Tales of the Dales: The Strid
The Strid…. don’t step too close!
‘The cool autumn air was heavy, breathless and damp. Fallen leaves lay like a carpet across the rock of the riverbank, slick with the morning dew. The boy picked his way carefully across the pock-marked limestone, his hound close-by straining his lead. The far riverbank appeared tantalisingly close, a mere hop across the turbulent water coursing through the narrow fissure, the noise of the torrent, drowning out all other noise… the boy took the step... the roar of the water consumed all….’
The Strid. The name given to the point at which the River Wharfe is literally squeezed into a teeny tiny limestone channel in Bolton Abbey, the narrowest point being less than 6 feet wide. A stark contrast to upstream, where the river spans somewhere nearer to 60 feet. Yes, that’s 60 FEET wide into less than 6!
The extreme funnel effect results in a crazy raging torrent of water, no matter what the weather. And it is this section that has resulted in The Wharfe being named as one of the most deadly rivers in the UK (did you do ‘the most deadly’ bit in a gravelly voice?! I do, every time I read it back!) Literally nobody knows the depth of the Strid for sure, but what is known is that the force of the water has eroded submerged caverns, ledges and tunnels through the rock, which are completely unchartered and totally lethal.
Alright, I’ve laid on the deadly bit quite thick now haven’t I? And I’ll lay it on some more!!! After all, this is an epic place, and an epic tale, and it needs a proper epic scene setting right?!
The mortality rate of those who have fallen into The Strid is 100%.
And it is that reason why The Strid has many, many tragic and cautionary tales. The most famous being The Boy of Egremont.
Reportedly, the son of Lady Alice de Romilly (the owner of Skipton Castle), he attempted to make the jump from one bank of the Strid to the other. His dog refused to jump, resulting in the boy falling into the water and being sucked under by the current. Whether or not this tale is in fact true, on the basis that he appeared to be signing legal documents well after his alleged death, did not deter old Wordsworth from writing about him (daffodils dude, Lake District), nor Turner from depicting him in a painting.
Actual historical facts? Probably not. But a tale to be told nevertheless.
Not satisfied by the (possibly not at all accurate) story of the Boy of Egremont, then you’ll be relieved to know that the Strid is also the home of a Kelpie (legendary harbinger of doom) and a vengeful fairy, who like nothing better than to lure you into the water and drag you down with it!
Enough to ruin your picnic eh? Mind you, wasps do a pretty decent job of that anyway!
The Strid is found in the woodland at Bolton Abbey, parking can be found at the Cavendish Pavillion (Riverside car par). Bolton Abbey usually hold their seasonal trails along the Strid woodland trail and they run an annual Halloween event (as well as Easter and Christmas trails).
The Strid can be viewed safely from the viewing platform and is well worth a stop, particularly after heavy rain.
Want to walk in the footsteps of a ghost horse being ridden by a dastardly fairy, chased by a boy who possibly fell in the water, but probably actually didn’t?! Then find our Haunted Strid walk here!
MORE GHOSTS PLEASE!!!
We have a FULL page of Halloween walks with ghosts, folklore, witches and dark history. Tap the button to head to the page, where you’ll also find links to our full blogs written about ALL of the Tales of the Dales.
I would not have been able to write these walks without some of the fantastic resources that I have available.
This walk was inspired by a tale I read in Haunted Yorkshire Dales by Summer Strevens. Her book is available to buy and is literally jam packed full of ghost stories! We just made them into walks! I also LOVED watching the recently viral You Tube video of Jack a Snacks who went on to measure the depth of The Strid with his sonar fishing rod (something a bit Dr Who about that right?!) He has followed it up with a brilliantly honest video about the people who don’t agree with his findings, so I guess the jury’s still out on the depth #science!
The Bolton Abbey website is ace, along with The Yorkshire Dales website. It’s just FULL of information about these wonderful places!
Go have a gander!