In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Hermione and Harry camp out on Malham Cove’s limestone pavement.Ron had stormed off at this point, so it’s just the two of them. The jagged sides are the result of a process called frost-shattering. Malham, Yorkshire Dales National Park England. The slate was created when clay-based rocks were put under immense pressure due to movements within the earth’s crust. Images:- Watlowes Valley © Helen Rawling- Watlowes Valley: smoother on lefthand slope, steeper on the right © Helen Rawling- Watlowes Valley and drystone wall © Helen Rawling- Fountains Abbey today © La Mon1 via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). We might expect this water to reappear at the bottom of Malham Cove, following the obvious path of the (now dry) valley above ground. These natural cliffs look like they are a part of an old castle complex. Every spring, rivers and streams swell with the water from melting ice and snow.
(On the OS 1:25,000 map you are by Comb Hill). Atlas Obscura and our trusted partners use technology such as cookies on our website to personalise ads, support social media features, and analyse our traffic.
This is different to the more usual type of wall, which has a narrower top.
Annabelle is not only an extremely skilled blacksmith but an excellent teacher. Between 359 and 299 million years ago earth movements here caused faults to develop. Medieval fields, Malham - reconstruction, © YDNPA, 2004. What created the dramatic gorge that inspired Tolkien? Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). Its name is virtually synonymous with ‘geography fieldtrip’. While the landscape certainly looks like it could have been created by magic, the truth to its formation is still pretty incredible.
Please click below to consent to the use of this technology while browsing our site. The largest cave chamber in Britain—big enough to fit a whole cathedral inside. Limestone is notorious for being ‘porous’, which means that water can easily drain through its cracks and fissures. Malham Cove is one result of these monumental forces of nature. Malham Cove is located just outside of the village of Malham in Yorkshire Dales in England. Part of the explanation for the cove is that it is a dry waterfall.
As you begin to leave the town behind turn right into the Yorkshire Dales National Park visitor centre (well worth a visit to learn more). Once upon a time, some 10 or 12,000 years ago, a torrential waterfall of glacial meltwater cascaded over the cliff as ice retreated at the end of the last Ice Age. The Malham Cove Short Walk, as its name suggest, is the shortest way to get to Malham Cove. Here farmers grew barley and oats, and this continued right up until the nineteenth century. Yet an experiment showed this doesn’t happen.
Over 200 voles have been released to date and they have already spread up to a kilometre from their original release site. In Harry Potter. It stayed frozen more continuously and so the slope remained more intact.
Offer subject to change without notice. Over time this created fissures and gaps in the rock known as grykes. From our vantage point by Comb Hill we can gaze down into the Watlowes Valley, which widens as it descends.
After being featured in one of the most successful film series of all time, Harry Potter in 2009, it received worldwide exposure. The cove is 70 metres high and its curved walls extend for 300 metres. The other distinctive feature of this valley is the drystone wall running along the bottom. With its 260 foot high limestone cliff, shaped like a natural amphiteatre, Malham Cove is also believed to have been the inspiration behind Tolkien’s fort, “Helm’s Deep” in … Why was North Yorkshire's quiet moorland once compared to the Wild West? Incidentally the fell walker Alfred Wainwright warns limestone pavement “has unique propensities for breaking legs” so be careful walking around it! Visited Malham Cove to see where Harry Potter had been filmed (on the limestone pavement) - one way to get the kids (aged 15 and 12) to go on a walk! Follow us on social media to add even more wonder to your day. If you look into the valley you may notice that the slope on the left is slightly smoother, whereas the slope on the right is steeper and jagged. We did the 4.5 mile walk which took in the Cove, pavement, Gordale Scar and Janet Foss waterfall. The key attraction for visitors is the unusual scenery and this is the result of the limestone rock here.
After a couple of hundred metres the stream you are walking alongside disappears. Instead the dyed water emerged again at Aire Head Springs, a further two miles to the south, where it becomes part of the infant River Aire. In fact, this area of the Yorkshire Dales is known as ‘limestone country’ because this pale-coloured rock dominates the landscape. Retrace your footsteps to the car park and turn right onto the road. Repeated freezing and thawing of water here eroded the valley side, causing rocks and soil to gently slip and slump down the slope. Contained within the cliff is a 50,000-year-old complex of caves and tunnels that has scarcely been explored. - Bill Bryson, author and former Malhamdale resident. After Ron and Harry argue and Ron breaks up the trio, disapparating to You-Know-Who knows where, Harry and Hermione set off for a new camping site. The precise location will vary depending on how wet it has been, but stop where the water disappears to read Stop 2. When the ice finally retreated (from around 10,000 years ago) the soil on top of the limestone pavement was washed away by meltwater. Malham Cove, topped with its weird and wonderful limestone pavement, is one of the most impressive natural features in Yorkshire, and a highlight of the Pennine Way. Take in Gordale Scar and Janet’s Foss waterfall by picking up the Malham and Gordale Scar walk from ITV's Britain's Favourite Walks. Take a picnic and settle down for a breathtaking view of the prettiest county by far. Harry Potter The grandeur of one of Yorkshires landmarks, Malham Cove may look familiar to fans of the much loved film series, Harry Potter, in particular Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Nearest postcode BD23 4DJ, Malham National Park Centre, Malham, BD23 4DA. The acidic rainwater trickled into the cracks and gradually widened them. Gazing up at the sheer sides of the cove, you can almost feel a sense of vertigo at the scale and grandeur of this crescent-shaped sweep of cliff face.
