Category: Kildale
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Kildale Moor: Cairnfields and Forgotten Paths
The sky is a washed-out blue, untroubled by clouds. Even in their dreary winter shades, the moors still manage to look grand. I find myself on Kildale Moor, a vast expanse littered with prehistoric cairnfields, settlements, and funerary monuments. Allegedly. In reality, one must squint to discern any such features. The standing stone, however, is…
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A Costly Collop ā The Ubiquitous Smoke of Burning Heather
A view south-east, straight into a hazy sun, down Lonsdale and across to Kildale Moor. The scene is, of course, marred by a hibernal plume of smoke from the burning of the heather, because no landscape is complete without an artificial smog. But enough about that. Today is the penultimate opportunity for carnivorous indulgence before…
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Beyond the Pale: The Lingering Echoes of Kildaleās Past
The sky was an unnervingly perfect shade of cerulean this morning, while overnight frost clung on stubbornly in the shadows. This is the view from Percy Rigg towards Coate Moor, the back of Captain Cookās, the monument making a feeble attempt at visibilityāyou will need to squint or zoom in if you are truly desperate…
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Percy Rigg Farm: The Struggles of a Tenant Farmer
Standing above Percy Rigg Farm in a biting wind is a fine way to appreciate just how bleak and precarious farming here must be. The farm, once known as View Hill or Viewley Hill Farm, and before that, with little charm, as Piggery Farm, likely came into existence thanks to the Enclosure Act of 1775.…
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Hill Hill and the Art of Furtling
It was one of those charming so-called ālazy windsāāthe sort that cannot be bothered to go around you and instead cuts straight through, ensuring you feel every bit of its bitter, bone-chilling embrace. Hardly the sort of day for a leisurely stroll around Kildale Moor, but, there I have been, engaged in the enthralling task…
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Kildaleās Agrarian Past
A stunning view of Kildale, seen from the sandstone crags of Ward Nab. Kildale, with its postcard-worthy scenery and quaint stone buildings, represents the sort of agricultural nostalgia many enjoy romanticising. Yet, beneath this charming faƧade lies a tale of upheaval and supposed progress. In the 18th century, Kildaleās open fields were carved up through…
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Kildale’s Wet Dig
And so the rains came to St. Hildaās chapel, bringing a somewhat damp close to the archaeological dig season in picturesque Kildale. What mysteries lie behind those enigmatic stone footings ā which bear more than a passing resemblance to a garden feature than to any sacred structure ā must now remain hidden for yet another…
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The Overlords of Kildale
Park Nab, a smallish sandstone crag, much favoured by the climbing fraternity, who no doubt delight in the view over Kildaleāsuggested by some to be the dale of a forgotten Viking named Killi. Perhaps he might be one of those unfortunate Norsemen discovered inconveniently buried under the church floor during the 1868 rebuild. Quite fitting…
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Lilac Cottage and Other Euphemisms for the Necessary
This humble structure, built around 1780, at a discrete distance from the Warren farmhouse, was none other than the privy ā or, as we might say today, the lavatory. It served the necessary purpose of waste disposal, likely relying on what was known as an āearth closet.ā Now a Grade II Listed Building, it has…
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Nature’s Nightmare: The Environmental Impact of Pheasant Shooting
A jaunt in the countryside typically leaves one with an idyllic sense of peace, a quaint communion with nature. But this morning, I encountered a rather more disquieting spectacle. A bevy of young pheasants, dozens of them, darting about with all the coordination of those small, ravenous Compsognathids from “Jurassic Park.” These birds, though one…