Trollers Gill facts for kids

Troller's Gill

Trollers Gill is a limestone gill or gorge in North Yorkshire, England, close to the village of Skyreholme and 4.7 miles (7.5 km) south east of Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales . The gorge, which is 0.5 miles (0.8 km) in length, is also known as Trollerdale.

Description

Skyreholme Beck flows through the gorge. but for most of the year the stream bed is dry with the water flowing underground. The beck is the continuation of Dry Gill, an intermittent stream which emerges from the Stump Cross Caverns system 1.4 miles (2.3 km) north-east of the head of Trollers Gill.

There are several caves in the gorge. The largest is a pothole known as Hell Hole, which is 55 metres deep and has 210 metres of passages. The cave was first expored in 1896. The gill is also the location of an old lead and later fluorspar mine which was last worked in the 1960s.

Legends

Legend has it that the gill is the home of the mythical monstrous black dog Barghest who can turn one to stone with a look. It has also been suggested by some that the Barghest story was a major influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when he was penning The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Local folklore declared that trolls lived in the gorge (hence its name) and would push stones down from the deep sides to people travelling up and down the gorge.

Roger and the Rottentrolls is a fictional children's television program which takes the name of its setting from Trollers Gill; however, filming took place at Brimham Rocks, a short distance away.

Gallery

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  Entrance to Trollers Gill dry

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  Entrance to Trollers Gill in spate