Chapel-le-Dale (valley)

Chapel-le-Dale is 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. However, 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 [sic] cloth." The dale is also unusual in that it has a railway viaduct at each end.