LANDSCAPE & LORE
Yorkshire Moors
Brontë | Heritage | Heather
In our Landscape & Lore series, we discover the wild landscapes of Britain and the incredible stories they inspire.
We introduce the land, it's history, folklore and the tales it has to tell.
THE BOOKS
The Yorkshire Moors has inspired some of the most beautiful and important literature in the world.
Most famously, Wuthering Heights showed the desolation and tempestuousness of the region. As well as Emily Brontë's work, her sisters each wrote seminal works inspired by the region, with Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Anne's Tenant of Wildfell Hall being much loved portraits of Yorkshire.
Aside from the Brontës, The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, was set atop The Moors and the wildly popular tales of a Yorkshire vet, James Herriot also uses Yorkshire as a stunning and moving backdrop.
The Yorkshire Moors Collection
THE LAND
The Yorkshire Moors have been shaped through thousands of years of glacial and post-glacial activity and tectonic shifts. These heather-clad moors sing purple in summer and provide a haunting, gothic desolation in winter, where the air stills and hoare frosts blanked the earth.
They are a land for those seeking to get lost and a place of unique poetry. Where stunning fell gives to shaded ghyll; where gorse encircles the boggy mire of ancient peatland. This is a place for the hardy. A place for the rugged. A place for the dreamers.
THE HISTORY
Evidence exists of nomadic hunter-gatherers on the Moors from over 14000 years ago. Since then, the history of the region has been fascinating.
The powerful Celtic tribe, The Brigantes, occupied The Moors for centuries during the Iron Age and when the Roman's came, the Brigante Queen - Cartimandua - made a clever pact that allowed the region to pay tribute to Rome, but retain independence under Brigante rule. Sadly, she was betrayed and the Romans took this region too.
After Roman rule, the Anglo Saxon kingdom of Northumbria oversaw the region. But, Viking assaults led to The Moors falling under Danelaw.
The death of Viking king Eric Bloodaxe, in AD954, saw the region finally become part of the Anglo Saxon England.
THE FOLKLORE
With such a mix of international influence from peoples such as Celts, Normans, Saxons and Vikings, The Moors are rich in folklore.
Visit old houses and buildings in the region, and you might see wooden posts, near fireplaces, etched with markings. These are witch posts are a result of gothic folklore and isolation and are designed to defend from witches entering the home.
A less dark legend likely has Norse roots. There has been a belief in hobgoblins across the moors for centuries. These fairie-like creatures are thought to be naughty but helpful and, in return for a small bowl of food or milk, would do household chores.
Whilst the 'hobs' are tiny, there is a legend of giants on The Moors. It was believed that the famous Hole of Horcum was carved out when a giant called Wade threw a ball of dirt at his wife and missed.