Today we start the trip from the source of the Wharfe.  Briefly these are the characteristics of the landscape around us. 

Upper Wharfedale is a classic u-shaped glacial valley.  A lake was left behind after the glacier melted, and although that disappeared quite soon, this valley bottom is prone to flooding.  You will mainly find the small road follows the river, while hills rise on either side.  Listen – what do we hear?  Mainly the sound of sheep on the hillsides and the gentle sound of the river as it runs over its stony bottom.  Other than that you feel you are far from civilisation – something quite rare in Britain today.

Two becks (small streams) join at Beckermonds and The Wharfe starts its life at  Langstrothdale, which is actually the Upper Wharfe.  The little hamlet in this area is called Yockenthwaite.  Visitors to Yockenthwaite can see an ancient circle of stones here or a “ring cairn” or “kerbstones”.  Many names such as Yockenthwaite are Viking names and “thwaite” means a clearing or pastureland.  The thirteenth-century form, Yoghannesthweit, combined the Scandinavian term thweit with the Irish name Eogan, to give Eogan’s clearing.

Following the stream, you arrive at a small place called Hubberholme – just a few cottages and The George Inn.  Hubberholme was recorded in Domesday Book as Huburgheham, from the feminine name, Hunburg – the woman Hunburg’s farmstead or home. In the summer you can sit by the river and feed the many ducks who expect to share their picnic with the visitors.  Were visitors made for any other purpose?

Immediately behind you is the little church of Hubberholme, dedicated to St Michael and All Angels.  There is a solidness and dignity to this 12th century church with its sturdy tower and broad low roof.  It is constructed of local stone and lives its life happily in its picturesque surroundings beside the River Wharfe.   Here you can find a famous person’s ashes in its graveyard:  J B Priestley, one of Yorkshire’s famous writers and one of Britain's much loved writers.  He loved this church and wrote that it was one of the pleasantest places in the world.  Write "Hubberholme, Upper Wharfedale" on Google images for pictures of this area together with pictures of the beautiful interior of the church itself - or better than that, come.

It is such a peaceful English churchyard.  There is a smell of  oldness and oak in this church.  It has a magnificent rood loft and the hand carved oak pews were added in more recent times.  They are the work of a famous British furniture maker called Robert (mousey) Thompson, (the Mouse Man of Kilburn) North Yorkshire.  He always left his trade mark – a mouse – on his furniture.  There are a few in Hobberholme Church and a favourite game is to hunt for them on pew ends.  Even after the death of Thompson, the factory which he founded continued adding the little mouse to their fine furniture. 

This small country church is one of the prettiest and much loved churches in the Dales as well as being unusual. The mediaeval feel of the church eminates from the following features: The interior walls are of unplastered, rough local stone.  There is an iron candelabra overhead and a hand-painted rood loft. A rood loft is a narrow gallery which could be used by singers or musicians.  This gallery, in Hubberholme Church, is finely carved in oak and painted red, black and gold and it dates from 1558.  During the Reformation, many rood lofts were destroyed as a link with Roman Catholic churches, but, luckily this one survived.

A  story attaches itself to this church of a very curious baptism. A child, who should have been christened Ambrose Stanley was inadvertently christened Amorous Stanley.  Perhaps the vicar was thinking of something else at the time, or was a little hard of hearing.  However, whatever the reason was, the family tried in vain to change the name, but the register couldn’t be altered and the unfortunate child had to live with that name in those days.  In later life he had a business career in which he described himself as Amorous Stanley – licensed hawker.

Tomorrow I'll tell you of the fish that swam in the aisles of this church, and we'll cross the river for another strange story at the George Inn.