Scargill High Moor

Downs, Moorland in Yorkshire

England

Scargill High Moor

Scargill High Moor is a vast expanse of rugged and captivating landscape situated in Yorkshire, England. Stretching across an area of approximately 10 square miles, it is located in the northern part of the county and forms part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The moorland is characterized by its rolling hills, heather-covered slopes, and expansive open spaces. The terrain is predominantly composed of peat, providing a unique and distinct ecosystem. Scargill High Moor boasts an impressive array of flora and fauna, including various species of birds, such as curlews, lapwings, and red grouse, which thrive in this natural habitat.

The moorland is intersected by several streams and rivers, which add to its scenic beauty. These water bodies are essential for the survival of numerous aquatic species and contribute to the overall biodiversity of the region.

Walking and hiking enthusiasts flock to Scargill High Moor to enjoy its breathtaking views and tranquil atmosphere. The moorland offers a network of footpaths and trails that cater to both casual strollers and serious hikers, allowing visitors to explore its diverse landscapes at their own pace.

Additionally, Scargill High Moor serves as a vital carbon sink, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and playing a crucial role in the fight against climate change. Conservation efforts are in place to protect this remarkable ecosystem and maintain its ecological balance.

Overall, Scargill High Moor is a captivating natural wonder that showcases the beauty and diversity of Yorkshire's countryside. It provides an idyllic escape for nature lovers and offers a glimpse into the rich tapestry of the region's natural heritage.

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Scargill High Moor Images

Images are sourced within 2km of 54.480267/-2.011619 or Grid Reference NY9909. Thanks to Geograph Open Source API. All images are credited.

Shooting hut beside East Black Sike

East Black Sike drains part of Scargill High Moor. The hut is set into a gouge into the slope on the west side of the stream; it can be approached by an estate road from the north.

Trevor Littlewood

Grouse butt at rock band

White Crag is a discontinuous rock band mainly broken into large numbers of angular boulders overlooking Scargill High Moor. A number of grouse butts has been built into the rock band using the material obviously available. A thin path runs along the crag.

Trevor Littlewood

Cuboid boulders along White Crag

White Crag is a discontinuous rock band broken mainly into angular boulders overlooking Scargill High Moor. The continuing rocks can be seen running into the distance. Further into the distance, beyond the moorland is Stang Forest.

Trevor Littlewood

Cuboid boulders along White Crag - 2

White Crag is a discontinuous rock band broken into angular boulders overlooking Scargill High Moor. More rocks can be seen running into the distance. In the far distance, beyond the moorland, can be seen the coniferous trees of Stang Forest.

Trevor Littlewood

High Moor Lunch Hut

As well as lots of Covid-related signage and hand-sanitiser at every door, the shooting hut also has a prominent sign announcing its identity to anyone coming up the track from lower down in the drainage of East Black Sike, though it seems likely that anyone with need to know would be accompanied by drivers, beaters and others who could just as easily tell them (if they hadn't already been briefed when paying out the exorbitant sums to come and shoot things). Presumably it also becomes obvious when, on Scargill High Moor, they get provided with lunch...

Andy Waddington

Eroding sandstone on Scargill High Moor

The prominent escarpment at the top of Scargill High Moor is formed in the unnamed sandstone that lies just below the Little Limestone, towards the bottom of the Stainmore Group, of Pendleian age in the Carboniferous. It's part of what older ones among us will remember as being the Millstone Grit series. At the top of the slope, blocks of sandstone are weathering out, and have little or no peat drift covering them. Just back from the edge, a path links lines of grouse butts, making for surprisingly easy and pleasant walking. Even beyond the last grouse butt (some way to the west) the path continues as a gamekeeper's access, somewhat narrower but still giving mostly easy footing.

