cow’us

It promised to be a lovely day, without being too hot, so we set off once again to follow the River Swale. We were surprised, although we shouldn’t have been, to see this fast-flowing river hardly moving at all and the waterfall that we watched two weeks ago just trickling - so much less water in the river. 

We soon got to the lovely hamlet of Keld. Gordon set off up into the hills to look at former lead mine workings, whilst I wandered the hamlet and found lots of interest. Keld is not even a village really, more a hamlet, a cluster of buildings, but it has a history going back centuries. Keld is a Norse word for ’spring’ and there is other evidence of this being a Viking settlement. There are several farms with long histories and there are buildings with 17th and 18th century datestones, but the place really came into its own with the lead mining industry in the 18th and 19th century. Many of the buildings from this time have been carefully restored and there is an impressive Resource Centre in what was an 18th century Literary Institute next to the old school and the chapel. I spent a lot of time exploring all of this. 

My photo was taken from Keld Chapel churchyard. High in the hills you can just make out where the lead mining took place and even the track up to it - that’s where Gordon went. The track below leads steeply down to the river. In the field below, and dotted around the hillside, are barns, similar to the Bank Barn we went inside in Great Asby last week. In this area they are known as Cowhouses, or “cow’usses” as that is what they were - barns in which to keep a family’s few cows in the winter. 

My Extra is a sundial on the Chapel. 

By the time we left Keld there were quite a few people around. Keld is a popular place for walking to waterfalls and just up from the river the Pennine Way and The Coast to Coast trails cross, making Keld a popular place for walkers to stay and camp. 

The lovely drive over to Hawes, which was full of people, and to Settle for fish and chips. Ice cream at Orton and home.