The Chevin
Encyclopedia
- "Chevin" redirects here. For the fish, see Squalius cephalus.
The Chevin is the name given to the ridge on the south side of Wharfedale
Wharfedale
Wharfedale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale include Buckden, Kettlewell, Conistone, Grassington, Hebden, Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Otley, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Arthington, Collingham, and Wetherby...
in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England, overlooking the market town of Otley
Otley
-Transport:The main roads through the town are the A660 to the south east, which connects Otley to Bramhope, Adel and Leeds city centre, and the A65 to the west, which goes to Ilkley and Skipton. The A6038 heads to Guiseley, Shipley and Bradford, connecting with the A65...
.
History and features
The Chevin is largely covered in attractive old woodland and heathland. It is a part of the CarboniferousCarboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the Northern England. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills...
group. A Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
ran along the top of the Chevin, part of the road that linked Eboracum
Eboracum
Eboracum was a fort and city in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into York, located in North Yorkshire, England.-Etymology:The first known recorded mention of Eboracum by name is dated circa 95-104 AD and is an address containing the Latin form of the settlement's name, "Eburaci", on a wooden...
(York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
), Calcaria
Calcaria
Calcaria was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today, it is known as Tadcaster, located in the English county of North Yorkshire....
(Tadcaster
Tadcaster
Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England. Lying on the Great North Road approximately east of Leeds and west of York. It is the last town on the River Wharfe before it joins the River Ouse about downstream...
) and Olicana
Olicana
Olicana is generally recognised as the Roman fort on the south bank of the River Wharfe, situated at the centre of where Ilkley, a Victorian spa town in West Yorkshire, England now stands.-Identification:...
(Ilkley
Ilkley
Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in West Yorkshire, in the north of England. Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the metropolitan borough of Bradford. Approximately north of Bradford, the town lies mainly on the south bank of the River Wharfe...
), perhaps on the same route as the modern road, Yorkgate, or perhaps about 800m to the south.
The highest point of the Chevin, Surprise View, reaches 282 metres (925 ft) at . This point offers extensive views of Otley
Otley
-Transport:The main roads through the town are the A660 to the south east, which connects Otley to Bramhope, Adel and Leeds city centre, and the A65 to the west, which goes to Ilkley and Skipton. The A6038 heads to Guiseley, Shipley and Bradford, connecting with the A65...
and Wharfedale
Wharfedale
Wharfedale is one of the Yorkshire Dales in England. It is the valley of the River Wharfe. Towns and villages in Wharfedale include Buckden, Kettlewell, Conistone, Grassington, Hebden, Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Otley, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Arthington, Collingham, and Wetherby...
, and has an adjacent car park. It is the site of a beacon
Beacon
A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location.Beacons can also be combined with semaphoric or other indicators to provide important information, such as the status of an airport, by the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon, or of...
, and a cross is erected at Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
.
The name comes from the Brythonic 'Cefyn', 'Cefn' or 'Cefu' meaning a 'ridge', or 'ridge of high land'. The root name informs other hills, such as The Cheviot
The Cheviot
The Cheviot is the highest summit in the Cheviot Hills in the far north of England, only 2 km from the Scottish border. It is the last major peak on the Pennine Way, if travelling from south to north, before the descent into Kirk Yetholm....
in Northumberland, and the Cévennes
Cévennes
The Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche, and Haute-Loire.The word Cévennes comes from the Gaulish Cebenna, which was Latinized by Julius Caesar to Cevenna...
in France.
The chevin has also been voted an area of outstanding natural beauty. As a result buildings in Otley are unable to change their use (e.g., a pub cannot become a house).
Recreation
Several outcrops of rock are distributed across the upper slopes of the Chevin and are popular for climbingClimbing
Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.Climbing activities include:* Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small...
and bouldering
Bouldering
Bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs over a crash pad so that a fall will not result in serious injury. It is typically practiced on large natural boulders or artificial boulders in gyms and outdoor urban areas...
. The Chevin also has a number of footpaths and bridlepaths, and is popular with walkers, runners and riders. The Leeds link to the Dales Way
Dales Way
The Dales Way is an 84-mile Long Distance Footpath in Northern England, from Ilkley, West Yorkshire to Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria....
crosses it, as does the Ebor Way
Ebor Way
The Ebor Way is a 70 mile long-distance footpath from Helmsley, North Yorkshire to Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England. It takes its name from Eboracum, the Roman name for York....
. There is also an Orienteering
Orienteering
Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...
course in the forest park, with maps available from the local tourist office. As a recreational area, the Chevin is divided in two by the East Chevin road.
.
The Chevin in art
The famous painting Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the AlpsAlps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
by J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
which hangs in the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, is reputed to have been inspired by a view of the Chevin with a stormy background sky. Turner used to stay with his friend Walter Fawkes
Walter Fawkes
Walter Ramsden Hawkesworth Fawkes was a Yorkshire landowner, writer and Member of Parliament for Yorkshire from 1806 to 1807.-Biography:...
at Farnley Hall
Farnley Hall (North Yorkshire)
Farnley Hall is a stately home in Farnley, North Yorkshire, England. It is located near Otley. The original early seventeenth century house was added to in the 1780s by John Carr, who also designed Harewood House...
on the opposite side of the valley to the Chevin. Recalling a day in the autumn of 1810 Fawkes' son, Hawkesworth, remembered a storm that inspired one of Turner's major paintings:
- "Hawkey! Hawkey! Come here! Come here! Look at this thunder-storm. Isn't it grand? isn't it wonderful? - isn't it sublime?" All this time he was making notes of its form and colour on the back of a letter. I proposed some better drawing-block, but he said it did very well. He was absorbed - he was entranced. There was the storm rolling and sweeping and shafting out its lightning over the Yorkshire hills. Presently the storm passed and he finished. "There Hawkey," said he, "In two years you will see this again, and call it Hannibal Crossing the Alps."
External links
- The Chevin, Leeds City Council's website
- The Chevin
- Chevin Forest website
- Chevin Forest Park Local Nature Reserve Management Plan 2007-2016