The Land of the Lune - Drakkar Press

Fen Beck
Fen Beck arises on the easternmost edges of Loyne,
around Feizor and Lawkland. In this gently
undulating land below limestone scars the watershed is
uncertain. Some houses in Feizor used to be considered
to be in the parishes of Clapham and Giggleswick (on
the Ribble) in alternate years. Feizor itself is an out-ofthe-way
hamlet, nestled neatly under the cliffs of Pot
Scar, a favourite with climbers. Southwest of Feizor is
the Yorkshire Dales Falconry and Wildlife Conservation
Centre, established in 1991 to help preserve birds of
prey.
The parish of Lawkland is even more of a backwater.
The main route from York to Lancaster used to pass by
Lawkland Hall but the parish now lies anonymously
between the busy A65 and the less busy Leeds-
Lancaster railway line. The oldest part of the Grade I
listed Lawkland Hall is 16th century, and much folklore
surrounds the hall’s peel tower and priest hole. From
the 16th century until 1914 the renowned Ingleby family
of Ripley, Yorkshire owned the hall. The Inglebys also
acquired the manor of Austwick and Clapham. Arthur
Ingleby rebuilt the hall in 1679 and when he died in 1701
left money, apart from to dependents, for a schoolmaster
and three poor scholars at Eldroth Chapel. Overall,
though, it seems that the Catholic Inglebys preferred to
keep a low profile, to which Lawkland is well suited.
Fen Beck 163
Somehow it seems appropriate that the central
feature of Lawkland is the extensive peat land of
Austwick and Lawkland Mosses, a Site of Special
Scientific Interest. This now rare form of habitat was
once much more common, as indicated by the many
place names with “moss” in them. Lowland bogs are
peat lands that have developed over thousands of years
under waterlogged conditions. Over time, the surface
of the peat, formed by plant debris, is raised above the
groundwater level, resulting in a ‘raised mire’. Typically,
they are gently domed, but here peat cutting has obscured
this impression.
From a distance Austwick Moss is seen as an island
of ancient trees and scrub surrounded by pastures. It is
also an island of CRoW land, inaccessible by public
footpath, which is just as well because it is difficult, wet,
tussocky walking. The conditions support many bog
mosses and, in drier parts, birch woodland and fenland.
Various wading birds, such as lapwing, redshank, reed
bunting and snipe, and rare insects, such as the small
pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly, find a home there. It’s
good to know it’s there, for the benefit of the birds and
insects, but, in truth, it’s a damp, desolate place of little
appeal to most of us.
Lawkland Hall Eldroth Chapel
This is Chapter 10 of The Land of the Lune (2nd edition), http://www.drakkar.co.uk/landofthelune.html, Copyright © 2010 John Self