Chapel-le-Dale is a west-facing valley in the Yorkshire Dales, England. The U-shaped valley of Chapel-le-Dale is one of the few which drain westwards towards the Irish Sea; however, the river that flows through the valley has several names, with the Environment Agency and the Ordnance Survey listing it as the River Doe. Some older texts insist the name of the watercourse through the dale is the River Greta, which runs from a point below the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale, and onwards past Ingleton. The dale is sparsely populated with only one settlement, the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale, which has a small chapel.
Due to the prevalence of caves, waterfalls, chasms, mountains and natural wonders, Speight labelled the valley as one of the "wonders of Yorkshire", and another writer noting the valley's place between Ingleborough and the flanks of Whernside, said that the valley appeared as "...a green strip of silk connecting two webs of the coarseth cloth." The dale is also unusual in that it has a railway viaduct at each end.
History Chapel-le-Dale lies between the two highest mountains in Yorkshire; Ingleborough to the south, and Whernside to the north. The dale has several names, most are tied to the rivers in the dale, with Doedale, Chapeldale, and Upper Gretadale common terms for the area. Before the chapel was built in the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale, the valley was known as Wisedale (or Wasedale/Weasdale), with the chapel building causing a name change for the valley area.
Archaeological assessment of some of the farming pastures in the upper dale suggest they were occupied from the Anglo-Saxon period (AD640 onwards), however, during the Romano-British period, the dale was traversed by a Roman Road. The B6255 road which runs up the valley on a south-west to north-east axis was originally a Roman Road linking Lancaster with Bainbridge. It was later improved as part of the Richmond to Lancaster Turnpike, and before dropping down into Ribblehead, reaches a height of . However, the Roman Road left the course of the B6255 at Chapel (the hamlet) and veered across to the north of the valley, over Chapel Beck, and now forms a minor road into Ingleton labelled on mapping as Oddies Lane. This road runs parallel to the B6255, and provides access to the Waterfalls Walk.
The Domesday Book records the whole area around Selside, Ribblesdale, Clapham, Newby and Chapel-le-Dale as being held by Thorfin of Ravensworth. Ingleton was held by Earl Tosti and belonged to the hundred of Amounderness. By the 12th century, the vaccaries (Medieval cattle farms) at Southerscales, Querneside (Whernside), and Winterscales, were in the possession of Furness Abbey. An assessment of the estates held by Furness in 1535 (just before the Dissolution) estimated that Upper Ribblesdale and Chapel-le-Dale were rated as being £76 and 9 shillings (). Collectively, Southerscales, Winterscales and Bruntscar were worth £24, 17 shillings and 4 pence ().
Since the Dissolution, livestock farming has been the predominant lasting occupation for those who lived in the dale. Quarrying was carried out at the lower end of Chapel-le-Dale and many workers came in either from, or brought prosperity to Ingleton. In 2015, about eleven farms were still active in the dale, one of these was at Gunnerfleet in the upper dale which bred the renowned Gunnerfleet Limousin cattle. The nearest railway station is at the head of the dale ( railway station on the Settle-Carlisle Line), which is east of the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale. One railway did run up the dale, but this was to the old "granite quarry" above the White Scar Caves complex. This railway only ran trains of stone down to Ingleton railway station for onward transportation, and closed down in 1924.
Walking is a popular past-time through the dale; in 1887 two Giggleswick schoolmasters inadvertently created the Three Peaks Challenge by climbing Ingleborough and seeing the good weather, descended through Chapel-le-Dale to Whernside, and later Pen-y-ghent. Wainwright's long-distance walk, a Pennine Journey, wends its way through the dale going up both valley sides. The Dales High Way crosses the valley from Ingleborough over to Dentdale. The Dales High Way at the head of the dale follows the route of the Craven Way (an ancient packhorse route) over Little Deep Dale and past Blea Moor.
River names The confusion over river names was something that The Leeds Mercury attempted to clarify in 1890, recommending that whilst the Ordnance Survey mapping was incorrect, it was best to adopt their standard in the face of differing claims on the river names. The paper stated that the Ordnance Survey dictated that the River Greta started at the confluence of the two rivers from Kingsdale and Chapel-le-Dale some upstream of the viaduct in Ingleton. The local opinion was always that the river or beck flowing down Kingsdale was the tributary of the river flowing down Chapel-le-Dale, and thus, the river upstream of the viaduct to God's Bridge was known as the River Greta.
+Different and interchangeable names for the rivers leading into IngletonKingsdaleChapel-le-DaleKingsdale Beck (Ordnance Survey)Winterscales Beck (Ordnance Survey)River DoeChapel Beck (Ordnance Survey)River TwissRiver Doe/Dawe (Ordnance Survey [for River Doe])Thornton BeckRiver Greta/Greeta/Greetah (Bowen's map 1750)Kinesdale (Saxton's map 1577)Wease/Wase/Wise (Speed's map 1610; Tuke's map 1787)River GreetDale Beck/Ingleton BeckRiver Twiss
One book, which discusses the prevalence of caving areas in Upper Gretadale (Weathercote Cave, Gingle Pot, Hurtle Pot, Gatekirk), describes the upper waters as Chapel Beck, and what is annotated on OS mapping as the River Doe, is described as the River Greta. Alfred Wainwright's Walking in Limestone Country describes a circular clockwise walk from Ingleton travelling up Kingsdale as "..the valley of the Doe, and returning to Ingleton down the valley of the Greta." Likewise, another writer describes Ingleton as the place where the rivers Doe and Greta meet, having the river Greta named before the river's confluence. Noted writer on Dales history, Marie Hartley, states in her book, The Yorkshire Dales
Ordnance Survey mapping from between 1892 and 1914 shows the River Doe to be flowing down Kingsdale, and the River Greta to be flowing down Chapel-le-Dale, and named as the Greta from God's Bridge. Modern OS mapping lists the two rivers as Kingsdale Beck, and the River Doe through Chapel-le-Dale. The River Doe runs for , and has the Beezley and Snow Falls waterfalls on its lower reaches.
