Brimham Rocks - Izeria

Brimham Rocks, once known as Brimham Crags, is a 183.9-hectare (454-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Geological Conservation Review (GCR) site, 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, on Brimham Moor in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site, notified as SSSI in 1958, is an outcrop of Millstone Grit, with small areas of birch woodland and a large area of wet and dry heath. Brimham Rocks has SSSI status because of the value of its geology and the upland woodland and the acidic wet and dry heath habitats that support localised and specialised plant forms, such as chickweed wintergreen, cowberry, bog asphodel and three species of heather. The site is known for its water- and weather-eroded rocks, which were formed over 325 million years ago and have assumed fantastic shapes. In the 18th and 19th centuries, antiquarians such as Hayman Rooke wondered whether they could have been at least partly carved by druids, an idea that ran concurrently with the popularity of James Macpherson's Fragments of Ancient Poetry of 1760, and a developing interest in New-Druidism. For up to two hundred years, some stones have carried fanciful names, such as Druid's Idol, Druid's Altar and Druid's Writing Desk.

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Smelthouses

Smelthouses is a hamlet in Nidderdale in North Yorkshire, England. It lies about 2.3 miles (4 km) south-east of Pateley Bridge, on either side of Fell Beck, a small tributary of the River Nidd. Fell Beck here forms the boundary between the civil parishes of Hartwith cum Winsley and High and Low Bishopside, so that the settlement is divided between the two parishes. In the Middle Ages Fell Beck was the boundary between the lands of the Archbishop of York (which became High and Low Bishopside) and the manor of Brimham held by Fountains Abbey (which became Hartwith cum Winsley). Fountains Abbey had a grange at Wyse Ing at what is now Smelthouses. By the middle of the 15th century, the abbey had a bellows-blown lead smelting mill there, which gave its name to the hamlet, but there is no record of its use in the 16th century or at the dissolution of the abbey. In 1795 a flax-spinning mill was started on the west side of the beck at Smelthouses. The mill flourished in the 19th century, but was burned down in 1890. In the early 20th century there was a rope and twine business at Little Mill in Smelthouses. A Wesleyan chapel was opened at Smelthouses in 1841 to serve the industrial hamlet. It was replaced by a chapel at Wilsill in 1897. The road from Pateley Bridge to Knaresborough historically passed through Smelthouses. Under an Act of Parliament of 1759 a turnpike trust was formed to build a new toll road on the route. In 1761 the trust built a new bridge over Fell Beck at Smelthouses, and rebuilt it in 1802. The bridge is now a Grade II listed building. However the route was abandoned as a turnpike in 1828, when the trust diverted the route to a new line from Wilsill to Burnt Yates via Summerbridge, now followed by the B6165.

Warsill

Warsill is a settlement and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It consists of a few scattered farms 5 miles (8 km) south west of Ripon. In 1961 the population of the parish was 42. The population was estimated at 70 in 2015. Warsill was historically an extra parochial area. It became a civil parish in 1858. Today it shares a grouped parish council with Bishop Thornton. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the Borough of Harrogate, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council. The toponym, first recorded in 1132 as Warthsala, probably derives from the Old English weard sæl, meaning "watch castle". In the Middle Ages there was a grange of Fountains Abbey here, later the home of Stephen Proctor. Warsill Hall Farmhouse, a 17th-century Grade II listed building, now stands on its site. The Abbey Grange at Warsill included a dairy farm, providing milk and cheese to the Abbey, and there were also sheep, with wethers kept over winter. In 1526, Peter and Agnes Smyth, employed as the keepers of Warsill, had a plough for arable.

Wilsill

Wilsill is a village in Nidderdale in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is about 2 miles (3 km) east of Pateley Bridge on the B6165 road between Pateley Bridge and Ripley. In 2016, Harrogate Borough Council estimated the population as being 176. The village appears in the Domesday Book as Wifelshale, where it was listed as having 18 villagers, 40 ploughlands and belonging to the Archbishop of York. The name of the village derives from a personal name (Wifel) and the Old English Halh, which means corner of land. Until 1974 it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the Borough of Harrogate, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council. The village has a Methodist chapel, an Anglican church (St Michael and All Angels) and a public house (The Birch Tree Inn). The village is served by an eight times daily bus service between Pateley Bridge and Harrogate. Although the railway between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge went through the southern part of the villages' location, it was not furnished with a railway station.

New York, North Yorkshire

New York is a settlement in Nidderdale in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is on the River Nidd, near Summerbridge, and about 2.5 miles (4 km) south-east of Pateley Bridge. Until 1974 it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the Borough of Harrogate, it is now administered by the unitary North Yorkshire Council.