill, form the commencement of Addingham, which then becomes a regular street, Extending considerably up the hill, and puts on the appearance of business –

we missed the turn, about 1/2 way thro’ the town, to the right to Bolton, and went 1/2 mile out of our way, to the top of the hill, within 6 miles of Skipton, which seemed likely to be a bleakish road – turned back – the 2 miles from Addingham to Bolton bridge very pretty

Stopt at Bolton bridge Inn, the Devonshire arms, kept by – Wilson, at 8 1/2 – had a good breakfast – café au lait – could not sleep there tonight – 9 people coming today – at least, there were 9 beds ordered – the mistress did not know what to do – only 2 double bedded and 2 single bedded rooms, without some of the family sat up all night – much consideration what we were to do – Mr Wilson lent us Greenwood’s map of Yorkshire mounted in 3 – the 3 ridings – Determined to see Bolton abbey, and then go forward to sleep at Kilnsey ‘14 long miles’ –

Off at 10 1/2 – Took a guide at the abbey (from one of the cottages near) at 10 55/60 – the nave and its side aisles now a neat church – the choir and transept form a fine ruin – the cloisters gone – one side traceable by the archwork along the south wall of the church § – what used to be the entrance gateway, is now the lodge, fitted up for the reception of the duke of Devonshire when he comes in the shooting season – the view from the Hartington seat (a rustic covered seat near the abbey, to the north) is perfectly beautiful – wood, water rock and ruin form a scene as perfect as the fancy of a Claude could imagine – the scenery as we proceeded northwards, for ever varying, and every variation in this singularly beautiful spot strikingly picturesque – Had we been a week earlier the hues of the foliage would have been more varied; at present they are rather too much mingling into one shade – Mr Carr’s house near the abbey (he is the clergyman, but has charge of the grounds) is in the abbey style, and very pretty – carriages not allowed to go down to the abbey; but the woman allowed us to go, all along the fields and the private road thro’ the woods –

Ludstream island a mile from the abbey – the Strid 2 miles from Ditto then the Hawkstone rock, and near it the Hawkstone seat, then the Pembroke seat, so called from the lady Anne (Clifford) countess of Pembroke, Dorset and Montgomery, because overlooking her residence of Barden tower – in ruins – a fine object – went to the woodman’s cottage – returned by a higher and nearer road – the lady Harriet seat. beautiful view of the south nab which is in the deer park. to where we left the gig just above the Strid; drove it thro’ the fields into the high road to Kilnsey, and, afterwards a delightful stroll of 2 hours, set off again – Indeed my aunt had gone in the gig as far as the turn down to the strid –

stopt 25 minutes at Barden tower – something in the style of Kenilworth, but smaller – went into the old woman’s cottage in what appears to have been an entrance to the chapel which she shewed us – very plain – no ornament – Mr Carr preaches there in the morning the 1st Sunday of every month, and in the afternoon of the 3rd Sunday –

Beautiful drive all the way along the drive to Burnsall (but very hilly and in some parts roughish road tho’ tolerable – very fair – on the whole) where I am now writing having arrived at 2 3/4 – the rain which we feared in the morning has kept off – it has been cool and pleasant and we could not have had a day more delightful for our purpose – Percy did not eat quite so well this morning – I fear he is more lame – George says it is in the fetlock – then it is the old sprain – or perhaps in the coffin joint – at all events I have no hope of his even being good for anything again – How shall we get? – we saw Burnsall some time before we arrived – very picturesquely situated along the river – (Wharf) – but a small village – saw looms in a few of the cottages, and the people (women) wearing calico – sauntered out about an hour – along the river side – a neat stone bridge of 3 or 4 arches over it – a wide, shallow stream – pebbly bottom – the water perfectly clear –

sauntered into the church yard – looked thro’ the windows – read the monument of the Battys of Thorpe, the family of the late Mrs Wiglesworth of Townhead – an inscription over the church door, purporting that the church had been repaired in 1612 at the cost of sir William Craven Knight, who had been lord mayor of London – the same sir William founded and endowed the school adjoining into which we sauntered – several children there – all of the lower orders – the building now become old, and shabbyish-looking –

