Looking south-west from here we see a pass across Kirkby Moor, to the left of the rounded summit (over 1,000 feet) opposite. From the top of that pass, a short mile to the west, is a conspicuous grey cairn of loose stones, which was opened by Mr. Jopling (author of A Sketch of Furness and Cartmel, 1843), and found to contain burnt bones in a prehistoric "kist" of flagstones.
Turning south from this, by a grassy track through the heather, five minutes' walk brings us to the "Kirk," a ring embankment on the brink of the gill which encloses the site on two sides, probably sepulchral, and perhaps connected with the great cairn, as there are the remains of an avenue of standing stones leading in that direction. A field near this is called "Kirk Sinkings," with which compare "Kirk Sunken," the name of the Swinside Circle, and of other similar sites. Kirk or Currock does not imply a consecrated spot, but is the common word (surviving from the "Cumbrian" or Welsh) for stone monuments.
From this, twenty minutes westward down a steep road through the picturesque gill brings us to Kirkby Watermill and Church (Norman door and font, and a tombstone in the chancel which combines the simple cross with rudimentary effigy). Kirkby Hall, a mile to the north, is a fine specimen of the ancient manor house. Another mile northward is Grizebeck, with remains of a ring embankment, unimportant, behind the cottages. Hence it is a little over two miles to Foxfield, or three to Broughton; or, omitting Grizebeck, from Kirkby Church ten minutes' walk brings us down to Kirkby station.
2.—Bethecar and Monk Coniston Moors.
South of Lakebank, turning to left down a narrow lane through the hamlet of Water Yeat, we reach Bouthray (Bouldery) Bridge over the Crake, and see, half a mile further down, the new Blawith Church on the site of an old Elizabethan chapel. Opposite it, across the river by a footbridge, is Low Nibthwaite bobbin mill—in the eighteenth century an important "forge" where iron was smelted with charcoal.
Crossing the bridge, and leaving Arklid Farm on the right, 1-1/2 mile from Lakebank brings us to Nibthwaite, whence the lakeside road leads in about 7-1/2 miles to Coniston Church, past Brantwood and Waterhead; the path to the moors strikes up to the right hand and across the breast of Selside. Another path leads to the Top of Selside, 1,015 feet, with Arnsbarrow Tarn and Bell Beck descending from it, to the south-west, with several good waterfalls. Bethecar Moor is between Bell Beck and Nibthwaite—fine broken ground, which seems to have been less inhabited than the other moors, for no remains except a cairn (1-1/4 mile due west of Waterpark) have been reported.
Two miles north of Nibthwaite is Parkamoor, which in the Middle Ages was a sheep cote belonging to Furness Abbey. Recently, walled up in an outbuilding, on a deserted farm near at hand, part of a woman's skeleton was found. There is an obscure story of an old lady who disappeared after residence at Parkamoor some generations ago, but nothing has been proved as to the supposed murder; nor is there any reason to connect this with an alleged ghost at Coniston Bank, several miles distant.
Hence the path to the right goes to Satterthwaite, down Farragrain Gill; northward, a track leads over the Heald, with magnificent views, to the lonely hill farm of Lawson Park, another Furness Abbey sheep cote (2-1/2 miles), and down to Lanehead and Coniston (3-1/4 miles); or by a cart track met 1/4 mile above Lawson Park, and leading upward and northward, we can traverse Monk Coniston Moor, and descend to civilisation by the lane that crosses from Grizedale to Lanehead. Along the ridge which forms the boundary between Monk Coniston and Hawkshead is High Man (922 feet), where in a cairn is a stone with the initials "J. W., 1771" and "E. D., 1817," and on the west side of the stone "T. F., 1817"—evidently a merestone or boundary mark. A circle and other cairns have been noted near this summit; the circle may be comparatively modern, the ruins of a hut such as charcoal-burners make for temporary lodgings in the woods.
High Cross, where the Coniston, Ambleside, and Hawkshead roads meet, is close at hand, 2-1/2 miles from Coniston Church.