Cowside

Cowside is a side dale of Littondale in North Yorkshire, England. The valley, which faces in a north east direction, carries the waters of Cowside Beck to the River Skirfare at Arncliffe, draining an area of 8.9 square miles (23 km2), and flowing for 7.5 miles (12 km). Cowside is one of the few 'V'-shaped valleys in the Yorkshire Dales (as opposed to a 'U'-shaped valley) which had ice run across the valley, but not down it. The only settlement in the valley is Darnbrook, a very small hamlet at the foot of Darnbrook Fell. Cowside is a common name in the Craven area of the Yorkshire Dales, and it is not to be confused with the Cowside in Upper Wharfedale near Buckden, nor the Cowside Beck near Stainforth. Most of the valley is in the civil parish of Arncliffe, but the upper part of the valley, including the hamlet of Darnbrook, is in the civil parish of Malham Moor. Part of Cowside valley is within the protected area: Malham-Arncliffe SSSI.

The Cowside valley was carved out by glacial action, but the ice flow ran across the valley southwards (transverse) rather than down the valley. This action created the deep incised V-shape. The Devensian ice moved from the north-west to the south-east across Cowside Valley, but some ice may have been pushed up the valley (north-eastwards) towards Arncliffe. Evidence of human habitation in the area is evident from the Bronze Age. The remains of small pounds to keep cattle in can be found in the valley above Cowside Beck. One such settlement is at Dew Bottoms (SD912692), which shows distinct outlines in the ground of huts, both circular and rectangular, and crude boulder walls for pens. In the latter half of the 12th century, William de Percy [II] granted the rights of the pasture land between Malham Tarn and Arncliffe to the monks of Fountains Abbey. At the eastern end of the beck, where it spills into Littondale, the north-west facing stones are home to dryas octopetala, a now rare plant that exists at is southernmost in England at Cowside. The underlying stone of the valley floor is Cove Limestone (Holkerian), but at the valley sides and tops, it consists of Gordale Limestone, with the surrounding hills of

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