7 September 2003
Leader - Robert Dyson
We started off the trip with a whistle stop history of Malham going back 300
Million years (give or take 50 Million years) to the Carboniferous period, when
the fundamental landscape was laid down. We then moved forward to more recent
times, and in particular the influence of the Monasteries on the Village.
We then walked on the old Back Lane separating the Medieval Tofts from the Crofts,
noting the layout of the fields and noting the effect of the Middle Craven Fault
on the soils - the acid soils (boggy and dark ) contrasting sharply with the
sweeter luscious light green of the Limestone grasses. We then walked up to
the end of the Crofts, to the point where the Village Ploughlands had been,
prior to being enclosed later on.
We walked up towards the Cove, with most of the land on the Village side of
the Cove having been generously "donated" to the Village, as compensation
of loss of rights in the old Common Land. We visited the site of the now long
forgotten Corn Mill and ended the trip by visiting the Village Green, the School
and the rest of the east side of Malham Beck, which had all come under the influence
of Bolton Priory. One of our members had had a connection with the "New
School" which overlooks Malham. This School services both Malham and Kirkby
Malham, When it was built, within living memory, there was an argument as to
where the School should be sited - honour was satisfied by placing the School
exactly half way between the Old Methodist Chapel in Malham and the Established
Church in Kirkby Malham - the Scales of Justice were obviously working overtime.