Cave Hunting: Researches on the evidence of caves respecting the early inhabitants of EuropeDawkins, William Boyd
History
Cave Hunting: Researches on the evidence of caves respecting the early inhabitants of Europe
Dawkins, William Boyd
Antiquities, Prehistoric -- Europe; Caves -- Europe; Europe -- Antiquities; Prehistoric peoples -- Europe
On the north side of Ingleborough the series of caves and pots round
the little Church of Chapel-en-le-Dale are especially worthy of
attention. The chasm at Weathercote opens suddenly in the hill-side,
and is perfectly accessible to visitors. You come suddenly upon a cleft
a hundred feet deep, with its ledges covered with mosses, ferns, and
brambles; at one end a body of water rushes from a cave, and under a
great bridge of rock, and falls seventy-five feet, a mass of snow-white
foam filling the bottom with spray (Fig. 5). The large masses of
rock piled in wild confusion at the bottom, the dark shadows of the
overhanging ledges, and the thick covering of green moss, to which the
spray clings in tiny glittering drops, form a picture which cannot
easily be forgotten. In the sunshine an almost circular rainbow is
to be seen from the bottom. The stream passes from the bottom into
a cave, and thence downwards to two large pots (Fig. 6), about two
hundred yards away. In flood-time the channel has been known to become
blocked up, and Weathercote has been filled to the brim. Usually after
heavy rains the current is said to flow so violently into the first of
the pot-holes, that it throws up stones at least thirty or forty feet
from the bottom, with a peculiar rattling noise. From this strange
phenomenon it is known as Jingle Pot, while the lower of the two is
termed Hurtle Pot, because in flood-time the water whirls so fast
round, that it is “hurtled” out at the top. The water flowing through
Weathercote is derived from the little stream of Ellerbeck, which
disappears in the limestone hills about a mile to the north, and runs
at right angles to Dalebeck, or the stream flowing down to Ingleton,
which it has been proved to join at a spot below Jingle Pot, by Mr.
Metcalfe, who made his way down into it from the chasm of Weathercote.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Diagram of Subterranean Course of Dalebeck.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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