Ghyll House / Gill House near Mossdale

[Lankyman]

I wonder if anyone can help solve a personal mystery I've wondered about for decades? I went for a walk above Grassington recently (up to Bare House and back via Yarnbury). On the way up I met a couple from Threshfield and we got to talking about the caves up that way. I told them about a prospecting walk a friend and I had done one winter, late seventies possibly just into the eighties? I can't recall our route but it was close to Mossdale, poking into snowy shakeholes in the quest for glory. It was a gloomy, misty day and I have a memory of coming across a house up there which I didn't know about at the time but subsequently believed to be Gill House. It may (or may not) have been inhabited but the thing that sticks in my mind is the wooden sign hanging outside which is what I am asking about. To me it looked like an old inn sign and it showed a sheep suspended in some kind of strap or band around its middle. No writing as far as I recall. We moved on as time and daylight were ebbing. I never went past Gill House again until a few years ago when I found that it was in ruins. The Threshfield couple couldn't help but did suggest a visit to the little folk museum in Grassington but they were none the wiser (although they did inform me that the stone of Gill House has been used in a new build in the village!).

 

[alanw]

To me it looked like an old inn sign and it showed a sheep suspended in some kind of strap or band around its middle.

"The Golden Fleece", York

 

[Lankyman]

"The Golden Fleece", York

Thanks! Yes, that's the image on the sign but the one I believe I saw at Gill House was painted onto a flat wooden board which might have been free to swing. I've looked online for old images of Gill House but not seen anything showing a sign. I read an old Craven Herald article that said that the house was occupied into the early eighties by the last shepherd on Grassington Moor whose father had moved there in the forties/fifties from near Grimwith Reservoir.

 

[skippy]

Quite a few Craven towns and villages depict this image:-

 

[Flotsam]

I went that way many times to a dig up there in the early1980's. Gill House Farm was a lovely atmospheric place and more or less in one piece at that time. There was a pub sign hanging up outside, I probably took a few photos but a lot of my photos have been lost to thefts, moves, floods etc so I have no idea if I still have them. The pub sign was erected for a film location, there was some very peculiar stuff inside also related to the filming. I would love to know what film. It's very sad it's now demolished.

 

[Lankyman]

I went that way many times to a dig up there in the early1980's. Gill House Farm was a lovely atmospheric place and more or less in one piece at that time. There was a pub sign hanging up outside, I probably took a few photos but a lot of my photos have been lost to thefts, moves, floods etc so I have no idea if I still have them. The pub sign was erected for a film location, there was some very peculiar stuff inside also related to the filming. I would love to know what film. It's very sad it's now demolished.

Yes, it was very atmospheric when we first walked by. I keep thinking of it as a suitable location for a period film so would not be surprised if it had been set up as such. You could imagine the Hound of the Baskervilles lurking about up there on a dour day in winter! Oh, and thank you for confirming that there was indeed a sign - I was beginning to wonder if I'd imagined it all.

 

[Cantclimbtom]

Maybe a few scraps of extra info? Reboot flotsam memory

Ghyll House Farm Near Grassington/Mossdale Info Please

I spent some time years ago digging on the moors between Langcliffe and Mossdale. We used to pass by Ghyll House Farm which is now demolished but was still standing in the 1980's. It had a pub sign on it and some artifacts inside from it being used as a film set. Anyone know what the film was...

ukcaving.com

 

[Lankyman]

Thanks, Tom. I wonder if using 'Ghyll' in the title may have prevented this coming up in my Google searches. Is there any way for moderators to change this? At least now I don't think I was hallucinating up there all those years ago!

 

[paul]

Thanks, Tom. I wonder if using 'Ghyll' in the title may have prevented this coming up in my Google searches. Is there any way for moderators to change this? At least now I don't think I was hallucinating up there all those years ago!

Moderator Comment: I've edited the title to include both spellings.

 

[Flotsam]

Maybe a few scraps of extra info? Reboot flotsam memory

Ghyll House Farm Near Grassington/Mossdale Info Please

I spent some time years ago digging on the moors between Langcliffe and Mossdale. We used to pass by Ghyll House Farm which is now demolished but was still standing in the 1980's. It had a pub sign on it and some artifacts inside from it being used as a film set. Anyone know what the film was...

ukcaving.com

Yes. I was interested to know more about the place. Talking of atmosphere, the pub sign used to swing in the wind and creak just like something from Treasure Island's Admiral Benbow Inn or the David Lean Oliver Twist, really eerie on a dark and misty eve.
I remember an artifact in the house from the film being something resembling a model waterwheel, from memory about 1m diameter, God knows what it was supposed to be. Someone thought the film might have been French.

 

[Lankyman]

Yes. I was interested to know more about the place. Talking of atmosphere, the pub sign used to swing in the wind and creak just like something from Treasure Island's Admiral Benbow Inn or the David Lean Oliver Twist, really eerie on a dark and misty eve.
I remember an artifact in the house from the film being something resembling a model waterwheel, from memory about 1m diameter, God knows what it was supposed to be. Someone thought the film might have been French.

This is exactly how I recall seeing the sign and the Treasure Island/Dickens associations are very apt. I think if I'd been alone up there at the time I may well have legged it!

 

[Flotsam]

This is exactly how I recall seeing the sign and the Treasure Island/Dickens associations are very apt. I think if I'd been alone up there at the time I may well have legged it!

What made the whole thing more atmospheric was the plane crash site just over the wall, a fatal one I think and of course Mossdale a bit further along. If I ever find those photos I'll post them up.

I didn't mean Oliver Twist by the way but David Lean's magnificent Great Expectations, the opening scene.

 

[Lankyman]

What made the whole thing more atmospheric was the plane crash site just over the wall, a fatal one I think and of course Mossdale a bit further along. If I ever find those photos I'll post them up.

I didn't mean Oliver Twist by the way but David Lean's magnificent Great Expectations, the opening scene.

I never knew there'd been a plane crash there - was it a wartime event? Yes, photos would be great. I'm glad to hear that other people saw the sign as I was wondering if age was starting to play its tricks on memory! Mossdale certainly does cast an aura over the location.

 

[LadyMud]

Someone else remembered the sign: Geograph photo

 

[Lankyman]

Someone else remembered the sign: Geograph photo

Well spotted - that someone else is actually myself (who'd forgotten he'd posted that on Geograph!).

 

[Flotsam]

This might be the one: https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/dales/he226.html

As I remember you would walk a short distance North from Ghyll House Farm. perhaps 100m and climb over the wall to the East and the site was there.

 

[Jeanrr]

I believe Gill house was pulled down as it was used for drugs parties, or so the rumours go. There still are parts of the aircraft engine left, if you know where to look

 

[Lankyman]

This might be the one: https://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/planes/dales/he226.html

As I remember you would walk a short distance North from Ghyll House Farm. perhaps 100m and climb over the wall to the East and the site was there.

Thanks - as I suspected. These accidents happened all over the place. There are several on the Bowland moors not far from where I live and I was looking at a memorial recently to a bomber that crashed above a Weardale village. Plus of course the well known one on Buckden Pike.

 

[Lankyman]

Moderator Comment: I've edited the title to include both spellings.

Thanks, Paul. Actually, it was the earlier (2018?) thread by Flotsam (in Cantclimbtom's post) which I thought could benefit from having its title similarly tweaked to make it visible when searching for 'Gill House'.

 

[paul]

Mods have limited time to read every post and if you have a similar request in future please use the Report link on the relevant post.