Sparkling Gems of Malham

The Pikedaw Caverns and Beyond ...

There's so much to Malham that scores of visits are needed to see everything this famed village and its surroundings have to offer.  Today I wandered along the Mid Craven Fault to the west of the village - up to the Pikedaw Calamine Caverns (sounds fancy doesn't it?) and returned via the inevitable cove.  As you can see - it was a colourful journey!

The Mid Craven Fault is a massive earth fracture that started moving over 300 million years ago.  You can see the line of that fracture as we pick up the day's route.  Pikedaw Hill (limestone) to the right, has been uplifted in relation to Kirkby Fell on the left with its covering of gritstone.  Limestone lies buried hundreds of feet below this grit.  The contrasting colours either side of the fault line can't be missed!

Burns Burn is the first in a line of attractive field barns on the lane to Pikedaw Hill.

Looking back to Malham backed by the Cawden Reef Knoll which once separated shallow and deep water.  It is a great place to find fossils.

It's like a competition between the barns on this route - each having its own charm.

I like Butterlands Barn best.  It sits in a fabulous scene with the two fells and the Craven Fault showing well.  Great name, too.

Butterlands Barn.  The white limestone of Pikedaw Hill contrasting with the forbidding tones of grit on Kirkby Fell.  The pasture beyond was years ago known as 'Slevina' but no-one knows why.

Slevina even has its own waterfall - with a tufa screen, and easily visible from the path.

The fall from above.  Don't try this - it was daft of me!  One hand holding the fence, the other the camera ...

'Welcome to Pikedaw hill.  It's that strange bloke again!'

 The limestone scars of Hoober Edge - where Pikedaw Hill meets the Craven Fault. In the  distance the Mid Craven Fault can be seen extending eastwards to Great Knott and Gordale  Scar.

The dip in the middle represents the line of the Mid Craven Fault.  Grassington Grit here contrasting with the uplifted Great Scar Limestone.  

I sat on that block of gritstone for lunch - and the views across to Weets Top and Simon's Seat were stunning.

This is perhaps the best picture of the Mid Craven Fault.  You could almost imagine the ground still moving here.  There have been local tremors, you know!

As the path reaches the summit we meet the famous Pikedaw Calamine Caverns - natural caves mined for calamine (an ore of zinc used in the brass industry) as well as copper and lead.  The mineral veins lie between the Great Scar Limestone and the lowest limestone layer of the covering Yoredale Beds - which have now been largely eroded away. The mines were most active in the early 19th century.  This is a more recent shaft sunk into the caverns - down which cavers descend.  It is the muddiest place on earth!

If you do lift the lid and peer down, careful you don't trap your fingers when closing it again.  Ouch!

You go down the  ladder and then jump the rest!!  Only kidding - my friend tells me the ladder went all the way down once - but dafties tried descending without lifeline ropes. Presumably this last stretch helps cavers on the last few feet to the surface.  

This cairn marks the position of the original shaft - which is highly dangerous.  Levels were also sunk into the hilldside further down the valley to meet up underground. Malham Tarn is glinting beyond.  This lies on the North Craven Fault, where basement rocks (slates)  have been lifted to the surface and therefore hold the water.  The two faults are here only a mile and a half apart!

If you do take the planks off be extremely careful.  It's largely filled with rubble at the top but you don't want to be falling in ...

This large shakehole, it is believed, was sealed at the base to fill with water for the washing of ore.

The spoil heap glistens with crystals and probing it is highly addictive - be warned!

In just five minutes you can decorate a rock to look like a painter's pallette.

As well as tiny fragments of calamine, I found barytes (white) and the brilliant blue and green ores of copper - azurite and malachite respectively.  A surreal place which glistens in the sun.  

This man-made dam, maybe 200 years old - was built to pool water for the washing of the zinc and copper ores.

The nearby Nappa Cross contains only a base and upright, built into the wall.  Before enclosure it would have been a prominent landmark for monks on their travels, marking the meeting points of the moorland bridleways.

There is evidence of well-weathered decoration in the stonework.

Close up showing the cross built into the wall.

There are many small caves in the area - these are the Twin Bottom Scar Caves - but on the whole Malham is not noted for its extensive caves as the topography lacks the steep Yoredale slopes of the Three Peaks area which funnel water rapidly onto the limestone.  The underworld, however, holds many mysteries still being investigated, particularly by divers.

Arriving at the crossroads - I turned right and then explored an area which has always fascinated me.

This is the Langscar Iron Age Village.  There are many huts and enclosures separated by banks of boulders and turf ..

Picking them out from the surrounding outcrops requires a keen and experienced eye.

This boulder, central in one of the huts, has a notable recess which may well have held a post to support a roof structure.

Another example of a dwelling with a large fallen slab in the foreground.

Love this little hut.  It took some finding but is very distinct once you stumble on it.

