Old Cumbria Gazetteer - Meregill Hole, North Yorkshire


	Meregill Hole, North Yorkshire
	Meregill Hole
county:-	North Yorkshire
locality type:-	cave
locality type:-	pothole
coordinates:-	SD740757
1Km square:-	SD7475
10Km square:-	SD77
SummaryText:-	Grade IV.
SummaryText:-	Explored by Yorkshire Ramblers Club, 1908-12; extended by University of Leeds Speleological Association, 1966-67.
references:-	Brook, A & Brook, D & Davies, G M &Long, M H: 1975: Northern Caves, vol.3 Ingleborough: Dalesman Books (Clapham, North Yorkshire):: ISBN 0 85206 312 1

evidence:-	descriptive text:- West 1778 (11th edn 1821) placename:- Meir Gill
source data:-	Guide book, A Guide to the Lakes, by Thomas West, published by William Pennington, Kendal, Cumbria once Westmorland, and in London, 1778 to 1821. goto source Tour to the Caves in the West Riding of Yorkshire, late 18th century Page 263:- "... Several springs have their origin near the summit [of Ingleborough], particularly one on the north side, of pure and well-tasted water, called Fair-weather Sykes, which runs down by the side of a sheep-fence wall into a chasm called Meir Gill. All the other springs, as well as this, when they come to the limestone base, are swallowed [up]" goto source Page 265:- "..." "In our return [from the top of Ingleborough] we visited the long, deep, and dreadful chasm of Meir-Gill, on the west side of the sheep-fence wall, running north and south over the base of Ingleborough. It is about eighty yards long, but in most places so narrow that a person may stride over it, and is no where above two or three yards wide: in one place there is a curious natural bridge over it. The depth is very different in different places; in one place we found it an hundred feet, forty-eight of which were in the water. One part will admit a bold and active adventurer down almost to the water, by a gradual but slippery descent. Here the shadow of the superincumbent rocks, like that in Hurtlepot, forms a deceitful appearance in the water: the bottom seems not above two feet below the surface; but how fatal would be the attempt to wade this abyss, in quest of further discoveries, from this shadow of encouragement! The narrowness of this crevice at the top, has something dreadful and alarming in it: how fatal would one false step prove to the unwary shepherd amongst the snow, when the mouth is drifted up; or to a stranger bewildered in a fog, and looking forward with eager eyes for some habitation or frequented path! Harmless and heedless" goto source Page 266:- "sheep have often been suddenly swallowed up by this gaping wonder of nature. To say that no living creature ever came out of its mouth, would be a proposition too general; trouts of a protuberant size have been drawn out of it, where they had been long nourished in safety; their habitation being seldom disturbed by the insidious fisherman."

evidence:-	descriptive text:- Balderston c1890 placename:- Mere Gill Holes
source data:-	Book, Ingleton, Bygone and Present, by Robert R and Margaret Balderston, published by Simpkin, Marshall and Co, London, and by Edmndson and Co, 24 High Street, Skipton, Yorkshire, about 1890. goto source page 43:- "..." "Mere Gill Holes and Fall." "Some distance further along the flats to the south-west, and in a position intermediate between God's Bridge and the spur of Ingleborough, called Swine's Tail, is a rapid mountain stream, by the sides of which various ferns grow in great abundance; its extent, however, upon the moorland" goto source page 44:- "is not very great, for its course is suddenly intercepted by a tremendous canyon, partly open to the sky above and partly closed by the impending rocks which are still further covered by the moorland turf. Owing to this fact two great rifts are found, the first, into which the waters are precipitated, has a magnificent shower-bath-sprayed fall, being wider than the other; yet the beauties of the great cascade are in a great measure thickly veiled by mountain ash and other bushes. On the dreadful ledge jutting out above the abyss beautiful ferns and marvellously rank, spread as a luxurious couch for fays and mountain sprites, and for thee, bold mountaineer, whereon thou now canst cast thy length to ease a fleeting lassitude, and for a while to lull the brain with the incessant plash that rises from below, mingling its voice with whispers from the trembling leaves. The lower end of the chasm has its sides more sheer and unbroken, with its cliffs, laved at the base by the waters of a pool like Erebus, sixty-five feet high. The waterfall is forty-two feet in height, and with the cascades above has a total descent of fifty-seven." "Into the mouth of the second rift there is a narrow, sloping entrance of a soft sandy substance, leading downwards for a short distance. Above, the long and horrid cleft is very narrow but partly closed at first, whilst deep, still waters are seen below. The height of these rocks at the lower end is forty-eight feet above the water, the depth of which was, at the time of measurement, five feet more; through the dangerous eye-hole in the closed portion, however, the profundity was found to be sixty feet to the water and eighty-five to the bottom, and through the mouth, with a slightly curved line, a sounding was obtained at one point of one hundred and five feet, showing the depth of the water at that place to be about forty feet. A smaller stream only a few yards further to the south also" goto source page 45:- "loses itself in the ground. To the north-east there are many streams of this description."

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