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Welcome to the Yorkshire Dales

THE YORKSHIRE DALES

History and geology

The word ‘dale’ comes from the ancient Norse word ‘dalr’ meaning valley. The Yorkshire Dales National Park (YDNP) covers over 800 square miles of these valleys, taking in a section of the central Pennines from Skipton and Settle in the south to Sedbergh and Reeth in the north.

Some dales, such as the Swale, Ure, Nidd and Wharfe, flow east and empty into the North Sea, while others, such as the Ribble, Lune and Eden, flow west to the Irish Sea.

The Dales rise in areas of high gritstone moorland or mountains, with the majority cutting through deep bands of limestone created 300 million years ago from the remains of marine crustaceans that lived in shallow tropical seas; the Dales at that time was positioned south of the equator. The rocks contain rich veins of minerals and metals that were mined for centuries, bringing wealth and employment to the area.

The last ice age changed the landscape into the one we are familiar with today. Classic features such as u-shaped valleys abound, each filled with a river too small to ever have formed it. There are also characteristic features such as Malham Cove, a 300ft-high dry cove, which incredibly became a waterfall for the first time in two centuries during Storm Desmond in December 2015.