Ingleborough

Nearest town:
Carnforth (24km WSW)
OS reference:
SD740746
OS sheet:
98
Latitude:
54° 9' 58.56 N
Longitude:
2° 23' 53.79 W
Added to TMA by

Sites within Ingleborough

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Images

Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

Toward Simon Fell from the ancient defences of Ingleborough.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 17, 2016
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

Towards Chapel-le-Dale and Whernside from the ramparts of Ingleborough. Incidentally The Black Sheep Brewery is nearby, apparently.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 17, 2016
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

The quiet corner of this wonderful ‘mountain’-fort. Not sure how much of the rock debris in-situ is ‘natural’ or fallen rampart?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 17, 2016
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

Upon the sadly denuded rampart..... but still, what a site!

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 16, 2016
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

The remains of the day...... upon Simon Fell, sunlight streaming from behind Ingleborough.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 12, 2015
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

Retrospective from Simon Fell at the end of the day .......

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 10, 2015
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by GLADMAN

The ancient ramparts of Ingleborough still girdle the mountain summit .... just about.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 3, 2011
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by RiotGibbon

The eastern cairn. All the other approaches are near vertical, here the hill has been reshaped to make things more awkward for the casual visitor

R
RiotGibbon Jul 21, 2003
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by RiotGibbon

Closer to the hill – the track goes straight up what looks like a vertical ascent, between the 2 gibbons ahead

R
RiotGibbon Jul 21, 2003
Image of Ingleborough (Hillfort) by RiotGibbon

Ingleborough from Whernside – the limestone pavement is visible as the white line running above the green

R
RiotGibbon Jul 21, 2003

Articles

Ingleborough

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 27, 2009

At 2,375ft the great mountain of Ingleborough may not be the highest in the Yorkshire Dales – that distinction going to nearby Whernside – but nevertheless eclipses the latter in terms of sheer stature and bulk. Not to mention, or so it would seem, the attentions of the local walkers.

What’s more, the spacious summit plateau is girdled by the remnants of once powerful dry-stone ramparts. Yep, that’s right.... this inhospitable mountain top was once a hillfort. Not only that, but the highest hillfort in Britain, to be precise. Crikey, the Iron Age people who lived here must’ve been hard, whether the average temperature was a couple ‘o degrees warmer in those days or not!

Somewhat short on time following an early morning dash from Essex – if you can exactly ‘dash’ in an old Rover 45, that is – I choose the ‘easiest’ ascent starting from near The Bull Inn at Chapel le Dale to the North.... a little too ‘touristy’ for Gladman tastes, perhaps, but with the compensation of passing some wonderful limestone scars, the enormous ‘shake hole’ known as ‘Braithwaite Wife Hole’ and crossing ‘Humphrey Bottom’ before the steep rock staircase to the final col. They certainly have a great way with words around here. But then it seems they have lots of practice using them, too.

Arriving on the summit my initial sensation was bi-fold and contradictory; elation at the views, disappointment at the lack of rampart preservation. Several, pointless, large modern cairns probably go some way to explaining the latter, I guess, not to mention the mass of visitors. However after going and finding myself a quiet(ish) corner overlooking The River Doe, the atmosphere kicks in and I’m suddenly totally transfixed by this mighty place. Imagine if this was where you lived? I try, but the thought is too much, it really is. Couldn’t exactly play ‘knock down ginger’ on the main gate, could you?

All too soon I must leave to beat the onset of darkness, the circuitous route via Simon Fell much preferable to my way up. Too late to carry on to Cumbria, I spend the night beneath this superb natural fortress. Sure, Yeavering Bell may remain my favourite Northern hillfort (with Carrock Fell not far behind), but Ingleborough is still the daddy of them all.

P.S. Real Ale fans might be interested to know that The Black Sheep brewery lies just up the road. Very appropriate for a TMA’er. Baa! baa! baa!

Folklore

Ingleborough
Hillfort
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Oct 21, 2024

One for folklore quibblers. All you have to do is Believe these stories, you don’t actually have to believe them.
The author is talking to an old lady of his acquaintance.

“Why,” said I, “when you were a girl there would be witches, or was that before your time?”
“No,” said she, “that it is not. There was one Dolly Makin; I once saw her myself, but she will be dead now, for she was over a hundred then; but my aunt once had a strange bout with her.”
“And where did Dolly live?” I asked, for I had years before heard of this same Dolly Makin.
“Nay, that’s mair ‘an Ah can tell ya,” said she.

“And what did she do to your aunt?” I inquired.
“Nothing; she only tried to. It was like this. There was one Tom Pickles wanted to keep company with my aunt, but he found out that she had a liking for one William Purkis. It was always thought, that when Tommy found this out, that he went to the witch and gave her something to work a spell on my aunt. Anyhow, one night when she had just finished milking, a fortune-teller came up and took hold of her hand, and told her a long story about the carryings-on of William Purkis and another lass, and she advised my aunt to take up with Tommy, telling her that things looked very black for her if she did anything else.

“But my aunt said that she would wed who she liked, and it would not be Tommy. At that the fortune-teller struck the cow with her stick; the cow lashed out and knocked the milk-pail over; my aunt flung the milk-stool at the fortune-teller’s head, but she ducked, and it missed her, and next moment they were one grappling with the other like all that. My aunt, however, was a well-built, strong lass, and after they had fought for a long time, neither gaining an advantage, the fortune-teller screamed out that my aunt had something about her that belonged to the unburied dead, or otherwise she would have mastered her, and had her in her power for ever. ‘But,’ said she, as she walked away, ‘I have not done with you yet;’ and then my aunt saw it was the old witch.

“My aunt did not know what the witch meant by saying she had something about her that belonged to the unburied dead; but news came next morning that her uncle had died the day before, and it happened that a brooch she was wearing had a bit of his hair in it. It was that which had saved her.

“It would have been useless trying to overtake the witch when she left her, even on horseback, for she once went from the top of Ingleborough to the top of Whernside at one stride.”

“But,” I ventured to say, “it is a long way, that.” I was not quite sure of the distance, but I knew I was within bounds when I added, “It will be quite nine miles.”

For a moment the old lady hesitated; even to her, after making all allowance for the witch’s marvellous power, it did seem a prodigious stride. “Well,” she said, with a sigh of relief, as an idea struck her, “maybe I am wrong; it would be a leap;” (or, as she put it, ‘mebbe Ah’s wrang; sha wad loup it.’) Again I pointed out that it was an enormous leap. “Deean’t ya want her ti ‘a’e deean’t?” (i.e. ‘Don’t you want her to have done it?’) she questioned, losing her temper. And then I had to smooth her ruffled feelings.

From ‘Wit, character, folklore and customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire’, by Richard Blakeborough (1898).

Miscellaneous

Ingleborough
Hillfort
Kozmik_Ken
Kozmik_Ken Jun 7, 2004

Known by the Romans as Rigodunum (possibly a corruption of Rig (Ri) Dun – King’s Fort), Ingleborough was fortified by Venutius during his civil war with Cartimandua, and rebellion against the Romans, from 55 – 71 BC.

Venutius was later defeated by the Romans at Stanwick Camp.

Sites within 20km of Ingleborough

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