Aysgarth Falls

Wensleydale,  famous for its mild , crumbly,  cheese , has a number of attractive  waterfalls but the series if three falls at Aysgarth  are  both the most impressive  and the most popular  ones on the river Ure. They are in three parts over a stretch of river about a mile long known , unimaginatively,  as Upper , Middle and Lower falls or sometimes,  in the local dialect,  as Upper  Middle and Lower Force ( force being the local word for a waterfall.).  The upper falls used to be utilised for water power and the mill race which diverted some of the water can still be seen as can the mill building. This mill (Yore Mill) was used to produce woollen textiles and is reputedly the mill which produced the red flannel cloth used by the army of Italian military hero, Garibaldi.

Some 200 years ago the falls were visited by Wordsworth  whilst he and his sister Dorothy  waited to have the horses changed on their stage coach and they were sketched by JMW Turner in 1816. More recently, they have been featured  in scenes for both the 1991 movie , Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and  the Wuthering  Heights movie of 1992.

The falls were created about 10,000 years ago and it is thought that their formation  was quite, dramatic having been scoured out by water released from the bursting of a terminal moraine which had formed a natural  dam at the end of the last ice age. The lower falls are the most impressive  whilst the upper falls are most accessible,  being viewable  from the road bridge which is very close to the parking lot run by the Yorkshire  Dale's National  Park Authority.