Hardraw Force ( OS grid ref: ) is a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

on Hardraw Beck in Hardraw Scar, a wooded

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Hardraw Hardraw is a hamlet near Hawes within the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It takes its name from the nearby Hardraw Force waterfall. The old school house, built in 1875, can be seen in the centre of the photograph of the village, ...

, north of the town of

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a touri ...

Wensleydale Wensleydale is the dale or upper valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines, one of the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of only a few Yorkshire Dales not currently named after its principal river, but th ...

, in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...

. The

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

long distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exc ...

passes close by. Comprising a single drop of from a

rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...

overhang, Hardraw Force is claimed to be England's highest unbroken waterfallOn 6 December 2015

Malham Cove Malham Cove is a large curved limestone formation north of the village of Malham, North Yorkshire, England. It was formed by a waterfall carrying meltwater from glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age more than 12,000 years ago. Today it is a w ...

regained its waterfall after a gap of what is possibly centuries. After

Storm Desmond Storm Desmond was an extratropical cyclone and fourth named storm of the 2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season, notable for directing a plume of moist air, known as an atmospheric river, which brought record amounts of orographic rainfall to ...

, water was seen falling off the cliff into the stream below, which made it, temporarily, the largest unbroken waterfall in England. – at least discounting

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

falls. The underground waterfall inside nearby

Gaping Gill Gaping Gill (also known as Gaping Ghyll) is a natural cave in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the unmistakable landmarks on the southern slopes of Ingleborough – a deep pothole with the stream Fell Beck flowing into it. After fallin ...

on the western flank of

Ingleborough Ingleborough () is the second-highest mountain in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks (the other two being Whernside and Pen-y-ghent), and is frequently climbed as part of the Three Peaks walk. A large part o ...

has an unbroken fall of more than . Geologically the bed of the river and plunge pool is shale; on top of that is sandstone and the top layer is carboniferous limestone. It is on private land but public access to the falls is available through a turnstile behind the Green Dragon Inn. The current cost is £4 per adult, £2.50 per child. Access behind the falls is now prohibited.

Hardraw Scar

Hardraw Scar () is a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

behind the Green Dragon inn at Hardraw near

in the

. It is a natural amphitheatre and in September is the site of an annual brass-band contest. The contest attracts bands from all over the North of England and is a popular event amongst players and audiences alike. The gorge is alongside the

. Access to the gorge is via the nearby public house. In 1899 a great flood came racing over the waterfall and into Hardraw itself, ruining buildings and uprooting coffins from the graveyard. The lip of the waterfall was demolished by the force of the water and the landowner at the time (Lord Wharncliffe) got his estate manager to repair the lip and it is now held together at the top by metal stakes.

Hardraw Force and popular culture

Both J. M. W. Turner and

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

visited the waterfall and both men stayed at the Green Dragon Inn. The falls were used as a location in the film '' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'', in the scene where Maid Marian catches Robin Hood bathing under a waterfall. Hardraw Force is the setting for a brass-band competition held annually on the second Sunday in September. The competition was first held in the natural amphitheatre of the falls in 1884 when six bands took part; the competition lapsed in 1927 but was revived in 1976 and has gone from strength to strength since. In recent years two other musical events have started up at the falls: the Hawdraw Bash is a folk-rock concert in early July and the Hardraw Gathering is a three-day festival of traditional music at the end of July.

Notes

References

External links

WebsiteVideo footage of the beck, gill and force
{{Waterfalls of Yorkshire Canyons and gorges of England Waterfalls of North Yorkshire Wensleydale