afterwards was removed hither, when it got the name of Joreval, i. e. Eureval, from the river Eure running near it. Adam Sodbury, the last abbot, was one of those who were attainted in 1539*, probably for having been concerned in the Pilgrimage of Grace, which was ftirred up by the clergy, as mentioned before. At the diffolution it was valued at 4551. 10s. 5d. according to Speed, and 2341. 18s. 5d. by Dugdale, and was granted to Matthew, earl of Lenox, and lady Margaret, his wife. It now belongs to the earl of Aylesbury, who has a large eftate hereabouts. Stone coffins have been dug up in the burial grounds, and conyerted by the farmers into hog-troughs; in the coffins have been found cloth and ribbands, retaining their natural colours. The walls have been pulled down to make farm-houfes and fences, and to repair the roads.

At the foot of the right hand hill stands Danby, the feat of Mr. Scroope.

Pass a handsome bridge over the Cover, which runs out of Coverdale, and joins the Eure a little below. In this dale are fome remnants of Coverham-abbey, or Priory, founded about the 14th John by Ralph, fon of Robert, lord of Middleham. He removed hither fome canons of the Præmonftratenfian order, from a houfe at Swaneby, founded by Helwifia, his mother, daughter and heirefs of Ranulph de Glanville, the famous chief juftice, and he and feveral of his defcendants were buried heret. It was one of the leffer abbies furrendered 27 Henry VIII. having then in lands, &c. 2071. 148. 8d. a year, but reduced by penfions and expences to a clear income of 160l. 18s. 3d. In 4 Philip and Mary, it was fold by commiflioners of the crown to Humphry Orme. It stands on the north fide of the rapid brook of Cover, in the dale called from it Coverdale, and in a difmal fituation; notwithstanding which, an owner of the name of Wray, erected from the ruins a dwelling-houfe adjoining to the fpot. A few years ago two ftatues, larger than the life, were dug up here, in the habit of knights templars, in a cumbent pofture, ornamented with foliage and animals, but of moft rude workmanship‡.

From the bridge, having the Eure on the right, fee the lofty fragments of Middleham-castle, overlooking the town. Large pieces of the walls have fallen down, and the mortar feems lefs durable than it is generally found in thofe ancient buildings. Alan the IId. earl of Brittany and Richmond, gave this and other manors to Ribald, his younger brother, who poffeffed it at the time of the Conqueror's furvey. Robert, his grandfon, erected this caftle about the year 1190. On his death, in the 54th of Henry III. it defcended, with the foreft of Coverdale, to Mary, one of his daughters, who had married Robert de Nevill§, in whofe family it continued till feized by Edw. IV. who had been imprifoned here under the care of the archbishop of York, brother to the great earl of Warwick, but made his escape either by the careleffnefs or defign of his keeper; if it was the latter, the king made him a very ill return, when a few years afterwards, under pretence of vifiting him at his feat at the More, or Mote, in Hertfordshire, he feized all the plate which the archbishop had got there of his own, and had borrowed of others, in order to entertain him the more magnificently. Still worse, he kept him in prifon at Calais four years, in which time he was fo ill-ufed, that he died foon after being relcafed. The outer part was built or rebuilt by one of the Nevills.

The only fon of Richard III. died young at this castle, and from that time it is not mentioned in history. The late earl of Holderneffe was conftable of it, as his family

had long been; but in the beginning of the last century, it was inhabited by fir Henry Lindley*.

From hence is a fine view of the dale, with the winding river, the villages and woods, and over them it extends to a great distance towards the east. The entrance was on the north fide, next the town; fome part of a moat appears on the fouth and east fides. At a little distance on the fouth fide are two artificial mounts, midway between which and the caftle, is a remarkably diftinct and loud echof.