Etymology The dale has various names, as it extends from Ribblehead Viaduct westwards to Ingleton, and is drained by Winterscales Beck, Chapel Beck, the River Doe, and becoming the River Greta at Ingleton. As such it is known as Chapeldale, Chapel le Dale, Chapel-le-Dale, Dale Beck, Doedale, Twisleton Dale, and Upper Gretadale. In addition, the river through Chapel-le-Dale was historically also known as Ingleton Beck (and that through adjacent Kingsdale as Thornton Beck). The common name for the dale is taken from the chapel in the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale (the chapel of St Leonard). +NameMeaningNotesRefBruntscarBurnt hill-sideChapel-le-DaleThe chapel in the daleOriginally known as Wisedale, it was recorded as 'Chappell ith Dale' in 1677Dale BeckThe Valley StreamGreat Douk Cave/High Douk CaveDamp and misty, or to bathe, to duck somethingDouk is a common word in the Yorkshire Dales, examples being found in Ribblesdale and Littondale besides Chapel-le-DaleGretaStony stream/Rocky waterDerived from the Old Norse Griota and first mentioned in 1215GunnerfleetGunnar's RiverA personal name from Old NorseIngleboroughFortification near Ing-Hyll, derived from IngletonFirst recorded in 1165 as Ingelburc(h)IvescarThe scar where the ivy growsIn 1346, it was recorded as IneskerJingling PotThe pothole with the jingling or rattling noiseA pothole located at SD698783; spelled as Gingling Pot in older books. The j-formation is modernSkirwithThe bright headlandFirst mentioned in 1306 as SkyrhouthSoutherscalesSutari's ShielingsAn Old Norse word which means ShoemakerWeathercoteThe Shed for Wethers (castrated sheep)First recorded in 1346. Wethercote was a bercary - a sheep farm.WinterscalesShielings for winter useWisedale (Weasedale)A meadow
Geology and geomorphology Ice carved out the Yorkshire Dales in the Anglian, Wolstonian and the Devensian stages of geological history. Ice flows shaped the valley of Chapel-le-Dale by eating away at the limestone between Whernside and Ingleborough. A glacier moved south-westwards from Newby Head and Cam Fell splitting at Ribblehead, with most of the flow carving out Ribblesdale, and a smaller section carving out Chapel-le-Dale. The rock on the basement floor of the valley has no trace of fossilisation, so they were assumed to be of Precambrian age, however, carbon dating has shown them to be some 480 million years old, making them part of the Ordovician era. The scarring from the ice has left the valley as what is termed a "U-shaped valley", like other Yorkshire Dales such as Upper Wharfedale. From the uppermost scar on the north-western side of the valley to the valley bottom is a range of , with the valley floor at AOD, to AOD on the valley top. The breadth of the upper dale is around .
Either side of the valley is surrounded by limestone scars, or limestone pavements. The pavement has historically been quarried in the area (specifically Ribblesdale) for garden decoration as the 'water-worn' limestone was attractive. Philpin Sleights was quarried for its limestone pavement between 1954 and 1958, with being extracted for rockery use in gardens. It is estimated that up to 40% of the pavement there has been lost. Scales Moor possesses some of the "finest examples of horizontal [limestone] pavements in Britain, and include some massive undissected clints."
At the south end of the valley, the rocks are displaced by the North and South Craven Faults. The faulting is revealed in the waterfalls that cut through the rocks showing the Great Scar Limestone at the top, a thin layer of boulder and limestone, with the slated Ordovician rocks at the bottom. Raistrick describes the wonder of being able to touch the ages by holding a hand across the layers and touching what is in effect 300 million years of geology.
The head of the dale is at the viaduct of Ribblehead, with water flowing westwards as Winterscales Beck in the upper dale, and the flow of the River Ribble flowing southwards to form Ribblesdale. Winterscales Beck drains Whernside and Blea Moor, but in times of normal flow, will disappear into the cave system below Chapel-le-Dale at Haws Gill Wheel, before re-appearing at God's Bridge, further down the valley beyond the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale. God's Bridge is a natural limestone bridge from which the sunken Chapel Beck emerges underneath to form the River Doe (or Twiss, or Greta); it was called God's Bridge as it was not fashioned by human hands. In times of great rainfall and flood, the river does travel overground, around the chapel and emerges at God's Bridge, however, for the most part, this riverbed is dry. John Self states that the river must be a torrent, as you can "stand in the dry [river]bed and see debris in the trees several metres above." Water also enters the dale via the cave systems underneath the plateau of Scales Moor () as Dale Barn Cave carries water from Kingsdale into Chapel-le-Dale. The western end of the dale where the two rivers meet is just before the viaduct in Ingleton. This makes the dale unusual in having a railway viaduct at either end. Also, the southern edge of the dale where it meets the edge of Ingleton is the boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Quarrying and mining