The Chevin is the name given to the ridge on the south 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 i ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England, overlooking the market town of

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 20 ...

, and often known as Otley Chevin.

Etymology

The origins of the name ''Chevin'' are uncertain; the earliest attestation is in an eleventh-century copy of a charter from 972 which gives the spelling ''scefinc'', while a charter of around 1030 gives the form ''on Scefinge''. The most probable origin, according to a range of authorities, is a

Brittonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

word whose modern Welsh descendant is ''cefn'' ("back", "ridge", "ridge of high land"). This word appears in other hill-names, such as Cefn Cribwr and Cefn Bryn in Glamorgan amongst many others in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, and also, it has been argued,

The Cheviot The Cheviot () is an extinct volcano and the highest summit in the Cheviot Hills and in the county of Northumberland. Located in the extreme north of England, it is a walk from the Scottish border and, with a height of above sea-level, is lo ...

in Northumberland, and the

Cévennes The Cévennes ( , ; oc, Cevenas) is a cultural region and range of mountains in south-central France, on the south-east edge of the Massif Central. It covers parts of the ''départements'' of Ardèche, Gard, Hérault and Lozère. Rich in geogra ...

in France.Harry Parkin, ''Your City's Place-Names: Leeds'', English Place-Name Society City-Names Series, 3 (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 2017). One of the steep hillsides of the Chevin is called the ''Great Dib'', first attested in 1290 as ''Dibe''. Since ''dib'' is a

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

word for 'pool', this name probably originally referred to a pool at the foot of the slope.

History and features

The Chevin is largely covered in attractive old woodland and heathland. It is a part of the Carboniferous Millstone Grit group. A Roman road ran along the top of the Chevin, part of the road that linked

Eboracum Eboracum () was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Western Roman Empire and ultimat ...

(

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Calcaria Calcaria was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today, it is known as Tadcaster, located in the English county of North Yorkshire. The Romans founded the settlement and named it ''Calcaria'' from the Latin word for ''lime kilns'', refle ...

( Tadcaster) and

Olicana Ilkley Roman Fort is a castra, Roman fort on the south bank of the River Wharfe, at the centre of the modern town of Ilkley, a Victorian spa town in West Yorkshire, England. Identification The traditional view is that ''Olicana'' is the fort at ...

(

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

), perhaps on the same route as the modern road, Yorkgate, or perhaps about to the south. The highest point of the Chevin is often thought to be ''Surprise View'', however it is in fact Beacon Hill next to Yorkgate quarry which reaches at and used to be the site of a trig point. Surprise View is the more visited summit of the Chevin and offers extensive views of

and

, and has an adjacent car park. It is the site of a cross erected every

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

since 1969. Parts of the Chevin, known as the Danefield Estate, belonged to landowner Walter Fawkes and his descendants. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

these areas were donated to Otley Urban District Council as a memorial to those from the Wharfe Valley who had lost their lives during the war.

Recreation

Several outcrops of rock are distributed across the upper slopes of the Chevin and are popular for

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done ...

and

bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help se ...

. The Chevin also has a number of footpaths and bridlepaths, and is popular with walkers, runners and riders. It is crossed by the Leeds link to the

Dales Way The Dales Way is an long-distance footpath in Northern England, from (south-east to north-west) Ilkley, West Yorkshire, to Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria. This walk was initially devised by the West Riding Ramblers' Association with the 'lead ...

, and the Ebor Way. There is also an Orienteering course in the forest park, with maps available from the local tourist office. Chevin Forest

parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

takes place at 9am every Saturday morning - it is a free, weekly, timed, 5 km run, organised by local volunteers. 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 Alps'' by J. M. W. Turner which hangs in the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, 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 at Farnley Hall 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." (seen on

Google Book Search Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

) Otley indie rock band The Chevin take their name from the hill.

References

External links

Chevin Forest Park
Leeds City Council's website
Chevin Forest website

Chevin Forest Park Local Nature Reserve Management Plan 2007–2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chevin Hills of West Yorkshire Environment of West Yorkshire Wharfedale Otley