The town of Middleham ftands on high ground, overlooking the beautiful valley called Wenfley-dale, from a village in it of that name, the church of which lord Scroope had a licence to make collegiate in the Henry IV. but it does not appear that he carried his defign into execution. The dale is of confiderable width, lying between two hills, adorned with feveral villages, and is watered by the river Eure, which runs through it with many windings. From Middleham the paffage over the river is by a ford; but after rains you must return as far as Coverbridge, or go up as high as Wenfley; but to fee the most of the vale, the way is to go by Coverbridge, and through the villages of Spenythorne, Armby, Leyburn, and Wenfley. The meandring of the river through the most verdant paftures, whofe hedges are filled with trees, the fcattered villages, the hanging woods, the contraft of the bare hill-tops, form all together a most captivating scene. From a ridge of rock above Leyburn, the whole is viewed to great advantage. At Armby is a fall of water, which after rain, is con fiderable.

In Wenfley church is a curiously carved pew, brought from the monaftery of St. Agatha, near Richmond, which formerly belonged to the lords Scroope of Bolton. On this is ftill legible the name of Henry lord Scroope, carved on the wood, in text hand, with other infcriptions, now much brokent.

In the middle of the dale ftands Bolton-hall, and at fome diftance, under a fine grove, Bolton-caftle. The prefent house was built by Charles, marquis of Winchefter, created duke of Bolton by William III. He was a man of the most extraor dinary difpofition; fometimes he would not speak for weeks together, at others he would not open his mouth till fuch an hour of the day, when he thought the air was pures. We have lately heard of a hunting by torch-light in France, to amuse the king of Denmark when there, but it was not a novelty, having been practised by this gentleman. But with all these oddities he was a man of deep policy, and played his cards with great art in the difficult times of Charles II., James, and William.

A pillar on the hill, which fronts the houfe, commemorates the gratitude of a former owner, who buried under it a race-horfe, by whofe fpeed he recovered the eftate, which his destructive paffion for gaming had once loft. It may ferve as a useful me

mento.

By marriage of a natural daughter of Emanuel, Lord Scroope, (created by Charles I., earl of Sunderland, who had no legitimate iffue) this eftate came to an ancestor of the prefent owner. In the house are a few portraits of that family; amongst them is one of Henry, lord Scroope, one of thofe noblemen who figned the famous letter to the pope, threatening that if he did not permit the divorce between Henry VIII., and queen Catherine, they would reject his fupremacy. The eftate round this manfion is very

confiderable, with many lead mines in it, from which the duke receives one fifth of the fmelted lead, and has no farther trouble than to carry it to market.

Bolton caftle was built by Richard, lord Scroope, the honeft and fpirited chancellor of Richard II., but whofe ancestors had an eftate here at least as early as 24 Edward I. Leland fays, it was 18 years in building, and the coft 1000 marks a year, which makes 12,000l. He fays that the timber ufed about it was moftly fetched from the foreft of Engleby, in Cumberland, by relays of ox teams placed on the road. He mentions chimneys made in the fide of the walls for conveyance of the fimoak, as a thing he had not been accustomed to fee*. He alfo mentions an aftronomical clock being here.

The caftle is of a quadrilateral figure, the greateft length being from north to fouth,. but no two of its fides equal; the fouth is 184 feet, the oppofite 187, the weft 131, and the east 125. It has four right lined towers, one at each angle, but neither their faces nor flanks are equal; each of the former measuring on the north and fouth sides 47 feet and an half, and on the eaft and weft only 35 feet and an half; the latter vary from feven feet and an half to fix feet. In the centre between the two towers, both on the north and fouth fides, is a large projecting right-angled buttrefs or turret; that on the north fide is 15 feet in front, its weft fide 14, its eaft 16; on the fouth fide the front is 12 feet, its caft nine, its weft 12.

The grand entrance was in the eaft curtain, near the fouthernmoft tower; there were three other doors, one on the north, two on the weft fide. The walls are feven feet thick, 97 high. It was lighted by feveral ftages of windows. The chief lodging rooms were in the towers. The east and north fides are moftly in ruins, the west part is in good repair. One of the towers, which was the principal object of attack in the civil wars, fell down in the night in November 17611.

