Stunning photograph shows frozen streams running through Gordale Scar in the Yorkshire Dales

Yorkshire Post photographer Bruce Rollinson braved freezing conditions at Malham Cove this weekend.
A walker examines a frozen waterfall at Gordale ScarA walker examines a frozen waterfall at Gordale Scar
A walker examines a frozen waterfall at Gordale Scar

The streams that feed the waterfalls that cascade over Gordale Scar have frozen solid during the current cold snap.

The images are reminiscent of the effects of the Beast from the East in the winter of 2018, when one of the ravine's two waterfalls was transformed into a 20ft curtain of sheer ice.The limestone gorge in Malhamdale is one of the country’s oldest and most impressive geological sights, believed to date back nearly 16 million years.

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It was formed by torrents of glacial water cutting down through rock and carving out a gorge.

And though there have been suggestions that its creation was a result of a giant cave collapse, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority says that is not the case.

“However, several smaller caves collapsing over the centuries probably contributed to the gorge being so deep,” it says.

The gorge, one of the jewels in the crown of the Dales, has two waterfalls and overhanging limestone cliffs over 100 metres high.

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The stream flowing through the ravine is called Gordale Beck and the water is rich in dissolved limestone and some of this is deposited onto the green, mossy rocks.

Given its grandiose appearance, it is perhaps not surprising that the scar has not only wowed thousands of visitors but has also provided a source of inspiration for writers and artists alike.

Poet William Wordsworth wrote of its beauty in his sonnet Gordale, describing the chasm as “terrific as the lair where the young lions couch”.

More recently the site has been used as a filming location in TV series Victoria and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, its majesty captured on screen.

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