54 THE TOKKSHIIIE CAVES. 



into the stream. Some bushy hazels grew at intervals along the 

 lines of the wall, and a few ash trees as the winds had sown 

 them. To the east and west some fields adjoin it, in that state 

 of half cultivation which gives a human character to solitude. 

 To the south, on the other side of the brook, the common, with 

 its limestone rocks peering everywhere above ground, extended 

 to the foot of Ingieborough. A craggy hill, feathered with 

 birch, sheltered it from the north. The turf of the churchyard 

 was as soft and fine as that of the adjoining hills ; it was seldom 

 broken, so scanty was the population to which it was appropri- 

 ated; scarcely a thistle or a nettle deformed it; and the few 

 tombstones which had been placed there were now themselves 

 half buried. The sheep came over the wall when they listed, 

 and sometimes took shelter in the porch from the storm. Their 

 voices and the cry of the kite wheeling above were the only 

 sounds which were heard there, except when the single bell, 

 which hung in its niche over the entrance, tinkled for service on 

 the Sabbath day, or with a slower tongue gave notice that one 

 of the children of the soil was returning to the earth from which 

 he sprung." 



The tiny Church, which will hold about eighty persons, is the 

 only place of worship within many a mile, and is ''never too 

 small" for its congregation. 



The day had been cloudy throughout, with driving showers, 

 which precluded all hope of making the ascent of the Ingle- 

 borough hill, for when a mountain is buried in mist, with furious 

 scuds flying across its brow, it is best to be content with the 

 valley below. "We much regretted not being able to carry out 

 this part of our programme, for Ingieborough is by far the 

 grandest of the Yorkshire mountains. It rises to an elevation of 

 2,361 feet above the sea level, and has a top so flat and spacious 

 that an encampment of more than fifteen acres, of which traces 

 are still visible, was established upon it, probably by the Britons. 

 The joke in Craven is that in former times the Yorkshiremen 

 enjoyed their favourite pastime of horse-racing on this singular 

 level. The view from the summit is beautiful and varied, com- 

 manding Morecambe Bay and the Irish Sea, and at times the 