Set off from our Inn (Red lion, John Emsley) where we had sat in a neat double bedded room upstairs – the low room smelling of smoke tobacco etc – set off from our Inn at Burnsall at 4 55/60 a very narrow rough, hilly, road between 2 high amorphous – stone walls – we turned down to Linton by mistake a nice looking village with a shallow stream running thro’ it – to the left a large stone building an hospital, rather to the right a pretty house little lawn and green before it belonging to a Mr Robinson – an intricate road – went along the back of Thresfield, Grassington looking well on our right – at last crossed the great road from Skipton to Pately bridge, the guide post, quite a godsend for there are none hereabouts (scarcely a guide post or mile stone since we left Bradford) marked 11 to Pately bridge 21 to Otley, 10 to Bolton 6 to Kettlewell –

a large whitish building had for some time appeared in the distance on rising ground in the valley – about a mile from this guide post, we passed it close; and struck by its appearance, imitation of the antique, Elizabethan, we fortunately got out at the farther gate, and went the back way to the house – the rough stone of the country Except the portico consisting of 3 arcades, surmounted by the arms of the builder Mr Noel (a man of large property near Kirby Lonsdale, and a place 50 miles below London pronounced Hedgington 1) vide page 39. and dated 1820. the portico stone what we should call tooled – a gothic door studded with nails opens in a handsome square hall (light from a dome at the top) with a gallery round it into which open 4 doors communicating with parallel passages into which open the lodging rooms – Ground floor the hall out of which 4 doors opening, one on the right to the best stair case, and then the other to the drawing room – opposite the great hall or entrance door, the library – the 2 doors on the left opening one to the kitchen etc, and the other to the dining room opposite the drawing room – upstairs the best bed room over the library, and one lodging room and a dressing room opening into the passage on each side of the hall gallery – down the passage leading to the rooms over the kitchens etc a water closet (and another underneath it) and then a bath – capable of being supplied with hot water in 1/4 hour – capital attics – I went out upon the leads – the dome and the chimnies capitally managed –

the house 2 gable ends etc house body and kitchens attached – gable ends and all in straight line save the protection of the portico – garden

(Sunday 13 July 1823 § who married Miss Atkinson (of Linton) an only child, and, by her mother’s side, niece and heir to, Mr Noel of Netherside house; her father Mr A– [Atkinson] made his money as a fringe-maker Mr Robinson is a clergyman brother to Mr R– [Robinson] the attorney of Settle, who married Mrs William Priestley’s friend Miss Peart, daughter to the banker, formerly an attorney of that name at Settle according to Mrs William P–‘s [Priestley’s] account

half-moon shaped – the man who shewed us over the house (not yet finished) a sort of under gardener – Mr N– [Noel] keeps about 20 servants – married but no children, ætatis about 60 – the house stands on fine ground which from the back wooded down to the water’s edge descends steeply – A fine object several times as we wound along our road to Kilnsey whose majestic cragg is from the 1st glimpse caught a very fine feature in the landscape – the drive to Kilnsey very fine – limestone rocks on our right, reminding us of the Elwsy near Llangollen – All who go to Bolton should come here (Kilnsey) –

Stop at the 2nd house the Tennants arms, kept by Harman Trueman – much the best – Ordered our dinner at 8 1/4 having arrived at 7 10/60 – In the mean while walked perhaps 1/2 mile beyond the crag – very fine – Jackdaws building and flying about it –

Got back at 8 1/4 – and sat down to dinner at 8 3/4 – enjoyed it very much – cold roast beef and ditto legs of lamb – Excellent potted trout – gooseberry tarts, Cheshire cheese and old milk ditto which they were surprised at our preferring – Had the master in. Determined to go to the top of Whernside, etc tomorrow – If we had had the weather for wishing for, it could not have been better – no sun and cool and pleasant till from between 5 and 6 to 7 the sun tinged the hills beautifully –

Architect of Netherside house, Mr Webster of Kendal; master builder Mr Gibson of Ditto; – painter Mr Lockwood of Skipton – he had done the plaster work pannels in imitation of oak most naturally and beautifully the pannels in the hall are all plaster above the Skirting board – wrote the latter part of this of today after dinner –

E .. d.. – never enjoyed our dinner more than today – cold roast beef – Ditto some leg of lamb – potted trout (very good) gooseberry tarts and cream, Cheshire and very good old milkcheese – drank nothing but water –

left margin:

§ Put our names down in the abbey book ‘Mrs and Miss Lister, Shibden hall’ –

§§ about 1 mile from here are the remains of a Roman camp. vide

Baines’ Yorkshire Directory i. 442 (Tuesday 12 August 1823.) –

Addingham. §§

Bolton-bridge.

Bolton-Abbey.

Kilnsey. p[ages] 39. 40. 41

the Crag. p[age] 40. 41.