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YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS AT BINGLEY. 
W. H. PEARSALL D.SC., AND F. A. MASON, F.R.M.S. 
The meeting of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union on the 13th May had 
for its object the examination of the Harden Valley, near Bingley. 
Owing to the unusual lateness of the season, the results of the investigation 
were in many respects disappointing, but an unusually large gathering of 
members and associates had otherwise an enjoyable and varied day. 
The route traversed followed the river as far as Beckfoot, and thence 
went up the Harden Beck towards Goitstock, returning to Bingley by 
way of Harden Moor, Heather Glen and the Druids’ Altar. Much of 
this area lies in the. Manor of Harden, in earlier days belonging to the 
■Cistercian Abbots of Rievaulx. It is rich in historical and artistic 
associations, which one would perhaps not suspect from its present 
industrial surroundings, and many members made use of the oppor- 
tunities offered to commence their acquaintance with the numerous 
features of archaeological interest. At Beckfoot, the farm buildings 
show double crosses and stone lanterns, which indicate that they had 
belonged to Crusaders when built about 1617. The pack horse bridge, 
dating from 1723, lies on an old pack route between Scotland and the 
south, which had probably been in use for centuries before the bridge 
was rebuilt. Bingley itself was a Saxon township, and the present 
cemetery on Bailey Hills occupies the site of a prehistoric settlement 
formerly bounded by the river, and an extensive lake and marshes, which 
were, even in 1846, almost impassable, and, later, nearly led to the 
abandoning of the present railway line. On Harden Moor there are 
ancient barrows, earthworks, and a Roman road. 
Rossetti stayed at Harden Grange for a time, and the summer house 
at Wood Bank contains paintings by one of his pupils. The Druids’ 
Altar figures in Disraeli’s novel ‘ Sybil.’ 
Geology (E. E. Gregory) : — The uppermost rock of the district 
wished is the Rough Rock, while the portion traversed by the Harden 
Beck presents a series of grits, sandstones, and shales immediately 
underlying the Rough Rock. A ' fault ’ runs approximately in an east 
to west direction along the Harden Valley, and extends from beyond 
Bingley to the west of Harden village, where it terminates against 
another ‘ fault ’ crossing at right angles, which can be traced from 
Keighley — south by east — to Bradford. This latter fault has contributed 
to the formation of Deep Cliff, or what is known as Heather Glen, up which 
the party proceeded from Harden village. On the western slope of the 
glen, and near the head of the valley, striking evidence of the fault 
was seen in the ‘ slickensided ’ face of the crags. 
On the eastern side of Heather Glen, on what is known as the Lower 
Crag, several examples of glaciated rock surfaces were observed on the 
exposed portions of the Rough Rock, particulars of which have been 
published in the Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society for 1906. 
Numerous indications of Glacial times were in evidence. Bingley 
itself stands upon a moraine, and boulder clay and gravels occur at 
Beckfoot and along the Harden valley. Airedale, in this neighbourhood, 
has been filled up considerably with glacial debris, such as ‘ Till ’ or 
boulder clay, which contains large boulders of Carboniferous Limestone 
and grits, and other Carboniferous rocks ; also a few Silurian grit boulders, 
mostly of small size. In addition, sands and gravels are well represented, 
and a number of morainic mounds extend both above and below Bingley. 
Formerly, particularly in the 17th century, the morainic mounds at 
Castlefields, Bailey Hills, Myrtle Park, Hesp Hills, and other places, 
were excavated for the limestone boulders which they contained, which 
were burned in rough kilns on the spot. 
The pre-glacial river level would be considerably below the position 
1922 July 1 
