|
Semerwater is one of only two natural lakes in the Yorkshire Dales. It's a gorgeous spot in little Raydale. It has a great legend. Here it is: One day an old beggar passed through the city that now lies under the waves. He asked at every house for food and drink, from the humblest hovel to the highest palace, but was turned away. Walking out of the city he came to a shepherd’s cottage high on the hillside where he was welcomed in, given cheese, ale and backstone cakes (a kind of Dales oatcake) and a bed for the night. In the morning the beggar stood at the cottage door and looked down at the city in the valley bottom. He muttered these words: "Semerwater rise, and Semerwater sink, And swallow the town all save this house, Where they gave me food and drink.” At once waters began pouring into the valley from the surrounding hills until the city was drowned and every dwelling beneath the water, save for the shepherd’s cottage. And this is why, if you take a boat out onto Semerwater and listen in the quiet of the evening, you can hear faintly, from the beneath the water, the church bells rolling and tolling in the slow currents below the surface of the lake. And here's a painting I made of the lake a while ago. Available from Masham Gallery 
0 Comments
|