Mary, Queen of Scots, was confined here under the care of lord Scroope in 1568, but was foon removed to Tutbury caftle, in Staffordshire. Her chamber isfhewn.

In the civil wars this caftle was gallantly defended for the king by col. Scroope, but at length furrendered on honorable terms.

In this parish lived that fingular inftance of longevity, Henry Jenkins, who died December 8, 1670, aged 169 years. After he was more than 100 years old, he ufed to swim in the rivers, and was called upon as an evidence to a fact of 140 yearspast. He was once a butler to lord Conyers, after that a fisherman, and at last a beggar.

In the road from hence to Afkrigg and Richmond, are the falls of the river Eure, called Atte-fcarre (from the rocks between which the river runs) corruptly Ayfgarth Force, or the Force, which are lefs known than they deferve to be, and which, indeed, exceed any expectation that can well be formed of them, and any description which I can give.

Crofs the river at Bolton-hall, and the right hand road leads to a small public-house near Ayfgarth church; here the horses may be left. Go down a fharp defcent to the bridge, turn on the right, and foon quitting the high road, go on the right again, through a little wood, and over three or four fields, by a blind path, to the bank from whence the principal fall is feen.

Mr. King, in defcribing the very ancient caftle of Connifborough, in Yorkshire, which he attributes to the Saxons, mentions a chimney formed in the wall, which must have been co-eval with the building. + Thefe measurements are taken from Mr. Grofe's very elegant work, to which I am indebted for much information.

The

The romantic fituation of the handfome church of Ayfgarth, on an eminence, folitarily overlooking these cataracts, (fays the ingenious Mr. Maude, chief agent to the duke of Bolton here,) the decency of the ftructure within and without, its perfect-retirement, the rural church-yard, the dying founds of water amidst woods and rocks, wildy intermixed with the variety and magnitude of the furrounding hills, concur to render this fcene at once awful and picturefque, in a very high degree.

The falls that are above the bridge, are feen on defcending to it, but are seen to greater advantage on the return. You there view them through a fpacious light arch, which presents the river at every step in variety of forms. On the left is the fteeple, emerging from a copfe.

From the bridge the water falls near half a mile, upon a furface of stone, in fome places quite fmooth, in others worn into great cavities, and inclofed by bold and fhrubbed cliffs; in others it is interrupted by huge maffes of rock standing upright in the middle of the current. It is every where changing its face, and exhibits fome grand fpecimens before it comes to the chief defcent, called The Force.

The whole river, which is of confiderable breadth, here pours down a ledge of irregular broken rock, and falling to a great depth, boils up in fheets of white foam, and is fome time before it can recover itself fufficiently to purfue its course, which it does at last with great rapidity. No words can do juftice to the grandeur of this scene, which was faid by Dr. Pococke to exceed that of the Cataracts of the Nile, nor is it much lefs difficult for the pencil to defcribe it; I do not think that the very accurate and judicious Mr. Pennant (excellent as his plates in general are) fhews half its mag

nificence.

The bridge has on it the date of 1539, which is probably a stone of the old bridge, the prefent one seeming of much later date.

Returning back to the bridge you have a full view of the falls above it, as mentioned before, and here your horfes may meet you, for if you go to the public-house you must return and cross the river again to go to Afkrigg.

This place is in a bottom, and for a mile or two before coming to the descent of the hill, the road runs along the edge of a steep declivity on the left, guarded by a stone wall. On the fide of this bank is an old houfe of Mr. Weddell, called Nappa. hall, which he has quitted for Newby, near Ripon. This was formerly the feat of the Medcalfs, fo numerous a family, that Camden fays fir Chriftopher Medcalf, the chief of them, went with 300 horfe, all of his family and name, and in the fame habit, to receive the juftices of afsize, and conduct them to York.

When here, I ought to have gone to Richmond, a few miles off, a town delightfully fituated on the Swale, where is a caftle built by Alan, earl of Bretagne, nephew of William the Conqueror. The late earl of Holderneffe had a feat here, which he fold to Laurence Dundas, who, by that and a fubfequent purchase, obtained the reprefentation of the borough.

