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BB2327
: I Can Only Fire Your Imaginations
Thursday
31st August 2023
You
might have heard of Adam Sedgwick.
If
you have ever visited the still
cobbled village of Dent, you
almost certainly will have heard
of him as there is (currently
behind scaffolding) a big stone
slab erected in his honour in
the middle of the village informing
you that he lived from 1785
to 1873.
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In
case you haven’t heard of the
gentleman, suffice it to say
that he was an Anglican priest
and, more eminently, one of
the founders of modern geology.
His
strap line (not that they used that term
in those days) was:
I
cannot promise to teach you all geology,
I can only fire your imaginations.
Before
I tell you about another former resident,
I’ll take you to a couple of geological
features with which Adam would surely be
familiar and that we would pass on TV Mike’s
route to Great Comb.
We
left the village in a south westerly direction
and soon came to the Dancing Flags.
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At
first sight they looked like some large
rectangular concrete slabs to accommodate
a small beck’s overflow. No
doubt Adam could have enlightened us as
to the natural material of which they are
formed. When we left the path and
actually stood on them we realised that
there was a whole procession of flags heading
up a gully. Rather than then doing
the sensible thing and retreating to the
path, we decided to waltz our way uphill on the flags. This became progressively trickier
thanks to the highly slippery vegetation
but soon we reached a small waterfall.
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With
a great deal of care (and trepidation) we
were able to climb out of the gully and
regain the path to a viewpoint.
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Very
shortly thereafter was a renovated 18th
century lime kiln and, in a field, a barn
which the “official” snig intives you to
veiw.
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Inside
is a remarkable set of old equipment. Tony
would have loved it.
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Outside,
a stone trough and a rusty old saw.
Now
it was time to check out the Megger Stones
which are on the way up to Great Comb. You
may recall that on Gregareth (which is at
the other end of this range) there are large
cairns known as the Three Men and also the
Three Ladies. BB1025, BB1323, BB2137.
We saw similar ones last week, the
Nine Standards in the distance near Kirkby
Stephen. BB2326.
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How ancient are such
erections is a matter of conjecture but
here there are at least ten cairns of varying
sizes and build quality.
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Not sure
why they are call Megger unless it is a
corruption of Mega. Or a publicity
stunt by the electrical testing equipment
manufacturer. Or maybe erected
by the Viking warrior Megger the Magnificent?
If that hasn't fired your imagination,
what will?
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Moving
on, it was a steepish climb to the summit
of Great Comb, not helped by the fact it
was mostly across energy sapping, springy
heather or reedy bogs.
We took shelter
behind a wall for lunch then continued along
to the Boundary Stone (presumably between
Lancashire and Yorkshire).
It
was interesting to see that
the graffiti of carved initials
dated back well into the 19th
Century.
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A
little further along is what is said now to
be the highest point
in Lancashire though our previous investigation
BB2137
suggested that to be Gragareth, not the nondescript summit of
Green Hill.
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The
descent was over rough ground with hidden
man-traps. Stan, who was in front,
turned to me to warn me of such a danger.
My left foot found nothing to concern
it. Then, before I knew it, my right
foot had disappeared and so had my right
leg up to the knee. How Stan laughed!
We
reached an ancient track, wide with walls
on each side, which we followed for two
miles until we reached Deepdale Lane.
After
a short detour towards but not actually
reaching, the river, we rejoined the Lane
which led us back into Dent.
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I
was keen to look into the church and particularly
to find the last resting place of George
Hodgson. George was not stinking rich-
a term that derives from the decomposition
of the wealthy who could afford to be buried
inside the churches. He was not a
wealthy man but had been involved in some
village intrigues. He lived to the
amazing (for the time) age of 94. After
he died, in 1715, he was buried in the graveyard
but strange things started happening.
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He
began rising from the grave to drink the
blood of animals and people started remembering
the strange things that he had done in life.
Had he been a witch with a pact with
the devil?
The matter was resolved
by digging him up and discovering that he
looked like he was still alive.
To
put him and such matters to rest, he was
reburied outside the church door and the
extra precaution taken of driving a stake
through the coffin into his corpse so he
couldn’t escape again. Phew!
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I
am pleased to report that George Hodgson
did fail to escape the stake so caused us
no problems. Consequently we were
able to arrive safely at the Factory Tap
where we had our imaginations fired in a
somewhat different manner to that envisaged
by Adam Sedgwick. Cheers!
Don,
Thursday 1st September 2023
Thanks to
Mike for some of the photos
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