UNDER THE CRAGS 33 



hillocks, which rest upon a gentle slope. Across the 

 river is a great hillside, six miles long as seen from 

 our windows, which culminates to the west in 

 Beamsley Beacon ; the higher parts are heathery, the 

 lower slopes covered with wood and pasture. 



The two sides of the valley might be called Security 

 and Desolation. The opposite slope is stable, and 

 will never move unless all Yorkshire is shaken. Our 

 side is wild and rugged, because of great landslips. 

 We have the better prospects and the more picturesque 

 rocks, but the other side gets the best of the sunshine. 

 In December the sun never shines upon our house for 

 two full hours in the day. 



From the Cow and Calf to a line well below our 

 house the whole hillside has slipped. The form of 

 the ground tells the tale. The great sandstone cliffs 

 have been cracked through, and the insufficiently 

 supported edge has fallen in wild ruin, pushing before 

 it great mounds of shale and clay. Near the line of 

 fracture great fissures run through the sandstone, as 

 if more would fall some day. The Calf is on the 

 slipped ground, the Cow is part of the cliff which has 

 stood firm. A quarter of a mile to the west of us 

 the fallen rocks are piled into a long and steep ridge. 

 Between them and the cliffs from which they have 

 broken away lies a considerable hollow, called the 

 Rocky Valley. Eastwards the slip increases in 

 volume, and covers almost all the hillside as seen 

 from the river. 



What brought down this great sheet of rocks and 

 earth, which measures more than a square mile in 

 extent? One usual condition of a landslip is con- 



D 



