Kingsdale

Kingsdale
Kingsdale Head
Kingsdale is located in North Yorkshire
Kingsdale
Kingsdale
Floor elevation857 feet (261.3 m)[1]
Length5.5 miles (8.9 km)
Geography
CountryEngland
State/ProvinceNorth Yorkshire
Coordinates54°11′35″N 2°27′25″W / 54.193°N 2.457°W / 54.193; -2.457 [1]

Kingsdale is a valley on the western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England. The name Kingsdale derives from a combination of Old Norse and Old English (Kyen and Dael) which means The valley where the cows were kept.[2][3] Humans were active in Kingsdale from 6,700 BC onwards. Evidence of fire-pits used by hunter-gatherers have been found in the dale.

History

Kingsdale is a short narrow dale, that measures 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from Thornton-in-Lonsdale in the south, to High Moss in the north.[4] During the Last Glacial Maximum, when many of the dales were affected by ice, a glacier carved out the valley of Kingsdale, and left behind a lake impounded at its southern end by a terminal moraine Raven Ray, a piece of land higher than the broad valley beyond it.[5][6] The presence of fire-pits in the dale dating back to the Mesolithic era (6850–6840 BC), provide evidence of humans using the dale, but only for hunting during the summer months, with the people expected to be from the lowlands.[7][8] More permanent occupancy of the dale occurred during the Bronze Age, with sooty mounds found in Kingsdale dating back to 1500 BC. The mounds consist of ash, charcoal, sooty remnants and rock fragments, though it is unclear what the mounds were for.[9] Another named mound is the Apron Full of Stones, the local legend being that the stones fell from the devil's apron. The site was excavated in 1972 and is a Bronze Age burial mound, though not made with limestone boulders, but from gritstone from outside of the valley.[10]

The enclosing of the land in the valley around 1820, involved the reclamation of some areas, and the beck was also straightened. This gives the valley, what W. R. Mitchell calls, "..an unusually neat appearance."[11]

The larger part of the valley lies within the county of North Yorkshire but its highest reaches fall just within Cumbria. It is defined by the hills of Whernside to its east and Gragareth to its west.[12] Kingsdale is drained by the south-westward flowing Kingsdale Beck which assumes the name River Twiss before joining the River Doe at Ingleton to become the River Greta.[13] Two large waterfalls are on the lower reaches of the River Twiss; Thornton Force is 49 feet (15 m) high over one drop, whereas Pecca Falls are a series of waterfall drops covering 115 feet (35 m).[14] The ledge at the top of the waterfall of Thornton Force is made up of the Great Scar Limestone, the middle is cobbles from a sea of the Carboniferous period (350 million years ago), and the lower part, where the basin is, is composed of Ordovician slate which dates back 530 million years.[15]

Kingsdale Beck is frequently dry on the surface between Kingsdale Head and Keld Head, with the water travelling underground before resurfacing at Keld Head. The same thing happens to the River Skirfare in Littondale.[16] Spells of wet weather often bring about a wall of water that travels down the valley across the dry riverbed.[17]

The single minor public road which serves the valley is an old packhorse route that connected Ingleton with Deepdale, then Dentdale, and which also forms the NCR 68 and the Yorkshire Dales Cycle Way.[18][19][20] This road was a rough track until just after the Second World War, when it was re-laid with tarmac, and reaches a height of 1,552 feet (473 m).[21] On the west high ground of the valley is a track known as Turbary Road (turbary being an ancient right to cut peat or turf for fuel). The route is so named as it was where the peat-cutters would transport their peat down the valley.[4] There are several nationally important caves within the valley (such as Rowten Pot and Yordas Cave)[22] and the resurgence of Keld Head. Several other caves exist under the valley; Kail Pot, Swinsto Cave, King Pot, Jingling Pot, Valley Entrance, and Bull Pot.[23][24]

References

  1. ^ a b "Kingsdale, Craven - area information, map, walks and more". getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  2. ^ Chrystal 2017, p. 50.
  3. ^ Metcalfe, Peter (1992). Place-names of the Yorkshire Dales: origins and meanings. Harrogate: North Yorkshire Marketing. p. 51. ISBN 1-873214-03-0.
  4. ^ a b Scholes, Ron (2011). Yorkshire Dales. Ashbourne: Horizon Press. p. 48. ISBN 9781843065081.
  5. ^ Warren 2001, p. 77.
  6. ^ Lee 2015, p. 36.
  7. ^ Lee 2015, p. 50.
  8. ^ Addison, Mike (18 December 2009). "Mystery Iron Age find is unearthed in Yorkshire Dales". The Westmorland Gazette. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  9. ^ Lee 2015, p. 51.
  10. ^ Kelsall, Dennis (2017). The Yorkshire Dales: south and west : Wharfedale, Littondale, Malhamdale, Dentdale and Ribblesdale. Milnthorpe: Cicerone. p. 234. ISBN 9781852848859.
  11. ^ Mitchell 1999, p. 22.
  12. ^ "Weekend Walk: Turbary Road & Kingsdale". The Yorkshire Post. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  13. ^ Chrystal 2017, p. 103.
  14. ^ Chrystal 2017, p. 106.
  15. ^ Lee 2015, p. 23.
  16. ^ Lee 2015, p. 230.
  17. ^ Westcott, Matt (20 July 2017). "Video shows effects of heavy rain in Yorkshire Dales". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  18. ^ Warren 2001, p. 38.
  19. ^ Ordnance Survey 1:63,360 scale Touring Map Yorkshire Dales
  20. ^ Peace, Richard (1996). Yorkshire Dales Cycle Way. Keighley: Hillside. p. 34. ISBN 1870141288.
  21. ^ Mitchell 1999, pp. 34, 60.
  22. ^ Mitchell, Bill (20 November 2010). "The daring explorers of Craven's underworld". Craven Herald. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  23. ^ Kelsall, Dennis (2017). The Yorkshire Dales: south and west : Wharfedale, Littondale, Malhamdale, Dentdale and Ribblesdale. Milnthorpe: Cicerone. p. 232. ISBN 9781852848859.
  24. ^ Lee 2015, p. 251.

Sources

  • Chrystal, Paul (2017). The place names of Yorkshire; cities, towns, rivers and dales. Catrine: Stenlake. ISBN 9781840337532.
  • Lee, John Anthony (2015). Yorkshire Dales. London: William Collins. ISBN 9780007503698.
  • Mitchell, W. R. (1999). The story of the Yorkshire Dales. Chichester: Phillimore. ISBN 1860770886.
  • Waltham, T.; Murphy, P.; Batty, A. (November 2010). "Kingsdale: the evolution of a Yorkshire dale". The Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. 58 (2). The Yorkshire geological Society: 95–105. doi:10.1144/pygs.58.1.277. ISSN 0044-0604.
  • Warren, Estelle, ed. (2001). Yorkshire Dales National Park landscape character assessment (PDF). yorkshiredales.org.uk (Report). Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. Retrieved 2 March 2024.