WSI01 – Fell Race
‘the skyline’s moving away’ – many fell runners and hill walkers will know this sensation of the false summit!
‘Bill’ – ‘Buckden Bill’ was the name given to the skeleton found at Buckden Gavel in 1964. The body is thought to have been there since the 1890s.
‘fast feet’ – a technique or quality useful in fell running descents.
The colours of the image are those of Wharfedale Harriers who organise the annual Buckden Pike Race.
WSI02 – Curves
‘bield’ – is an enclosure/shelter for cattle, etc. often seen on the hills hereabouts. There is a curved example in the adjacent field.
‘a lapwing’s digital diversion’ – listen to a lapwing and tell me it is not a digital recording!
‘Ferguson’ – Edgar O. Ferguson (engineer from Chesterfield) who mapped out the proposed railway line up Wharfedale and on through to Bishopdale.
‘2 FUR 4 CHS radius’ – Ferguson’s proposed curve round the bottom of the hill.
‘the Rake’ – Buckden Rake is the track that rounds the hill.
WSI03 – Lead
‘Pinus amabilis’ – Abies amabilis or Pacific silver fir. When, as part of the Buckden Estate, the Ramsden family’s Redmire Wood plantation was put up for sale in 1879 a single tree of this type was excluded from the sale ‘with power reserved by the Vendor to remove it within two years from the date of sale’.
‘crushing and washing’ – all part of the processing of lead-rich ore. The landscape hereabouts is littered with the remains of various lead workings and structures.
‘a secret amongst boulders’ – this is the final prize cache.
WSI04 – John Greenwood
‘Thomas Foster’ – landowner of this enclosure and others in the area during the 1800s.
‘John Greenwood’ – a land surveyor from Gisburn who surveyed Thomas Foster’s land in May 1848. John and his brother Christopher were highly respected surveyors and map makers in the 19th century. John made 15 tithe maps in Yorkshire covering almost 55,000 acres.
‘the Lion’ – the White Lion public house at Cray.
‘an eager border collie’ troubled an early visitor to this cache.
‘Ferguson […] 2410 dark yards to Bishopdale’ – the planned railway line through to Bishopdale would have entered a tunnel a little way up the valley from here.
The green shape is the outline of one of the enclosures on Cow Close Allotment that Greenwood surveyed in 1848.
WSI06 – Hill Climb
‘1 in 4’ – parts of Park Rash are even steeper!
‘past Robinson up at West Scale Park’ - Leonard Robinson farmed West Scale Park in the 18th century
‘Boardman rises’ - In 1991 Chris Boardman won the National Hill Climb Championship (cycling) on Park Rash which can be appreciated from here or in the saddle going east out of Kettlewell (make sure you fit a triple!).
WSI07 – The Hagg
‘gaits’ - A sheep gait is a parcel of land where sheep and grazed (more commonly referred to as grazing rights today).
‘Old George…’ – Referring to a couplet in William Foster’s Song of Upper Wharfedale:
“At Yockenthwaite dwelling with pick and with spade,
Old George for a long time our good roads has made”.
‘may’ – mayflower or hawthorn.
‘A Viking’s cairn…’ – The place name may come from the Norse word 'hresi' meaning cairn and there is a huge stone cairn in the nearby fields.
The ‘silhouette’ of bird’s-eye primrose flowers cut in heightened colour across the outline of the field called The Hagg which comprises much of the hillside above this cache. The primroses are common in these parts at the right time of year.
WSI08 – The Song of Upper Wharfedale
‘the Wharfe changes pitch’ – as you follow the path up the valley the sound of the river changes as its bed widens and the path moves away from it.
‘Peacock’ – another reference to Foster’s Song:
“Peacock [of Deepdale] has fame for the lambs he could raise”.
‘Bevitt’s finding…’ – The nearby Cow Garth Cave was discovered by Norman Bevitt BPC and was surveyed by C. Smith and J.F. Bottomley in May 1984. This cave system features a ‘sump’ and a ‘duck’.
The darker green shapes on the left of the image are cave sections from the 1984 Cow Garth Cave map.
WSI09a – Thomas Lindley
‘Lindley’ – Thomas Lindley was curate of Halton Gill for many decades from 1777. He subsequently became curate of Hubberholme too and used to walk over Horse Head every Sunday come rain, shine or blizzard. Somebody from Langstrithdale would be posted to look out for him coming over the skyline.
The horse riding figure is from a window in Hubberholme church which commemorates Lindley’s service.
WSI10 – Maze
‘Beggarmans’ – the old name for Beckermonds.
‘John Foster’s Maze…’ – there are two or three field enclosures running up the hillside here (including the one the path to the ridge cuts through) called Maze in the 19th century tithe map. The name still labels the hillside forestry to the west on modern OS maps.
The red ‘A’ is from a carved lintel on a nearby field barn and the background shape is the field outline of the ‘Maze’ that the ridge-bound path cuts across.