Andy Waddington

Eroding sandstone on Scargill High Moor

Andy Waddington

North towards Citron Seat

From the Gilmonby road, a bridleway heads south as a good track, and where it splits, the branch to Citron Seat (the small dark-topped hill right on centre in this view) continues very clear, though, like the southern branch, it ends very abruptly at no particularly obvious destination (just at a change of local authority administering the definitive rights of way map). The southern branch passes through this view just at the foot of the slope, though you'd hardly know it. Since it terminates abruptly at the boundary wall and fails to enter the Yorkshire Dales National park, its original destination is unclear, but somewhere in upper Arkengarthdale seems likely, perhaps joining the public footpath which also started life as a bridleway until it hit the National Park frontier. One suspects some severe laxity in recording the rights of way after the 1949 Countryside Act.

Andy Waddington

Tarnhow Hill

Although apparently a very minor eminence on the map, Tarnhow Hill seems quite prominent across the otherwise rather flat bit of moorland above Bleakhow Edge (itself a rather over-grandiose name for a short steep slope with a few sandstone boulders). There's a small crag or perhaps a quarry, which I would have guessed was formed in the Little Limestone, but BGS sheet 41 (Kirkby Stephen) shows it as Richmond Chert, a little above the limestone. It also shows Tarnhow Hill covered in drift with no actual bedrock showing, which is clearly not the case, so I withhold judgement on which bed is outcropping, as I suspect that the mappers, like myself today, may not have trekked over to the hill and examined it in detail. The drystone wall which crosses its shoulder, marks the post-1974 border between North Yorkshire and County Durham (prior to that, the boundary was along the River Tees, further north) and is also the frontier of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. A number of rights of way either change status to lesser rights, or terminate abruptly on that border, suggesting that within the Park (in 1949 it was all the North Riding) recording of existing paths was far more lax than outside on the definitive map. Given the time it took for the 1949 Act to result in these definitive maps, it is possible that the discrepancy lay between the post-1974 county authorities.

Andy Waddington

Gamekeeper's path on White Crag Moss

Beyond the last grouse butt on Scargill High Moor, the broad footpath serving those butts (used by off-road vehicles, one suspects) shrinks to just a footpath, though the occasional fat tyre track does suggest something motorised occasionally passes this way. Lots of predator traps and grouse medication trays imply the primary purpose is for gamekeeper's access, but being along the top of the sandstone outcrop where the peat is shallow or absent, the path is surprisingly easy underfoot and the views north over the Greta valley are rather fine.

Andy Waddington

Repurposed hut on Scargill High Moor

The building is on the northern side of the moor and is surely no longer used as the shooting box that it is named on OS maps. The building was found to be unlocked, its door secured by string and the left side as viewed filled with rubbish. A short distance south there's a new shooting hut - Link - and it's assumed that it has replaced the one in the image.

Trevor Littlewood

Citron Seat

Citron Seat is a modest moorland hill with a distinctively pointed summit. The view is from the north-west, over a bog, across which runs a collapsing wooden fence.

Trevor Littlewood

Hill road east of Citron Seat

The road runs alongside the wall following the ridge connecting Citron Seat and Hazel Bush Hill; both features are behind the camera position. Its purpose is to allow easy access for grouse shooting parties.

Trevor Littlewood

Wall rising on heather moorland

The wall rises to the south-east on a gentle moorland slope from the vicinity of Low Green Fell.

Trevor Littlewood

Cotron Seat

Citron Seat near Bowes

John Ryles

Citron Seat

Citron Seat is a minor but abrupt rise along a moorland ridge above Gilmonby Moor on the south side of the valley of the River Greta.

Trevor Littlewood

Grouse butt beside estate road

The grouse butt is one of a line on Gilmonby Moor, and also north of the minor hill, Citron Seat. The road passing butt No. 8 is not currently shown on OS maps at any scale at this location but is, as far as the shooting hut further north. In the distance there's a series of minor rises named collectively as Seven Hills but only six can be discerned from this location.

Trevor Littlewood

Heather moorland on north side of Hazel Bush Hill

Hazel Bush Hill is an insignificant eminence of heather moorland to the east of the minor rise of Citron Seat; land on the north side of the hill is seen here, the view being eastwards.

Trevor Littlewood

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Scargill High Moor is located at Grid Ref: NY9909 (Lat: 54.480267, Lng: -2.011619)

Division: North Riding

Unitary Authority: County Durham

Police Authority: Durham