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Stone shelter on Whernside

H

hannahb

Well-known member
Does anyone know what this stone construction is?

It's towards the top of the Whernside ridge on the Chapel-le-Dale side. Approx SD735802.

Inside it has a passage going more than a few metres into the hillside, with stone walls and a stone roof and looks person sized. The entrance is small but it looks like the stones near the middle have been added, and originally it would have been crawling person sized.

IMG_20230311_120842619_HDR.jpg
 
AR

AR

Well-known member
My guess would be a limekiln, with the kiln top covered over or infilled.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
That's interesting. I reckon to know Whernside fairly well but I've never noticed that. Next time I'm out for a run that way I'll have a look. Your grid ref puts it close to that minor path which bypasses the final steep ascent up from Bruntscar onto the ridge. If that's right, is it above or below the minor path (and how far from it)?

AR - it seems an unlikely place for a lime kiln. There are only thin limestone bands around there and it'd be a long way to transport the product. Most limekilns are at lower level, associated with the main Great Scar Limestone (which is in much motre abundant supply). I'd have thought extraction from one of the poor coal seams is more likely (as on Fountains Fell). But never say never.
 
AR

AR

Well-known member
Pitlamp said:
AR - it seems an unlikely place for a lime kiln. There are only thin limestone bands around there and it'd be a long way to transport the product. Most limekilns are at lower level, associated with the main Great Scar Limestone (which is in much motre abundant supply). I'd have thought extraction from one of the poor coal seams is more likely (as on Fountains Fell). But never say never.
Click to expand...
Yes, I should have paid more attention to the location - I've been up Whernside often enough to know the majority of it isn't limestone! I didn't realise there were thin coal seams in amongst the strata there, so maybe it is a small coal adit, possibly dating to pre-railway times and used for lime burning lower down.
 
Katie

Katie

Active member
I am sure I have seen similar somewhere and been told that it was a small shelter used by shepherds tending sheep on the hills in bad weather......
No idea if that is the case with this one though!
 
RobinGriffiths

RobinGriffiths

Well-known member
Looks to be the Main Limestone which is apparantly associated with thin seams of coal. Didn't Ingleton have a 'proper' coalfield though? You'd have thought it easier to ship that up the dale than faff about near the top of Whernside!
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
Could be either, but was originally stuff:
thestonetrust.org

Master Class: The Cleits of St. Kilda

The St Kilda island group lies about 40 miles west of the Hebridean island of North Uist. Village Bay, on the southeast corner of Hirta, the largest island, has a wealth of stonework. The head dyke…
thestonetrust.org thestonetrust.org
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
M

mikem

Well-known member
Or for the stiff:

History

Dunchraigaig Cairn is an unusual monument in Kilmartin Glen: it sits apart from the area’s other cairns, and contained some odd finds.
www.historicenvironment.scot www.historicenvironment.scot
 
E

Emsy

Member
Hi, I've had a chat with one of the archaeologists at the National Park Authority, who has said:
I think it is an enhanced spring head – I have seen these in different areas of the park. You often get shallow landslips in the hillside where springs emerge and sometimes these are enhanced, partially filled in with stone with a slight retaining wall built with a gap to allow water to flow out to create a small useable water source presumably for livestock. I have seen a number of these that look just like that – sometimes they have small stone slabs in front forming a shallow trough. I think the void is to allow water out and the fact it seems to go on for a distance is probably a result of the area behind the wall (which was likely a small landslip or hollow with a spring running out of it) being infilled with stone, but allowing/creating a narrow passage for water to get out.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
At last; I found it today. But didn't investigate as I was out for a run and was frozen to the marrow after running into the teeth of a NNE ice blast gale along the ridge (and going dark). It was one of those days when you're just glad to get down in one piece.
Now I know where it is I'll take a photon cannon next time to shine inside. It's far too small to enter of course but it looks much bigger straight inside. Interesting!
 
Mr Dinwiddy

Mr Dinwiddy

Member
hannahb said:
Does anyone know what this stone construction is?

It's towards the top of the Whernside ridge on the Chapel-le-Dale side. Approx SD735802.

Inside it has a passage going more than a few metres into the hillside, with stone walls and a stone roof and looks person sized. The entrance is small but it looks like the stones near the middle have been added, and originally it would have been crawling person sized.
Click to expand...
I think its a peat tile. This was a stone drying rack for peats cut from adjacent blanket bog. They are generally shaped like a simple table and are widespread in the Dales. It looks overgrown now. I could be wrong as it would be unusual for one to be several metres wide/long and you said the passage went that far?
 
AKuhlmann

AKuhlmann

Member
RobinGriffiths said:
Looks to be the Main Limestone which is apparantly associated with thin seams of coal. Didn't Ingleton have a 'proper' coalfield though? You'd have thought it easier to ship that up the dale than faff about near the top of Whernside!
Click to expand...
The NMRS Ingleton Coalfield by B. Bond & Gill is a very interesting read on that topic. Looking at the elevation limestone is unlikely and this is reinforced to me of being similar to the Ingleborough Yoredale series.

Mr Dinwiddy said:
I think its a peat tile. This was a stone drying rack for peats cut from adjacent blanket bog. They are generally shaped like a simple table and are widespread in the Dales. It looks overgrown now. I could be wrong as it would be unusual for one to be several metres wide/long and you said the passage went that far?
Click to expand...
The peat tile theory would be reinforced if a nearby obviously manmade change in the fauna can be observed (like the square patches on Penyghent towards fountains fell) cased by the change in soil pH.

Emsy said:
Hi, I've had a chat with one of the archaeologists at the National Park Authority, who has said:
I think it is an enhanced spring head – I have seen these in different areas of the park. You often get shallow landslips in the hillside where springs emerge and sometimes these are enhanced, partially filled in with stone with a slight retaining wall built with a gap to allow water to flow out to create a small useable water source presumably for livestock. I have seen a number of these that look just like that – sometimes they have small stone slabs in front forming a shallow trough. I think the void is to allow water out and the fact it seems to go on for a distance is probably a result of the area behind the wall (which was likely a small landslip or hollow with a spring running out of it) being infilled with stone, but allowing/creating a narrow passage for water to get out.
Click to expand...
Waiting on confirmation from Pitlamp, I'm inclined to believe the NPs response is the most likely. Especially with it sharing a very similar elevation to many of the other springs which surround the hill and having a small area of flattish moorland above to drain, which could also explain why it's now dry/fossil.

Take with a pinch of salt because I'm not an expert :)
 
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