Yorkshire landscape features are devil's work, or so the story goes

The devil seems to have been pretty active in Yorkshire. At least that is if you believe the legends associated with some of the outcrops and stones which form some of the area's most distinctive landscape features.
Great Rock in Calderdale.Great Rock in Calderdale.
Great Rock in Calderdale.

I came across a new one for me at the weekend, after struggling up one of those steep tracks that climb out of Calderdale. I had seen a sign for “Great Rock” earlier, and identified its location on the map, and when I finally got there I had to agree with whoever chose the name.

Great Rock is indeed enormous, a tor of millstone grit looming over the valley, and although it does not measure up to anything like Rock of Gibraltar dimensions, or is even comparable to Ilkley’s Cow (although it looks far bigger than the Calf), it is still extremely impressive at close quarters.

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The rock is covered with graffiti of the “Alan loves Julie” variety, and some of the chiselled inscriptions are now so old and barely legible they look like the weathered names on churchyard gravestones.

It did not take long to fall into conversation with someone who knew a bit about Great Rock’s history. Apparently, local legend has it that god and the devil met at Stoodley Pike, which faces the outcrop from the other side of Calderdale. This must have been during the 19th century, when the 121ft-high monument commemorating the defeat of Napoleon was constructed.

Anyway, it seems they decided to have a bet. If the devil could manage to step across the valley from Stoodley Pike to Great Rock then he could claim all the souls in Calderdale below.

The devil failed, thankfully, but only because he lost his footing and slipped. However, the legend continues that his hoof did briefly land on top of the rock, thus creating the fissures now known as the Devil’s Hoofprint.

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This fascinating story reminded me of a couple of other Yorkshire legends associated with our landscape. One concerns the Great Stone of Fourstones which stands right on the county’s border with Lancashire. This gigantic rock was deposited near Bentham by retreating glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age.

The local legend goes that it and three other large rocks, which were thought to have been later cut into scythe sharpeners, were dropped by the devil while he was on his way to build Devil’s Bridge over the River Lune at Kirkby Lonsdale, which is the southwestern boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Then there is the Devil’s Arrows near Boroughbridge. These are three huge standing stones which have been dated to around 2000BC. Their name is derived from a 17th century story that the devil was so incensed by some insult - now lost in the mists of time - that he fired the stones from a hill near Fountains Abbey.

As a demonstration of the devil’s power, the arrows provided perfect ammunition for preachers warning sinners about the errors of their ways.

Today, though, there is a more realistic explanation. The stones were erected by megalithic tribes, probably as a site for religious ceremonies.

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