North Yorkshire Folk Tales by Ingrid Barton

Author:Ingrid Barton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780750955423
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2014-02-02T22:00:00+00:00

The radiant figure turned once more to the shepherd who was still kneeling, filled with fear and grief. There was a brief smile and a hand raised in blessing, then without another word the angel spread its magnificent wings and flew away into the pale-blue sky that still shone beyond the rolling clouds.

The rain fell all day. Then the clouds vanished and the shepherd, daring once more to look into the valley, saw no town at all, but only the low winter sun shining on the calm grey water of a lake.

THE DEVIL’S BRIDGE

Nidderdale

Do not call it that! To name the Devil is to call him up, they say. Call it Dibble’s Bridge; that would be safer – and yet its evil builder, for once, claimed no deadly price for building it as he did in other places.

Take Kilgram Bridge, for example, that straddles the Ure between Thornton Steward at the lower end of Wensleydale and Jervaux Abbey. In the past, the villagers’ efforts to build a bridge strong enough to cope with the force of the river in flood kept failing. Wooden bridge after wooden bridge was washed away, leaving them and their animals stranded. In desperation, they turned to someone well known for his ability to build in difficult places: the Devil! There is hardly a dangerous valley in Britain that is not spanned by a bridge attributed to him. But he demanded a high fee: the life of the first being to cross. The Thornton Steward villagers were desperate; they agreed to his terms and the very next day they woke to find a splendid new bridge over the Ure. Everyone rejoiced. All that remained was to find a way to cheat the Devil of a human victim.

Attempts to get hens or sheep to cross ended in failure. Cats sat and washed themselves; dogs crept away with their tails between their legs. The villagers stared at their brand-new bridge in dismay. Would they ever be able to use it?

Then a hard-hearted local shepherd had an idea. He made his sheepdog, Grim, sit and wait at the entrance to the bridge. Then he swam over the river, climbed out and called to Grim from the other side. The faithful dog ran towards him but the moment he touched the further shore he fell dead. The bridge was thereafter called – if you will believe it – Kill Grim Bridge (now known as Kilgram).

A similar bargain made with the Devil is told about many bridges, but Dibbles Bridge is different. It was built because of a generous man and a tasty lunch.

The little village of Thorpe-sub-Montem (Thorpe Underhill) was once famous throughout the Dales for its cobblers. Odd though it might seem that such an out-of-the-way place should have so many, there were enough monasteries and abbeys in the area to make it worthwhile training up sons in the craft.

One of the best was Ralph Calvert, who made and mended the shoes and sandals of the monks of Fountains Abbey.

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