The hidden gem that became a tourist hotspot

Staff, directors and Cave Rescue volunteers dressed in Victorian costumes and rescue attire, reflecting the era in which Ingleton Waterfalls was founded.

Peter Worthington, director of Ingleton Scenery Company, said: “This was the first of many commemorative events that we plan to run for our visitors throughout 2010/11 to celebrate our Yorkshire heritage.

“The Falls Café and Gift Shop were launched in 2005 and we have plans to further develop and invest in our 125-year history. We want to raise greater awareness of the famous Waterfalls Trail that offers some of the most stunning waterfall and woodland scenery right here in the North of England.”

The Waterfalls Trail, which opened to the public in 1885, offers visitors a four-and-a-half-mile circular walk through ancient oak woodland and Dales scenery, including a series of spectacular waterfalls and geological features, including the Thornton Force that falls 14 metres over limestone rocks.

Here we reproduce part of the History of the Ingleton Waterfalls Walk booklet, written by Muriel Humphries. Copies of the full history are available in the ticket office.

“Ingleton had been known for its caves and mountain scenery since the latter half of the 18th century, but the famous waterfalls of the Ingleton Glens were hidden in tree-filled, craggy ravines and so difficult to access that even Ingletonians who earned their living nearby, farmers and quarrymen were unaware of their existence.

Joseph Carr had spent his youth scrambling around the district and had discovered them for himself, but it was the discovery of Bruntscar Cave in 1865 which started him writing a series of articles for local newspapers on the scenic attractions in and near Ingleton. So much interest was aroused that the idea of making the falls accessible to the public developed.

It was not, however, until March 1885 that steps were taken to bring this about. One day, Carr spoke with Mr Thomas Moore, described in the 1861 census of population as a photographic artist, on the topic of opening up walks in the glens. As a result a public meeting was advertised, to be held on March 14, 1885, at the Ingleborough Hotel, and at the meeting an “improvement company” was formed. Carr suggested that wooden bridges and stages should be erected to make the walks possible.

Messrs S Worthington, C Hodgson and W Clapham undertook the cost of making a way into Swillabottom, estimated at £7, and Mr J Bentham was appointed to plan paths and supervise their construction. Men were engaged and work started. The weather was fine and the job was soon executed.

The opening day was set for Good Friday, April 11, 1885.

Carr wrote: ‘When our tradespeople shall provide better accommodation and the natural beauties are laid open to the public … people from far and near will resort to Ingleton for the salubrity of its air and geographical wonders that abound on every hand.’ It was sometimes said that the Midland Railway Company had made Ingleton. It seized this opportunity and ran excursions to Ingleton Station.

Thousands arrived by train. Photographs of Ingleton scenery were printed and sold. Numerous guide books were written and sold, some by local people, others by larger businesses. Books were written too.

Their immediate success enabled the improvement company to spend money on improving the walks, making bridges, steps and fixing seats for the public to rest on. They had begun by charging 2d admission to each glen, but discovered that some visitors were crossing the river instead of proceeding by the footbridge, so the charge became 3d for the complete journey. Parties of schoolchildren, choirs and so on were admitted at reduced rates.

At the end of the first year, the company spent £100 of their profits to “improve Ingleton” by purchasing a clock for the newly-rebuilt church. The church was in debt and was charging visitors one penny to see the beautiful Norman Font. The popularity of the walks is perhaps represented by the fact that, on June 2 1888, the amount taken in pennies was £16, which means that no fewer than 3,840 visitors had been in Ingleton that day.

Another debate arose in Ingleton in early 1889. The most flourishing industry was the Mealbank Quarry and Limeworks, situated on the west bank of the Ingleton beck, between the two glens. (Wilson Wood colliery had closed, the cotton mill was disused and the granite quarry was just developing).

The proprietor of Mealbank Quarry had a heavy demand for its product, which was conveyed by horses and carts from the works, along mill lane and then to either Ingleton or Thornton station. In either case it was uphill work and took its toll of horse flesh.

A tramway scheme was proposed and a public meeting was held in February 1889 to promote it.

It was suggested it would provide employment for a hundred more, would fill all the empty houses and new ones would have to be built. There was enthusiastic support, but as the tramway would have to cross Broadwood to reach Thornton Station it was feared that the approach to the scenic walks would be ruined. In any case, the consent of the landowner, Mr Foxcroft, was needed.

In the end, Mr Foxcroft consented. The bell of the parish church was rung, the brass band paraded, shots were fired at the limeworks and a great public meeting was held in the evening and a letter of thanks was sent to Mr Foxcroft.

The tramway was constructed in such a way that the scenery was damaged as little as possible.

It left the limeworks by way of a tunnel through Mealbank into Lenny Wood, crossed the river by one bridge onto a high embankment planted with ornamental shrubs and then crossed the footpath into the falls by a second, iron-girder bridge, continuing at a high level to Thornton Station.

The first sod was cut in Broadwood on April 10 1892.

On March 13 1893, the line was opened for the passage of L & NW Railway engines. The tramway did not prove an eyesore, indeed the substantial masonry and shrubbery slopes were more of an attraction than a blemish and one imagines that the state of the public roads was much-improved when no longer decorated with horse manure and limestone.

After the limeworks closed, the bridges were removed for scrap metal during the Second World War and after the war was over, the company removed much of the embankment to create a separate entrance and exit to and from their car park.

In the meantime, the improvement company had been wound up and two rival companies had “come to terms”.

Their amalgamation allowed visitors to proceed up one valley and down the other. During the next century, shares changed hands by sale or inheritance but, today, Samuel Worthington’s descendants are still involved in the business and the walks themselves remain as beautiful as ever, an area of outstanding natural beauty.

* For more information log onto ingletonwaterfallstrail.co.uk