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On a beautiful summer morning, thirteen members of UWHG and one guest, met Carol Howard and Jeff Price from the Ingleborough Archaeology Group, for a guided walk around some of the many interesting features in Kingsdale.
We started with the site of the most recent IAG excavation and looked at some of the finds they had brought to show us. Jumping forward in time from the Mesolithic to the Medieval, we moved to the original area of excavation where Jeff explained what had been uncovered and Carol painted a vivid picture of the people who had inhabited the valley and their way of life, together with all the political intrigue. To round off our visit to the site, we looked at where the burned area was eroding away into the stream and learned that this lay above material dated to the Bronze Age.
This wide time span set the scene for the remainder of the walk. The prolonged spell of good weather meant that the stream was dry so we were able to crisscross the valley with ease and Jeff took us to a number earthworks and groups of small enclosures often with signs of associated buildings of varying dates, as well as the ‘Apronful of Stones’, a prehistoric burial cairn.
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The group looking at the ‘Apronful of Stones’. © Pat Carroll
The penultimate stop, saw many of the group taking faltering steps into the unknown, as we shared torches to explore Yordas Cave. Carol explained that it was a much visited show cave for the Victorians and showed an old ph otograph which demonstrated just how much the entrance has silted up in the last century. Some of the group now elected to spend a peaceful hour in the shade of the trees around Yordas, admiring the view. The more energetic, followed Carol up the steep side of the valley to the turbary on the higher slopes. Here we managed to find some of the marker stones and Carol explained the turbary history and how it had been laid out .
Joining the rest of the group in the valley bottom we all agreed that the day had been full of interest and extremely enjoyable and Carol and Jeff were thanked accordingly.
Pat Carroll Secretary/Treasurer UWHG
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