The Hole of Horcum is a section of the valley of the Levisham Beck, upstream of
Levisham
Levisham is a small village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England, located within the North York Moors National Park about north of Pickering. At the 2011 Census the population was less than 100. Details are incl ...
and
Lockton
Lockton is a small village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the North York Moors about north-east of Pickering. Nearby villages include Newton-on-Rawcliffe and Levisham. The village is o ...
, in the
Tabular Hills of the
North York Moors
The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of Calluna, heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a national parks of England and Wales, National P ...
National Park in northern
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Etymology
Early forms of the name include ''Hotcumbe'', ''Holcumbe'', ''Horcombe'' and ''Horkome''. The first element of the name is Old English ''horh'', meaning "filth," while the suffix, ''cumb'', means "bowl-shaped valley", and is of Brittonic Celtic origin.
The Hole
The hollow is deep and about ¾ mile (1.2 km) across. The Hole was created by a process called
spring-sapping, where water welling up from the hillside gradually undermined the slopes above, eating the rocks away grain by grain. In this way, over thousands of years, a once narrow valley widened and deepened into an enormous cauldron. The process continues today.
Legend
Local legend has it that the "
Devil's Punchbowl
The Devil's Punch Bowl is a visitor attraction and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest situated just to the east of the village of Hindhead in the English county of Surrey. It is part of the Wealden Heaths Phase II Special Protecti ...
"-type feature, the amphitheatre, was formed when
Wade the Giant scooped up a handful of earth to throw at his wife during an argument.
Panoramic view
References
Valleys of the North York Moors
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