The Barguest of Ivelet -bridge

italianguy · The Barguest of Ivelet -bridge

There is an ancient track way used for thousands of years by traders in cloth, salt and corn that runs on the sunnier side of Swaledale in North Yorkshire avoiding the wetlands of the valley bottom. There have even been flint arrowheads found on its route suggesting an even earlier origin to the path. In Christian times it became known as the Corpse Way as the bodies of the dead were carried in wicker coffins down the Dale, sometimes from as far away as Keld, to the consecrated churchyard at Grinton. The journey would have been an onerous one especially in winter. There are records of both coffins and bearers being swept away in flood. The journey could have been at least 12 miles and taken two days in bad weather. It was a regular occurrence until ground was consecrated at Muker in 1580 thereby rendering the journey unnecessary.

On the Corpse Way is the ancient bridge at Ivelet. It is here they say that a headless Black Dog or Barguest jumps from the bridge into the waters below. To witness this dramatic event is said to presage disaster so it was with no small amount of relief that our brief visit did not coincide with a visitation by any spectral hound. In any case it has been claimed that it is over a hundred years since the Barguest was last seen so we would have been particularly unlucky to have come across it on this bright July afternoon.

The bridge is a wonderful thing to behold towering as it does about thirty five feet above the river below. Quite why it had to be built so high with such a humped-back is not clear to me unless it is something to do with the strength of the construction. It’s a picturesque spot alright but at night it would doubtless seem altogether different. To the north side of the bridge is ‘The Coffin Stone’ so called because it is told that this is where the bier would have been rested as the bearers took a break from their arduous journey.