| JOURNAL 2010 |
| North Craven Heritage Trust |
After a stormy morning the weather cleared but most of our regular walkers decided that the elements were in a bad mood. However, we set off northwards from Austwick past Town Head Farm to Norber stopping to hear the story of Robin Proctor’s Scar (formerly Norber Scar). Robin Proctor was a farmer at Crummackdale Farm and it was his wont to visit the Game Cock Inn at the end of the day, for a pint (or more!). He would ride down on his horse which he stabled behind the Inn. After a night of refreshment he would often fall asleep on the ride back, but his horse knew the way and would safely deliver him back home. One fateful, wild and windy night he mistakenly mounted somebody else’s horse when he left the Game Cock and on the way back up the valley fell asleep. Not knowing the way the horse strayed onto the moor and both the horse and rider plunged to their death over Norber Scar - hence the change in its name!
We diverted to see the Craven fault at Nappa Scar where one can stand on the line of the North Craven Fault and see the several rock types very clearly exposed.
The stream was in very full flow that day. We continued up to the Norber Erratics which are classic evidence of glacial activity. The large ‘black’ boulders are of Silurian age and sit on top of Carboniferous limestone, which is younger. They were probably picked up at the head of the valley and then deposited by the ice sheet as it retreated northward. .
The route then is due northwards on a clear small track on the western side of Thwaite Scar above Crummackdale to a large cairn on Long Scar. By now the weather had turned against us and the wind was blowing the waterfall on Moughton into the sky. We then turned westwards into the wind and rain on the ancient track towards Trow Gill and returned to Austwick via Long Lane and Thwaite Lane. Long Lane and Thwaite Lane are both very old roads, probably used in the Middle Ages to transport a variety of materials including salt and charcoal, and by sheep and cattle drovers who were moving the stock around the countryside. They were used extensively by monasteries to link their large upland farmsteads. The major monasteries in this area were Fountains Abbey, Furness Abbey and Sawley. The original routes only became walled in the late Middle Ages with the introduction of the Enclosure Act and the dissolution of the monasteries, with some still unwalled at the start of the 18th Century.
Thwaite Lane is part of an ancient route connecting Fountains Abbey with its many interests towards the West, particularly the upland sheep farms which were a source of wealth as a result of the wool they produced. The route is an extension of probably the best example of a ‘green lane’ in the whole of the Dales - Mastiles Lane between Malham and Wharfedale. Long Lane connects Clapham and Selside and then ran northwards towards Gearstones connecting with other routes heading for Hawes and other parts of Wensleydale. The route had probably originated further south, perhaps from Sawley Abbey. The old roads nearly always followed the drier routes of the limestone, necessitating quite an amount of ascent and descent. In the late 18th Century the Turnpike Act led to the construction of better roads more suited to wheeled transport - the stagecoach. These commonly occupied what had been wetter sites lower down the valley side, requiring much drainage and improvement to provide the Turnpike roads. The Keighley to Kendal Turnpike road ran through Clapham with a Toll house between Clapham and Austwick. The New Inn at Clapham was built as a coaching inn to service the trade along that route, and the present Cave Rescue buildings were the stables. The Turnpike road originally went from Clapham to Ingleton via Newby Cote, but around 1820 a new road was constructed lower down the valley on the present site of the A65. The increases in vehicle size meant that both the major bridges in Clapham have needed widening and this can be seen under the bridge near the New Inn. The movement of routes further down the valley sides has continued with the Clapham and Settle by-passes.
This excellent walk can easily be extended by going down into Clapham and returning to Austwick over the field path to look at the lynchets, evidence of the farming activity of Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. We shall repeat the walk in better weather!