I returned to Malham via the famous dry valley of Watlowes.  Massive torrents of meltwater once scurried down here and caused chaos, jumping over a series of falls ...

This is a  good example - complete with a cave which is out of bounds for all but the fanatical!

But nothing compares with the stupendous Malham Cove.  We kid ourselves that the tourism detracts from its splendour really.  It is spectacular on a world scale - and no matter how many times you visit - it still shoots the adrenalin when you near the edge like no place I know of in England.

This is many people's first experience of a limestone pavement.  It's a brilliant example.

The meltwater's flow was more concentrated in the centre, of course, so the cove has been cut back in a horseshoe shape which is not always easy to see when you are standing beneath it.  Up here - well, it's something else.

Enjoy the views, in slightly different light and shadow ....

The bedded Gordale limestone forms the overhang and the bit above it - while the sheer face is formed of (you've guessed it) Cove Limestone.  

The cove has been cut back so much, in fact, that it is a good distance away now from the line of the Mid Craven Fault which created it!

My last picture of the day: the Sheriff Hill Burial Cairn - from which an incense cup and human remains have been found.  It lies (unknown to many) just off the path to the east of the cove.

A Three Peaks Up and Under

By Stephen C. Oldfield

Now available for pre-order (release date 30 April 2015) 

Order your copy by clicking here or direct from the publisher

Exploring the Yew Cogar

Limestone on a Gigantic Scale

The huge Great Scar Limestone wedge known as the Yew Cogar towers over the quaint village of Arncliffe in Littondale.  To explore it all would need several visits.  This is a view reminding us of the glories of summer.

The huge mass of Great Scar Limestone was formed in a shallow tropical sea some 350 million years ago.  Look at that mass and think how long it must have taken for the skeletons of shelly creatures to accumulate - forming a layer some 600 feet thick.  This may well be the biggest mass of limestone anywhere in Britain - uninterrupted by quarries and roads.  It is one special place.

The great mass of the Yew Cogar is intersected by channels where meltwater - and then surface streams - have cut deep into the limestone.  This is a 'zoom' view from the Malham to Arncliffe road, from which the plateau is separated by the valley of Cowside Beck.  Up on the left are the terraces of Gordale Limestone containing the fascinating Bronze Age settlement of Dewbottoms ...

Most spectacular of all is 'Cowside Gill' itself - a huge horseshoe-shaped amphitheatre with a great waterfall falling down a screen of tufa.  It doesn't even have an official name - yet will knock spots off most of the limestone features in the area ...

Arncliffe - which may be Anglo-Saxon for 'cliff of the eagles' - is approached along an avenue of sycamores.

The largest village in Littondale (once called Amerdale) - it was originally the setting for 'Emmerdale Farm' when the soap did at least have a touch of individuality.  Quaint cottages huddle around the village green of this ancient place.

The hub of activity was the village pump!

The church of St. Oswald is hidden in a bower of trees by the River Skirfare.  The churchyard offers splendid views down the river.

Here, in the pool by the bridge - Tom, of The Water Babies, plunged into the river, leaving his human body and 'sins' behind and joining the fairies and nymphs of the watery world. Charles Kingsley knew this 'Vendale' like the back of his hand ...

The Falcon Inn is famous for its old-world nature.  Beer is still served in a ceramic jug straight from the cask!  Behind the Falcon is the lane leading onto the Monk's Road, a steeply rising path over the Yew Cogar which was once frequented by the monks of Fountains Abbey, transporting their goods by pack horse.

First view from the Monk's Road, seeing Cowside Beck weaving its way down to join the Skirfare.

These monks had a head for heights!

Littondale was carved out by a glacier and is a spectacular sight from the Monk's Road.  The dark skyline of Old Cote Moor marks the point at which the Great Scar Limestone gives way to the Yordedale Series - where fluctuating sea levels led to a banding of limestones, sandstones and shales.

As height is gained, the views down to Cowside Beck are sensational indeed.

Looking back along the Monk's Road as it follows the contours.  The monks of Fountains Abbey even owned all the fishing rights to Malham Tarn - just three miles along this path - but what a trek!

Up the valley, Cowside Beck can be seen as a major tributary of the Skirfare.  Both rivers drain into the River Wharfe.  This is Yorkshire at its rawest - not even a sheep.

What a daft place for stone-age man to leave his ironing board!  This view looks back to Old Cote Moor, with the cliffs of Yew Cogar Scar visible in the centre.  

Yew Cogar Scar is better seen in this picture.  It offers a range of climbing routes and is home to peregrine falcons.  I'll take you down there one day.  Didn't fancy the slog back up today: the wind was unrelenting!  To get these views, by the way, you have to leave the Monk's Road and head down the to the edge of the ravine.  It's steep, but it's worth every step.

At last we approach the first of the water-worn gills.  This one, at Dewbottoms, shows the typical profile of a meltwater valley cut into the Great Scar Limestone.

