Hob Hole

A popular picnic spot since at least the Edwardian times. The very name ‘hob‘, perhaps a shortening of hobgoblin, evokes an image of a remote place, an abode of mischievous elves that prey on weary travellers. The ford, where the Kildale to Westerdale Road crosses Baysdale Beck is accessed by a hair-raising descent followed by a hard climb out. The crossing is ancient, on Ernaldsti, the medieval road south from Guisborough, but which itself likely followed a route developed when man first began to settle the moors. It passes the site of an iron age settlement on Percy Rigg.

Strictly Hob Hole is a pool in Baysdale Beck a few yards upstream. The ford is actually known as Hob Hole Wath, wath coming from the Old Scandinavian word vath for a ford. Fording a stream when it is spate would have been a serious obstacle to medieval travellers so it is not surprising that superstitions built up around such places that are today echoed in their place names.

But hobs are normally associated as spirits of a farm or household that will cause havoc if offended. References to hobs are commonplace throughout the North York Moors: Hob Cross, Hob on the Hill and other Hob Holes. A common description is of hairy little men living in holes which conjures up visions of Tolkien’s hobbits but there is no evidence that JRR gained inspiration from Yorkshire hobs.