Do you recognise this ruin? It's a much loved, intriguing and romantic ruin near Keld in Swaledale, on the cross-roads of the Coast to Coast Path and the Pennine Way. It's called Crackpot Hall - the name intrigues many. Like many Dales names, it probably originally came from old English, and Viking times. ‘Crack’ is another name for a crow, and a ‘pot’ is a cave or deep hole. ‘Hall’ makes it sound like it was once a grand house and yet it was at most a hunting lodge or large farmhouse.
One of the myths associated with Crackpot Hall started in the 1930s when the two authors and historians, Marie Hartley and Joan Ingleby wrote about a young girl called Alice who seemed to run freely with her dogs in the countryside around Crackpot. The way they described her laugh made her sound a little crazy and over time stories of a waif-like ghost child developed.
The isolated setting fed such stories and sense of intrigue. David Almond made a radio programme about these stories after he tracked down the real Alice who told him she had once lived at Crackpot hall with her farming family and she did what many Dales children still do today… simply played outside and enjoyed the surrounding meadows…
Now walkers make mini pilgrimages to this lovely spot. Apart from the ruined house and the vestiges of the sheep pens and cowus, there is little of the house left to see but the beauty of the setting always remains.
This excellent photo was taken by Hester Cox - Printmaker, a fantastic artist who has interpreted much of the Yorkshire Dales' history and wildlife in her beautiful printmaking. You might have seen here recently on the BBC Countryfile episode about the Yorkshire Dales?