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Gentleman's Magazine 1799 p.643
[whatso]ever of it in print; and the reason why it has not
been mentioned by any of the numerous tourists through
Craven in Yorkshire, and to the Lakes, I apprehend it no
difficult matter to account for. There are two routes to the
lakes; one by the way of Lancaster, through Craven, which is
beginning the Lakes at the western end; and the other lies
through Brough and Appleby, which enters upon them by
Penrith, at the Eastern extremity. Now, Kirby Stephen lies
nearly in the middle of a most dreadful cross-road, of about
40 miles, which connects these two tracks to the Lakes, and
runs along the South of Westmorland, almost forming the
boundary between that county and Yorkshire. The bad state of
this road, and the exorbitant demands for toll at all
turnpikes, are of themselves sufficient evidence of its
desolate and unfrequented state. It was my fortune to visit
these Lakes with a friend last Summer, and we entered upon
the tour at Penrith, and terminated it at Ambleside and
Kendal. In returning, we determined to take the cross-road I
have above described, and accordingly travelled from Kendal
to Brough. Upon stopping at Kirkby Stephen, to refresh
ourselves, we enquired of the landlord of the inn if there
was any thing in the place or its neighbourhood deserving
the attention of strangers. Our host, who was rather a
sensible fellow, told us that there was this natural
curiosity at Stankthred Bridge, which was about half a mile
from his house, and which some few solitary travellers had
occasionally visited. We were accordingly soon furnished
with a guide to the spot; and such was our impatience, that
we reached it in a few minutes.
This phaenomenon consists of the bed of a river, formed
entirely of rocks, of different strata of white stone,
rather level on their surface, as if worn with water. The
stream, which in Summer is very slender and small, runs from
North to South, not over this bed of rocks, but
through a passage or fissure in the middle of it, from about
a foot to a yard wide in different places, but extending in
depth to the bottom of the rocks. In Winter, when the
torrents descend from the mountains, their surfaces are of
course quite overflowed. I was much pleased with tracing the
course of the stream as it rushed along its narrow channel.
It was, in some places, ten or fiftenn feet below the
surface of the rock; and, at other places, was obliged to
spread itself, in order to find a passage, thence descending
in fine cascades, one of which, near the bridge, descended a
perpendicular height of near twenty feet into a large basin
formed in the rock, with great noise and grandeur. These
waterfalls proceed not only from the different number of
strata in different parts of the bed of the river, but are
likewise, in a great degree, occasioned by the nature of the
country, which is uncommonly mountainous, a high ridge of
mountains running all along the Southern boundary of
Westmorland, down which rush several streams in different
places, and this one amongst the rest. I walked along the
bed of this river over the tops of these rocks, and they
seemed to me (judging form the fissure along which the water
ran) to be about thirty of forty feet thick. The breadth of
this bed of stone was nearly the same, and extended in
length about a quarter of a mile. If this sort of appearance
presented itself in Italy instead of England, no naturalist
would hesitate a moment to determine it the effect of some
volcanic eruption. It has every feature which marks the
character of a torrent of lava, rushing into the bed of a
river, and filling up the space it occupied. It is also
extraordinary to accunt for the manner in which the stream
has worked its passage through this bed of intruding lava,
particularly as the distance is so great; to effect which,
there is no doubt that it must have required many ages. For
my own part, when I combine the appearance of this bed of
lava with the shape of the mountain which overlooks
Stankthred Bridge and the town of Kirby Stephen, I have no
doubt that it is the eruption of some volcano, and that the
mountain, instead of discharging a stream of water as at
present, has formerly poured from its bosom a torrent of
liquid fire, the remains of which are now seen. This will
not appear so extraordinary, when we consider that it has
long been a fact ascertained by naturalists, that calcined
rocks, pumice-stone, and lava, the undoubted vestiges of
volcanos, are not peculiar to any country or climate. They
have been discovered in France, Germany, the West Indies,
and the islands in the South Seas. There are even as many
proofs of the existence of extinguished
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