Ever wondered what the popular tourist spot around the corner from you actually was?
North Yorkshire is home to tales of the past shown in intriguing landmarks; the five on this list are bound to be an interesting trip out.
Swinton Druids Temple High Knowle Farm, Knowle Ln, Ripon, HG4 4JZ.
Former owner of the Swinton Estate, William Danby had the druid’s temple built in the 1820s as an incentive to local unemployment.
He would pay workers a shilling a day to prop up stones with the goal of achieving his own personal Stonehenge.
The eccentric Danby set out a challenge after the job was complete: a salary to whoever could live at the site for seven years as a Hermit.
No one passed the test – but one man did reach four and a half years before giving up.
An intriguing location, The Druids Temple is now a more peaceful location for a picnic or a quiet walk, though still maintains myths and rumours of mystic practices in its lifetime.
Malham Cove Skipton, BD23 4DJ.
Looking out over the Village of Malham, the Cove stands 260 feet high and is open all year long.
With a unique natural limestone formation adding to the curved limestone cliff at the head of the valley, the pavement at the top shows a fascinating example of karst weather effects.
The Cove features in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ showing Harry and his crew camping at the site as they hide out from Lord Voldemort.
Though camping on the Cove is actually forbidden, the nearby Malham village offers a small selection of hotels and places to grab something to eat to unwind after seeing the sights of the Cove.
Crackpot Hall Muker, Richmond, DL11 6LJ.
In the ruins near the village of Keld in Swaledale, Crackpot Hall comes from an abandoned 18th-century farmhouse.
The old stone farmhouse has little known about its history, but with an old fireside range and a rusty tin bath on display, visitors are left imagining their own stories of the former inhabitants.
A notable folk story of the abandoned house follows Alice, a four-year-old who was said to be found roaming Crackpot in the 1930s.
BBC Radio 3 have since released a documentary about Alice, where it was clarified she once lived at Crackpot Hall along with her five brothers and sisters.
Kilburn White Horse, Low Town Bank Road, Kilburn, Thirsk, YO61 4AN.
Created in 1857, the Kilburn White Horse first began as a project by a schoolteacher and his students.
The enormous equine carved into downland at Sutton Bank near Kilburn edges 318 feet long and 220 feet tall – making it the largest white horse hill figure in the United Kingdom.
Unlike many other geoglyphs, originally, white chalk chips filled the dugout area, giving the horse a stark ivory nature.
Eventually, it was opted to top up with fresh chips and now the geoglyph is sprayed with a coat of white masonry paint every few years to freshen up.
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Red Telephone Box Graveyard Carlton Road, YO7 4NS.
Once on every street corner, the iconic red telephone boxes had been deemed outdated by 1985 and seemed to be heading for their demise.
And in many ways did, with many boxes carted out to rural storage areas, creating “graveyards” of the boxes.
Now a fascinating spot to visit, the small village of Carlton Miniott holds hundreds of decommissioned phone boxes lined up in various conditions.
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