In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Ingleborough like this:
INGLEBOROUGH, a mountain in W. R. Yorkshire; at the watershed between the seas, 8 miles NW by N of Settle. It rises from a base of at least 30 miles in circuit, and attains an altitude of 2, 361 feet above sea level. Its skirts consist largely of morass. Its substance is chiefly limestone and grit. ...
Its sides are cut with deep chasms, and pierced with deep funnel shaped cavities. Several streamlets rise on its shoulders, and fall into its crevices. Its summit is a tableau of about a mile in circuit; was a beacon station in the Roman and the Saxon times; took thence the name of Ingleborough, which signifies "the station of fire;" has vestiges of an ancient British camp of about 15 acres, inclosing traces of 19 ancient horse shoe shaped huts; was crowned, about 1820, by a tower, called a Hospice, now in a ruinous condition; is generally wreathed in mists or clouds; but, on a clear day, forms a prominent feature throughout a great extent of country, and commands a panoramic view to the Craven hills, Snowdonia, the Irish sea, Scaw fell, Helvellyn, and Cross fell. Ingleborough cave, at the S skirt of the mountain, about 1½ mile from Clapham, is one of the most magnificent caverns in the kingdom, and may be reached either from Clapham r. station or Clapham village, through the grounds of Ingleborough House, the seat of J. W. Farrer, Esq.; and is approached by a glen, overhung by lofty, precipitous, creviced hills It pierces a vast limestone precipice; is entered by a low wide arch; consists, for about 600 feet, of a mere tunnel, with a height of from 15 to 5 feet; expands then into a spacious chamber, with surface all elaborated in a manner resembling the work of a Gothic cathedral, in limestone formations of endless variety of form and size; and proceeds thence into a series of chambers, corridors, and recesses, first made accessible in 1838, said to have an aggregate extent of about 2, 000 feet, and displaying a marvellous and most beautiful variety of stalactites and stalagmites. A streamlet runs through the whole, and helps to give purity to the air. An opening into the cave from the upper ground is at a chasm called Gaping-Gill-Hole, near the route of the ordinary ascent of the mountain; and here a streamlet falls into the cave in what must be a very profound abyss.
Additional information about this locality is available for Ingleton
Ingleborough through time
Ingleborough is now part of Craven district. Click here for graphs and data of how Craven has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Ingleborough itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Ingleborough, in Craven and West Riding | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/25484
Date accessed: 18th May 2024
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