Fairy Bank – Fell Beck

  The Fairy Bank is a section of the Fell Beck stream valley, located two miles to east of Pateley Bridge in the Yorkshire Dales.

  Like the Fairy Table at Kilburn, the only record of this fairy site appears to be on the first edition OS map (1854). The name was noted down several years ago, but for some reason it remained on the ‘to do’ list, even after visiting the nearby sites at Brimham Rocks and Boggart Crag. The Fairy Bank came back into focus after visiting the Fairy Table outcrop at Kilburn (on the edge of North York Moors) which led to an interesting quote from a German website, translated as ……

“Where mighty masses of stone stare down,
there they have their ‘fairy houses’.
There they eat at the ‘fairy table’.”

  This quote seemed to encapsulate a folklore pattern which had been noted at several Faerie and Hob sites in this region. These usually feature prominent rock outcrops, crags, or cliffs, perhaps with a cave, and a nearby source of water. With this is mind it was decided to visit the Fairy Bank site as a sort of ‘test case’. Having never seen the location, and with no details available, it would be interesting to see if the Fairy Bank would fit the pattern.

The Fairy Table – Kilburn

“Where mighty masses of stone stare down,
there they have their Fairy houses.
There they eat at the Fairy Table.”

 The Fairy Table is a rock outcrop located on a wooded hillside, one mile to the north-east of Kilburn village on the edge of the North York Moors.

 The outcrop is marked on the first edition OS map (1856), so it had some local significance before this date, but there appears to be nothing on record to explain the interesting name.

 There is another rock outcrop called the ‘Fairies Table’ located on the wooded slopes leading down to the river Lyne, to the north of Carlisle in Cumbria. This is described as a large flat topped rock on which the fairies would dance on moonlit nights. The fairies were also said to live in a cave nearby.

The Devil’s Parlour Cave – Roulston Scar

 The Devil’s Parlour cave is located in the cliff face at Roulston Scar, half a mile to the south of Sutton Bank, and 5 miles east of Thirsk.

 The cave takes the form of a tall but narrow fissure in the rock face at the base of the cliffs. The passage is not much more than two feet wide, and extends about 30ft into the rock before it becomes impassable. There appears to be nothing particularly ‘devilish’ about this cave, so how did it come by its curious name? The answer would seem to lie in a local story which connects Roulston Scar with the Devil, and the prominent ridge of Hood Hill, half a mile to the west.

The waters return to Trollers Gill

   Previous visits to Trollers Gill noted the curious sight of a flowing stream disappearing underground half way down the ravine, only to re-emerge in the empty stream bed to the south of the gorge.

  For much of year the stream bed in the gorge forms a rocky path used by walkers trekking up the ravine (see pic below), but after winter rains the underground section of the watercourse cannot flow all the water, and so the stream runs in a torrent down the full length of the gorge.

The Arnecliff Wishing stone – Glaisdale

 Arnecliff Woods are located half a mile to the east of Glaisdale village, on the North York Moors.

 A footbridge across the river Esk leads to a woodland path which runs alongside the river, before winding its way up the hillside through the wood. After 500m or so the path passes a large split boulder, which is known locally as the Wishing Stone (grid reference NZ 78625 04964).

  The Wishing Stone is not marked on the OS maps, nor does it seem to have been recorded in any local history books. The little information we do have comes from the local author Peter Walker who grew up in Glaisdale, and briefly mentions the rock in his book Folklore of the North York Moors (Walker, 1990).