A gill or ghyll is a

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

. Examples include

Dufton Dufton is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England. Historically part of Westmorland, it lies in the Eden Valley and below Great Dun Fell. It is mostly around 180m above sea level. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 169, ...

Ghyll Wood, Dungeon Ghyll,

Troller's Gill Trollers Gill is a limestone gill or gorge in North Yorkshire, England, close to the village of Skyreholme and south east of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales (). The gorge, which is in length, is also known as Trollerdale. Name The na ...

and Trow Ghyll. As a related usage,

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 fa ...

is the name of a cave, not the associated stream, and Cowgill, Masongill and

Halton Gill Halton Gill is a hamlet and civil parish in Littondale in the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated up Littondale from Litton. A minor road leads south west to Silverdale and Stainforth in Ribblesdale. The name of t ...

are derived names of villages. The stream flowing through a gill is often referred to as a beck: for example in

Swaledale Swaledale is one of the northernmost dales (valleys) in Yorkshire Dales National Park, located in northern England. It is the dale of the River Swale on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire. Geographical overview Swaledale runs ...

, Gunnerside Beck flows through Gunnerside Ghyll. ''Beck ''is also used as a more general term for streams in the north of England – examples include Ais Gill Beck,

Arkle Beck Arkle Beck is the stream running through the valley of Arkengarthdale in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is a tributary of the River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the ...

and

Peasey Beck Peasey Beck is a beck flowing through Cumbria, England. It rises on Lambrigg Fell where it is known as the Sparishaw Beck, flows through Killington Reservoir and converges with Stainton Beck to form the River Bela at Milnthorpe. Prior to 19 ...

. In the

North Pennines The North Pennines is the northernmost section of the Pennine range of hills which runs north–south through northern England. It lies between Carlisle to the west and Darlington to the east. It is bounded to the north by the Tyne Valley and ...

, the word sike or syke is found in similar circumstances. This is particularly common in the Appleby Fells area where sikes significantly outnumber the becks and gills; it can also be seen in the name of

Eden Sike Cave Eden Sike Cave is a small cave in Mallerstang in the Eden valley in Cumbria, 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 ...

Mallerstang Mallerstang is a civil parish in the extreme east of Cumbria, and, geographically, a dale at the head of the upper Eden Valley. Originally part of Westmorland, it lies about south of the nearest town, Kirkby Stephen. Its eastern edge, at Aisg ...

. In the High Weald gills are deeply cut ravines, usually with a stream in the base which eroded the ravine. These gills may be up to deep, which represents a significant physiographic feature in lowland England.

References

Place name element etymologies Ravines Fluvial landforms English suffixes {{Topography-stub

See also

References