Simon's Seat is a peak 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 ...
in northern England. It is a prominent outcrop of
millstone grit on the eastern side of
Wharfedale
Wharfedale ( ) is the valley of the upper parts of the River Wharfe and one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated within the districts of Craven and Harrogate in North Yorkshire, and the cities of Leeds and Bradford in West Yorkshire. It is ...
. Although only high, the extensive views from the summit make it a popular destination for walkers.
Simon's Seat is on private land of the
Bolton Abbey Estate. There are no
public footpaths to the summit, but the summit is on
access land
The freedom to roam, or "everyman's right", is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness ...
. It is usually reached by a
permissive route which leads north from Bolton Abbey across the
River Wharfe
The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale.
...
up the Valley of Desolation. The route leads across Barden Fell, which is a
grouse moor, sometimes closed to the public during the shooting season. The summit can also be reached by shorter but steeper paths from Howgill or
Skyreholme
Skyreholme is a hamlet in Wharfedale in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It lies east of Appletreewick, in the small side valleys formed by Skyreholme Beck and Blands Beck, which meet in the hamlet to form Fir Beck, a short trib ...
, one mile north of the summit.
Name
There are several explanations of the origin of the name. It was first recorded in 1771, and may have been named after an owner of the estate in a similar way to the nearby crags named Lord's Seat and Earl Seat.
A traveller in 1838 recorded a local tale that the crag was named after an infant found there by a shepherd, who named the child Simon.
The 19th-century
antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
Henry Speight thought that it was a
high place of
Druidic
A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...
worship, named after the legendary Simon Druid or
Simon Magus.
References
External links
{{ commons category-inline, Simon's Seat
Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales
Wharfedale
Appletreewick