Myths and Legends on the Ides of March

14 March dawned a bit overcast and cool (all the blogs start this way because it is usually cool and damp) so, we decided to head out for a couple of remote legendary spots in England: the Tan Hill Inn, Uther Pendragon's Castle and the Jew Stone.

The Tan Hill is Britain's highest Pub at 1732ft and is out in the moors near the border of Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland. It's really remote, there's not a village within 10 miles, which is rare for England.
We pulled in around noon and made friends with the locals pretty quick. Molly decided that playing with her new mates was more important than food so, she took off. She even managed to run the lambs back into the kitchen, which elicited a quick telling off from the scullery maid: "Get those lambs out of here, their turn will come soon enough!"

The girls then worked off some of their Yorkshire pudding by playing a game of chase in the back barn of the pub.


After a fantastic lunch and a nice pint of bitter, we heeded the numerous warnings and stories about the Lycans (werewolves) which inhabit the surrounding moor,

bid adieu to Tan Hill and headed out for the Mallerstang.

The Mallerstang are the mountains surrounding the literal Valley of Eden. The River Eden flows through here following the route carved during the last glacial period. And it really is nice.

Our first stop in Eden was the ruined castle of the legendary Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur.

It was a fantastic ruin and was open for total exploration.
We searched for trolls and gold,

climbed on battlements,

played hide and seek and just generally had a good time.

The views out to Wild Boar Fell were beautiful.

And the ones toward the ground weren't bad either!

After our exploration of Pendragon's castle, we headed further into the Valley of Eden in search of the fabled Jew Stone. We found it in this jewel of a village, Outhgill.

In addition to being the keeper of the Jew Stone, Outhgill was also the home of James Faraday. He was the father of Michael Faraday, well-known pioneer in electro-magnetism..... Anyway, we managed to successfully navigate the 2 streets and find the subject of our pilgrimage.


The Jew Stone doesn't really have much to do with anything Jewish. It was originally erected by a guy named William Mounsey on the Ides of March in 1850 after he traced the River Eden from its mouth at the Solway Firth (Carlisle) to its source in the Mallerstang. He placed the stone at the source with an inscription in Latin and Greek which reads: "William Mounsey, a lone traveller, commenced his journey at the mouth and finished at the source, fulfilled his vow to the genius and nymphs of the Eden on the 15th March, 1850."

The annual Pilgrimage and birthday celebration of the Jew Stone was complete so we decided to celebrate at the Wensleydale Creamery with that quintessential English winter treat, Ice Cream.