What must be an old forgotten track climbing the escarpment onto the moors through Faceby Plantation. It must be an ancient route. But leading to where? It seems to head towards the Public Footpath and linear earthwork which tops the skyline on Live Moor at Road Head above the spring with the delightful name of Copperty Keld. A plantation existed in the mid-19th century so I suspect the holloway was formed many centuries before that by the action of the sledging down of peat, stone, turf and bracken from the moors for the villagers of Faceby. In more recent times mountain bikers have made use of the gulley but this year’s leaf fall has almost buried their ramps and berms.
Faceby is recorded in the Domesday Book, its name derives from Old Norse meaning “the settlement of Feit”. In pre-history and a milder climate, Live Moor was a particularly active place of human habitation. There is evidence of a promontory fort, round barrows and ancient field systems.
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