THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

In approaching Swaledale from the Westmorland border, one speedily arrives in the midst of a region so wild and desolate that it is almost impossible to believe that such a thing as town or village exists within a hundred miles.  Dark moorlands rise on every side; in the ravines which separate their undulations are mountain torrents pouring over rock-strewn beds; now and then one hears the bleating of sheep or the voice of a shepherd, but the silence is usually that of real solitude.

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Between the western extremities of Swaledale and the first signs of life and habitation eastward, one finds one strong characteristic of the wilder parts of the Yorkshire Dales – out of each opens a series of smaller dales, each of them worth exploring on its own account.  Birkdale, Sleddale, Whitsundale, and Stonesdale, in the lonelier parts of Swaledale, all possess charms and associations of their own, though it must be confessed that the charms are usually of s stern description and the associations those of lawless times.

Various/Camera, 1904