Some Notes and Speculation about the Names of Caves
Documentary
research has shown that some of our more obvious caves and potholes have not always
borne the name by which we know them today. For instance, does anyone know
where
A
lot of us will have begun our caving career with a trip down Calf Holes.
However, we will have to have been shown where Calf Holes is, because we wont find it labeled as such on any modern O.S. map. Up to
the 1970s, the OS. had this cave labeled as
The
Enclosure Awards for Horton-in-Ribblesdale give us the old names of some other
well-known potholes. The 1847 map of Horton Moor names Cross Pot as Crook Cove.
The outline of the shaft on the surface is definitely in the shape of a cross,
whereas crook implies just a bend or hook. Could it be that an even older name
for this shaft was ‘Crux”, which is Latin for cross, and over time the final s
sound has been dropped?
The same award names Penyghent Long Churn as Long Churn Caverns, which makes
this hole sound far grander than it actually is. The
1821 Award for the lower just
a bend or hook. Could it be that an even older name for this shaft was Crux”,
which is Latin for cross, and over time the final s sound has been dropped?
The
same award names Penyghent Long Churn as Long Churn Caverns, which makes this hole sound far grander than it actually is. The 1821 Award
for the Lower Division of Horton in Ribblesdale calls Hull Pot, Hurl Pot. This
seems to be just two different spellings of the same word, but what is that
word? A hull was a shelter, and a hurl was a pile of stones or cairn, not
necessarily the same thing. A large shakehole above
Brackenbottom is known to us these days as Larch Tree
Hole, but in 1795 the Dubcoat Scan Award map
labels it Heslepot Hole. This would seem to imply not
just a change of name but a change of tree, hazel has become larch!
Half
a mile to the west of Selside is another massive
shaft, Alum Pot. Even the older documents such as the 1822 map of Borrens and
The
water which sinks into the sump at the lowest point of Alurn
Pot is not seen again until it resurges at Turn Dub, which curiously is on the
other side of the River Ribble. (Was this originally
called Tarn Dub, lying as it does just below Horton Tarn?) However, in very wet
weather there is an overflow resurgence back on the
west side of the dale at Footnaws Hole. A strange
name, how did it come about? Who was Mr Footnaw? The name does not appear in the parish registers. Or
was there some ancient artifact or feature called a footnaw,
and did this hole have more than one of them?
Unable
to come up with any answer, I gave up puzzling after a while. Then a few months
ago I came across a map of land at Selside, the
properties of Messrs Ayrton and Foster in 1868. The
field lying immediately to the north of Footnaws Hole
is called, rather surprisingly, Foot and Arse. Yes,
really! You couldn’t make it up. The name is written on the
map in the field, and also in the list of fields belong to J.W. Foster,
so there is no mistake. If you try to say that field name in a local accent,
you will see how it was possible that the refined gentlemen who made the first
Ordnance Survey map in 1851 arrived at the name Footnaws.
Why the field should have the name shown on the 1868 map in the first place is
as yet unexplained.
Photo shows Footnaws
Hole, (or should the name be changed?). The field with the unusual name is over
the wall on the left.
Sources:
1892
“The Craven & North-West Yorkshire Highlands” by Harry Speight
1795 Dubcoat Scarr Award, 1821 Horton Award and 1847 Horton Moor Award -
all property of Horton-inRibblesdale Parish Council
1791
Award for the division of Selside Shaws,
Lamb Pasture and The
Park - Yorkshire Archaeological Society,
1822 Map of Borrens & North Cote
and 1868 Map of Selside showing lands the properties
of Edward Ayrton and J.W.Foster
- North Yorkshire County Record Office, Northallerton
Helen
Sergeant