Alkrigg is a small town, with decent accommodation at the George. The inhabitants are employed in knitting stockings, of which they make great quantities.

In this neighbourhood are fome remarkable water-falls, two of which called Mill Gill, and Whitfield Gill, are within an eafy walk from the town. Another called Hardrow-force or fofs, is five miles off.

The courfe of a fmall ftream leads up a meadow to Mill Gill, where the water has forced a paffage of two or three yards in width, through the rocks, and falls down perpendicularly about 16 yards: feen from below, it has a confiderable effect, the rock appearing to have been perforated merely to give it way.

Higher up the fame stream, is Whitfield Gill, where the ftream coming to the edge. of a rock, has a fall of 22 yards; but this can only be feen from the high ground, the bottom being scarcely, if at all, acceffible.

From the hill above this place, the river Bain is feen running from Semerewater, by a little village, called Bainbridge, into the Eure. This piece of water is about a mile fquare, and lies about three or four miles from Afkrigg. At the junction of these two ftreams, there was a Roman garrifon; and upon the hill (which they call Burgh) are the ground-works of an old fortification, about five acres in compafs; and under it, to the eaft, the tracks of many houses were vifible in Camden's time. He found there a fragment of a Roman infcription, in a very fair character, with a winged victory supporting it; from which he conjectures, that the fort was formerly called Bracchium, which had been made of turf, but was then built of ftone and mortar; and that the 6th cohort of the Nervii was garrifoned here. They alfo feem to have had a fummer camp on that high hill, hard by, which is called Ethelbury. A statue of Aurelius Commodus, the emperor, was dug up here (in Camden's time) in the habit of Hercules, his right hand armed with a club. At Gigglefwick, a mile from Settle, is a well, which ebbs and flows much oftener than that at Tidfwell. In this neighbourhood, are feveral remarkable caves, of which we had fuch imperfect information, or rather hints only, that we did not vifit them. A full account of them, has been lately given in a pamphlet, called "A Tour to the Caves," to which I must refer for a particular defcription; but fhall just mention the names of fome. The route feems to be from Afkrigg to Ingleton, between which places, is Hurtlepot, a round deep hole, 30 or 40 yards diameter, and as much in depth, to the furface of a deep black water; Ginglepot; and Weathercoat cave, in which is a fubterranean cataract. Three miles before coming to Ingleton, a few yards out of the road, on the right, the river Weate or Greta, gushes out of several fountains, all within twenty or thirty yards of each other, having run about two miles under ground, though making its appearance in two or three places within that distance. Near Ingleton, is Yordas-cove, in the vale of Kingsdale.

Ingleborough is a very lofty hill, the name of which is derived from the Saxon, and fignifies a rocky hill fire ftation; on the top, was a beacon, erected by the Roman garrifon at Overborough, five miles diftant, and was extremely well adapted to that pur pofe, being itself seen at great distances, and commanding a view of many other hill-tops. It is a mile in height, 3987 yards above the level of the fea, the base near 20 miles in circumference. The afcent is at the beginning even and gradual, but becomes, by degrees, more rugged and perpendicular, and is at laft fo fteep, that it is with difficulty you get up, and it is only in fome places that you can do it at all. The top is level, almoft a mile in circumference, having the ruins of a wall round it, and of the beacon. On this spot races have been run; but the rock is fo fcantily covered with earth, that little grafs grows on it. From hence there is a most unbounded profpect. Near the top, on the eaft fide, is a ftratum of ftone, like the Derbyshire marble, full of entrochi; white fea fhells are found in the black and brown marble, which is dug heret. A number of fprings rife on the fides of this hill, fome near the fummit, which fall into holes or chafms when they come to the limeftone, and paffing under ground fome way, burft out again towards the bafe. Some of thefe caverns may be defcended, and the paffage purfued to a great diftance; fome of them are dry, others having a continual run of water, fuch as Blackfide Cove, fir William's Cove,

Tour to the Caves