Field 06
Geographical field course
(Easter 1961)

GEOGRAPHICAL FIELD COURSE, MALHAMDALE, EASTER 1961

By W. G. MILLER, L.VI.

THE Annual Geographical Field Course was held this year at Newfield Hall, Malhamdale, Yorkshire, under the leadership of Mr. P. Newton and Mr. P. R. Banton, ably assisted by Mr. D. C. Owen, who although not a geographer proved his worth in boosting the morale of the boys and in treating the maltreated feet in the evenings.

The object of the Course was to study the physical and cultural landscape of the North Craven Forest area, which includes Wharfedale and Ribblesdale as well as Malhamdale.

The majority of the week was spent walking and making observations of villages, farms, soils, types of crops and physical features. The cave at Malhorn, Gordale scar, a collapsed cavern and the Strid on the Wharf provided extremely impressive examples of the powerful forces which nature can exert.

During our stay in the area studies were made of many interesting villages and towns, one of which, namely Otterburn, was a hamlet consisting solely of four farms. The main object of these ' town' studies was to see why settlement had begun at that point. The local parson often proved useful to provide information, as the majority of the boys found it rather difficult to converse with the natives in their own language.

One day was set aside for the ascent of Ingleborongh, a hill of some 2,300 ft., from the summit of which a grand view of West Lancashire, Morecambe Bay and the Lake District could be seen - or so we were assured. Unfortunately snow began to fall that morning and, by the time we had reached 2,000 ft., visibility was down to twenty yards and the attempt on the summit had to be abandoned.

It was a week well spent studying the landscape of the Dales, the scenery only being spoilt by the fact that it rained almost continuously.

In conclusion I should like to thank Mr. Newton and all the other masters concerned for organising this extremely interesting and useful course.

W. G. MILLER, L.VI.