Malham Cove is where wizards Harry and Hermione camp out whilst trying to evade and defeat the evil Lord Voldemort.
We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel up to 24 hours before your tour starts for a full refund. The footpath is stepped down alongside the drystone wall, with the Cove to your left.
One of these, the North Craven Fault, meant that the slate was pushed up closer to the surface. A group of glacial erratic boulders improbably balanced on white limestone pedestals. The rock face itself is well-known nowadays for protecting a pair of nesting peregrine falcons as well as house martins and a parliament of owls. Where rainwater has trickled over the bare blocks (clints) it has created further little gullies across their surface known as karren. The Harry Potter filming locations at Malham Cove probably list in the top 10 weirdest throughout the whole film series. This is where you will pick up the path that heads down the hillside to your left. The water’s precise journey from Malham Tarn and Water Sinks to Aire Head is a mystery, but most likely includes secret twisting tunnels and cave passages through the limestone. This trail draws on information from the following sources: Rita Gardner and Andrew Goudie's Discovering Landscape in England & Wales (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1985), Tony Waltham's Yorkshire Dales: Landscape & Geology (Crowood Press, 2008), The Yorkshire Dales National Park website and Visitor Centre, "I won't know for sure if Malhamdale is the finest place there is until I have died and seen heaven (assuming they let me at least have a glance), but until that day comes, it will certainly do." The cove and its pavement are intriguing and almost other-worldly. Return to the Pennine Way and keep walking downhill towards Malham Cove. © 2020 Atlas Obscura.
The faults were created during the Carboniferous period (359-299 million years ago) when great movements within the Earth threw up sections of the land and disrupted the layers of rock underground. Do you need to book in advance to visit Malham Cove? Let's delve a little deeper into this wondrous landscape, which has in its time played host to Britain’s Niagara, Peregrine falcons and Harry Potter. The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is a Registered Charity, No. To learn more or withdraw consent, please visit our cookie policy. The ice scoured away the soil and weaker surface rocks leaving a broad expanse of exposed limestone.
Carry along the limestone pavement moving away from the footpath where you joined it until you meet a drystone wall. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month.
We did the walk from Janets foss, through to Gordale Scar and then Malham Cove.
Stop where the footpath becomes a ledge leading around the side of the hill. Immediately after this go through the gate to your left signposted to Malham Cove.Follow the footpath as it continues alongside the stream and joins the Pennine Way heading for Malham Cove. Erosion by ice and water since the last Ice Age (approx 10,000 years ago) scoured away at the limestone on top, leaving a shallow rock basin lined with slate. Towards the end of the glacial period (around 10,000 years ago) the ice sheet began to melt.
If you want to return to the car park at the Tarn follow the route in reverse or take in Gordale Scar and Janet’s Foss waterfall by picking up the ITV/OS Malham and Gordale Scar walk, Helen Rawling, RGS IBG Discovering Britain. So the ice carved out the rough wide sweep of cliff, and later it was further shaped by waterfalls, melt-water and the weathering of wind and rain.
. While we are up here, gaze out over Malhamdale below. Discovering Britain is delivered by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).
When it rained, water trickling through the vegetation became acidic and it gradually dissolved away the limestone beneath. And Harry Potter fans will notice something familiar about the place as scenes from the Deathly Hallows were filmed all around the area, including the cove and Malham Tarn. Today, Malham’s extensive network of caves keeps its secret and await discovery still. Helen Rawling for creating the photographing the trail, Paul Stevenson for use his photograph of the limestone pavement used as the lead image. Early tourists to this curious landscape, like writer and vicar John Hutton in 1781, were captivated by what they saw: “A small brook springs out of the bottom of the rocks; but in floods the narrow subterranean passage is not able to give vent to all the water, when there pours down a stupendous cataract, in height almost double that of Niagara”. As we discovered earlier, the water flows underground here.
Hardly surprising then that it was considered an ideal location for the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. Malham Cove is where wizards Harry and Hermione camp out whilst trying to evade and defeat the evil Lord Voldemort.