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HalloweenYet
In Yorkshire, England, a natural booby trap lies between Barden Tower and Bolton Abbey. Small and innocuous-looking, it is known as Bolton Strid, or just the Strid. A deep chasm lies below the water’s surface and anyone who falls in it will have their life taken from them. It is believed that no one who has fallen into the Strid has ever survived.
A walk upstream will give you a sense of how small mountain streams can be dangerous. Within 100 yards, this “small” stream will have grown into a substantial river 30 feet wide.There is a river called River Wharfe that runs through Yorkshire, but a narrow gap causes the water to gain tremendous depth and speed when it reaches Bolton Abbey. It is only an illusion that there is a narrow gap on the Strid since both banks are severely undercut.
All of the rest of the river’s water is hidden beneath a network of caverns and tunnels. The depth of the Strid is unknown.The Strid appears modest on the surface, and the banks are so close together that many foolhardy visitors have believed they could jump across it, or walk across its stones because it only appears knee-deep. In fact, it is thought that Strid derives its name from the word “stride”. The trees around the area have warning signs discouraging people from jumping. Nevertheless, there have been numerous cases of people slipping and getting sucked mercilessly into the underwater caves and eroded tunnels.
The Strid claimed to have taken the life of young William de Romilly, the son of Lady Alice de Romilly, who attempted to cross it in 1154 and drowned. In mourning for her son, her mother donated the land surrounding the monastery to establish Bolton Priory. William Wordsworth immortalized this tragic legend in his poem “The Force of Prayer“.
This striding-place is called THE STRID,
A name which it took of yore:
A thousand years hath it borne that name,
And shall a thousand more.And hither is young Romilly come,
And what may now forbid
That he, perhaps for the hundredth time,
Shall bound across THE STRID?He sprang in glee,- or what cared he’
That the river was strong, and the rocks were steep? –
But the greyhound in the leash hung back,
And checked him in his leap.The Boy is in the arms of Wharf,
And strangled by a merciless force;
For never more was young Romilly seen
Till he rose a lifeless corse.Bolton Strid Deaths
Lynn and Barry Collett died on the second day of their honeymoon in August. Bolton Abbey, in north Yorkshire, was the site of their last known sighting after setting off for a walk near the River Wharfe. A few days later, a body was discovered near a weir in Addingham, west Yorkshire, that was that of student nurse Mrs Collett, 25. Via BBC News
On Friday, September 14th, 1934, the professional watercolour artist Arthur Reginald Smith set out early from his North Yorkshire home to paint the River Wharfe, near Bolton Abbey. His body was found 11 days later.
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