button to main menu   West's Guide to the Lakes, 1778/1821

button title page
button previous page button next page
button start of addendum
Page 280:-
prospect. They are by the side of the vale along which descends the river Wharf. Like those at Giggleswick, they extend in a line to some distance; but are higher and more prominent. The road we came along wound down amongst these crags, so that we were presented with a full view of them on a sudden, which caused the greater surprize.- After having refreshed ourselves at Grassington, we travelled about nine miles farther, and came to Skipton. The country all around us is uneven and rugged; the vales are fertile on the surface, and the mountains beneath it abound with rich mines of lead. After we had visited the castle (which belongs to the Earl of Thanet) and the curious canal behind it, above the mills, which leads to the limestone quarry, by the side of a romantic deep glen, we left Skipton. Before our departure we were for some time in doubt, whether we should ascend the steep and black hill of Rombaldsmoor, and so proceed down the vale of Wardale, one of the pleasantest in England, to Otley, and so to Leeds; or go by Keighley, Bingly, and Bradford, along the side of the new canal, and view the locks and other contrivances on this new and useful work of art. Most of us having been the former road, and this with its objects being quite new, we were induced to proceed along it. At Kildwick, about four miles from Skipton, we passed under this aqueduct, where it was banked up a great height above the adjoining lands, at a vast labour and expense. There have been some violent struggles between the elements of earth and water - the mounds have not always been able to keep the water within its proper limits, they having oftener than once been broken through by the pressure on their sides. About a mile further, at Streeton, we could not but observe the steep ascent and descent of the road over a hill, when a level path might have been made almost equally near along the side of the river. The inconveniences that must attend carriage in carts and waggons from such ill-concerted roads, perhaps might suggest the expediency of a canal. The use and practicability of such an undertaking in a mountainous country, one would imagine, might give the inhabitants a hint to make their roads wind with easy ascents and descent
button next page
gazetteer links
button -- Kildwick Aqueduct (?)
button -- "Kilsey Crag" -- Kilnsey Crag
button -- Leeds and Liverpool Canal
button -- Skipton Castle
button -- Skipton
button -- Springs Branch Canal

button to main menu Lakes Guides menu.