ar Wensley, but its charm can
only be appreciated by seeing the view up the dale from its
larch-crowned termination. Perhaps if we had seen nothing of
Wensleydale, and the wonderful views it offers, we should be more
inclined to regard this somewhat popular spot with greater veneration;
but after having explored both sides of the dale, and seen many views
of a very similar character, we cannot help thinking that the vista is
somewhat overrated. Leyburn itself is a cheerful little town, with a
modern church and a very wide main street which forms a most extensive
market-place. There is a bull-ring still visible in the great open
space, but beyond this and the view from the Shawl Leyburn has few
attractions, except its position as a centre or a starting-place from
which to explore the romantic neighbourhood.

As we leave Leyburn we get a most beautiful view up Coverdale, with the
two Whernsides standing out most conspicuously at the head of the
valley, and it is this last view of Coverdale, and the great valley
from which it branches, that remains in the mind as one of the finest
pictures of this most remarkable portion of Yorkshire.

CHAPTER XIV

RIPON AND FOUNTAINS ABBEY

We have come out of Wensleydale past the ruins of the great Cistercian
abbey of Jervaulx, which Conan, Earl of Richmond, moved from Askrigg to
a kindlier climate, and we have passed through the quiet little town of
Masham, famous for its fair in September, when sometimes as many as
70,000 sheep, including great numbers of the fine Wensleydale breed,
are sold, and now we are at Ripon. It is the largest town we have seen
since we lost sight of Richmond in the wooded recesses of Swaledale,
and though we are still close to the Ure, we are on the very edge of
the dale country, and miss the fells that lie a little to the west. The
evening has settled down to steady rain, and the market-place is
running with water that reflects the lights in the shop-windows and
the dark outline of the obelisk in the centre. This erection is
suspiciously called 'the Cross,' and it made its appearance nearly
seventy years before the one at Richmond. Gent says it cost L564 11s.
9d., and that it is 'one of the finest in England.' I could, no doubt,
with the smallest trouble discover a description of the real cross it
supplanted, but if it were anything half as fine as the one at
Richmond, I should merely be moved to say harsh things of John
Aislabie, who was Mayor i