A look down the Dewbottoms ravine.  Everywhere it is possible to see where ice has been at work, at least 12,000 years ago.  Notice how blamkets of glacial till have obscured the lower slopes of the scars on the left.

Water once flowed down the ravine, but ... surpsise surprise - it's now been left largely dry: a typical story of limestone country.

Follow the wall from the ravine up to the plateau and you reach the fascinating Bronze Age settlement of Dewbottoms.  The site is very similar in plan to those in North Wales studied by Griffiths (1951) which he suggests may even date back to the Neolithic (New Stone Age). This is one of the huts, about 10 feet in diameter.  Excavations here have produced a very fine quartzite hone. The huts surround a large enclosed area hemmed in by a massive boulder and gravel bank.  

The Dewbottoms settlements from the air.  I was exploring the area at top left.

These are two of the  rectangular stone built enclosures described by Arthur Raistrick and Paul Holmes in their classic 'Archaeology of Malham Moor.'

This one has a notable dividing slab in the middle.  The first thing you'll be thinking is ... what the heckers were they doing with a farm at this altitude when even today it would be unthinkable?  

The remote location means the Dewbottoms site is remarkably well preserved.  However, follow the field wall down into the valley just north of the settlements and the probable influence for the location of this remarkable farmstead becomes clear ...

Here, a massive U shaped ravine numbs the senses and this was no doubt the main water supply for the Dewbottoms folk well over 3000 years ago - but it is the nature of it that fascinates ...

On the Ordnance Survey map - this place doesn't even have a name! Shameful.  It is what I call 'Cowside Gill' and the waterfall has clearly been cutting back from its original plunge to leave a spectacular amphitheatre.  This is up there with the very best in England as a landscape feature.  It dwarfs anything on the Ingleton waterfalls - and even makes Force Gill on Whernside look quite humble.  In my opinion, this sudden plunge of water will have had symbolic significance to the ancient peoples who made their living on this remote landscape.

The water plunges into the ravine and the sudden steepness has allowed a very special screen to form, now covered in moss.  The screen is of a precipitate called tufa.  The soil water from the upper slopes of the Yew Cogar is rich in carbon dioxide and on emerging from springs at the head of the valley (see the 4th picture on this blog) the carbon dioxide begins to be lost to the atmosphere allowing calcium to be deposited as the familiar golden tufa seen famously at Gordale Scar and Janet's Foss. Steep drops like the one here clearly agitate the water, speeding up the process, so a big 'screen' of the tufa has developed to spectacular effect.  The mosses also speed up the process - further absorbing the gas.  Therefore, a combination of sudden appearance in the open air - a steep drop - and vegetation - are perfect conditions for tufa to form.  The tufa screen gives this gill a very noble appearance.

Surrounding the gill are impressive cliffs of Great Scar Limestone.  To get into the amphitheatre, it is a long walk and scramble round the flanks of the cliffs.  Take great care here.  The drops are sensational!

What lies within can only have meant much to the ancients.  A huge cave entrance with the moss covered tufa screen providing a great backdrop to the waterfall.  

The cave, a rock shelter - doesn't lead in very far - and was presumably a former route of the water.  I wonder just how many peope have been in there over the centuries?  It is one of the most remote caves in the Yorkshire Dales.

Adding to the atmosphere of this unique place is the facial feature I call 'The Stormtrooper' - perched on the very top of the surrounding cliffs like a sentinel keeping guard over the place. Others may well see a skull ...

There's something quite sinister about him, nonetheless ...

Look how he gazes out over his kingdom ...

Do I detect a mischievous grin?

Yes, he's a sly character, all right.

It was so hard to leave this magical place.  As the day was dying I headed back to the settlement and then followed the wall to the south east over the top of the plateau.

This took me past the lonely heights of Parson's Pulpit - possibly a burial place of some significance.  

Parson's Pulpit dominates one of the loneliest landscapes in England.

Grouse butt or sheepfold? Whatever the purpose - this contraption at the top of Cote Gill sees the original limestone boulder looking fed up!

Probably beacuse he's stuck to the spot and can't share the view down into Cote Gill.  This great ravine separates the Yew Cogar from the mass of limestone known as the Hawkswick Clowder - that famous area containing Kilnsey Crag and the great caves of Dowkabottom and Sleets Gill ...

It contains several interesting waterfalls which often run dry.  They are a lovely sight in any season.

Usually a highlight of any walk - it's not being unfair to say they are an anti-climax after the sights of Cowside Gill earlier - but they have to be seen.

Finally you can either follow the Skirfare back to Arncliffe or stroll along the road past Blue Scar, where the limestone really does have a bluish appearance.  On the top is yet another wonderful settlement.

A last look along Littondale after a great day of adventure.  

Park in Arcncliffe and take the Monk's Road behind the Falcon Inn.  This is a wild and lonely adventure in the best limestone country imaginable.  You'll enjoy every step.

Stephen x