Eel Ark Hill

George Redmonds and David Shore
 JOURNAL 
 2018 
 North Craven 
 Heritage Trust 

Just to the west of Eshton Tarn is a modest hill with the unusual name Eel Ark. It is listed by Smith in The Place-names of the West Riding [1961] but no meaning is offered. His evidence is late, restricted to a single example from the tithe award of 1843. The Oxford English Dictionary [1989] has an entry for ‘eel ark’ as a vocabulary item, placed under ‘ark’, but again the evidence is very late (1883). Their reference was to ‘an eel-ark ... at the east end of the North Loch’ in Scotland. The entry suggests that the ark was an enclosure for confining or capturing eels and the editors draw attention to the word arche which had the meaning of ‘coffer-dam’ in some European dialects. The English Dialect Dictionary [1898] has entries for similar contrivances, that is eel-hutch, eel-trunk and eel-leap, all of which were containers of one kind or another.

Two important Yorkshire references tell us more about the word’s history. The first [Brown, 1914] occurs in a deed of 1562 which confirms a division of lands in Henry Fairfax’s manor of Steeton near Tadcaster. These included ‘the Little Old Park ... with the great stang (dam) ... and all the pools, ponds, and waters there running from the Eele ark unto Bolton lordship’, that is Bolton Percy. Clearly the eel ark was a fixture in the park, either on the dam or one of the feeder streams. An earlier Latin reference is confirmation that ‘eel-ark’ was in use much earlier: in Whitaker’s History of Craven [1812] is an entry from the Skipton Castle muniments in 1435-6 ‘Pro arcis anguillarum de Alanwath Tarne’, that is for the eel arks of Alanwath Tarn. The author drew attention to ‘The Terne’ on Saxton’s map of Yorkshire and commented on the tradition in some countries of catching eels in ‘a kind of trunks or boxes’. The use of the word in Latin allows us to take the history of the Eshton place-name back to 1260 when Furness Abbey acquired fishing rights in the lake called ‘Estonterne’ from the Eshton family [Cottam, 1928]. The fishermen working for the Furness monks were granted a number of rights, including the use of a boat on the tarn and places to dry their nets. More importantly John de Eshton allowed them half of all the eels taken in an ark fixed in the stream which ran out of the lake ‘in archa que stat in rivulo exeunte de predicto lacu’. This liberty was then extended to all the arks the abbey might install, to the construction of a building (domus) ‘over’ the arks and to the rights of way for abbey servants through the Eshtons’ lands. An ark was referred to as an ‘engine’ in the charter, i.e. a trap [Brownbill, 1916]. We can be certain, therefore, that Eel Ark Hill takes its name from the eel-trap of this type constructed on the stream before 1260, possibly from the building used by the fishermen.

On the current Ordnance Survey 1:25 000 map, Outdoor Leisure 10, Eel Ark Hill is some way from Eshton Tarn itself, and is situated on the lower slopes of a hill called Toftus. The Hill slopes steeply down to the stream called Tarn Dike which connects Eshton Tarn with the River Aire, and is particularly steep from the bridge which crosses Tarn Dike on the Eshton to Airton road, to the confluence with the River Aire. In this short stretch of the Dike appear to be the remains of two stone walls, on either side of the stream. It is possible these could be the remnants of the ark. J. W. Morkill [1933] points to the area near the bridge as Eel Ark, ‘the high road crosses the dyke which carries the outflow of the tarn at a spot known as Eel Ark. This name, now very commonly disguised as High Lark, indicates that at some period eels were caught in that part of the dyke by means of an ark or trap. At the present day eels are seldom seen in the dyke, though they are said to have been fairly plentiful there fifty years ago.’

The name High Lark illustrates well the problems the first Ordnance Surveyors encountered with the local accent, as the Hill was recorded on the 1st. edition 6” OS map, 1853, Yorkshire 150, as High Lark Hill. Upstream from the road bridge to the Tarn, the Dike is bordered by trees on both sides, named on the 1910 6” OS map, CL NW, as Eel Ark Plantation.

Note

Furness Abbey was founded in 1127. Prior to 1155, William Graindeorge and his brothers granted Winterburn to the monks of Furness. A grange was established at Winterburn after more grants of land, including land in Flasby.

References

  • Brown, W. (ed.), 1914. Yorkshire Deeds 2, The Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, Vol. L, p.128
  • Brownbill J. (ed.), 1916. The Coucher Book of Furness, Vol. II, part II, 142/464, Chetham Society
  • Cottam, A. 1928. The Granges of Furness Abbey with specific reference to Winterburn in Craven, The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Vol. 80
  • Morkill, J.W. 1933. The Parish of Kirkby Malhamdale in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Gloucester
  • Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, Second Edition
  • Smith, A.H. 1961. The Place-names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Cambridge University Press, Vol.6, p.47
  • Whitaker, T.D. 1812. The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven in the County of York, Nichols and Son, London
  • Wright, J. 1898. The English Dialect Dictionary, London, 6 volumes

fig1.jpg
Fig 1 Eel Ark Hill looking north.jpg
fig2.jpg
Fig 2 Tarn Dike with wall remnants.jpg
fig3.jpg
Fig 3 Tarn Dike running under Road.jpg



fig1.jpg
Fig 1 Eel Ark Hill looking north.jpg


fig2.jpg
Fig 2 Tarn Dike with wall remnants.jpg


fig3.jpg
Fig 3 Tarn Dike running under Road.jpg