The Moorcock Inn is a public house near the watershed between the rivers

Clough Clough ( ; ) is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits about 3 miles from Dundrum on the A2 between Newcastle and Belfast. The A2 continues via Downpatrick and the coast via Strangford and the Portaferry – Stran ...

and Ure, in Upper

Wensleydale Wensleydale is a valley in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Dales, which are part of the Pennines. The Dale (landform), dale is named after the village of Wensley, North Yorkshire, Wensley, formerly the valley's market tow ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. It is adjacent to the junction of the

A684 road The A684 is an A road that runs through Cumbria and North Yorkshire, starting at Kendal, Cumbria and ending at Ellerbeck and the A19 road in North Yorkshire. It crosses the full width of the Yorkshire Dales, passing through Garsdale and the f ...

and the B6259 road and near railway station on the

Settle–Carlisle line The Settle–Carlisle line (also known as the ''Settle and Carlisle'' (S&C)) is a main railway line in northern England. The route, which crosses the remote, scenic regions of the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines, runs between Settle J ...

. The history of the inn can be traced back to the 1740s but it has been called ''The Moorcock'' only since 1840. The pub is near some long-distance paths and is popular with walkers.

History

The pub, built in the 1740s, is at a remote road junction at the head of Wensleydale and is named on

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

mapping. Although its postal address is

Sedbergh Sedbergh ( or ) is a town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Cumbria. It falls within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Since April 2023, it has been administered by Westmorland and Furness local authority. Th ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, it is actually in

, in the civil parish of

Hawes Hawes is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, and historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The River Ure north of the town is a tourist attraction in the Yorks ...

, and at the point where the nascent River Ure turns eastwards, some west of Hawes, and from railway station. The name of the pub before 1840 was listed as ''The Guide Post Inn''. In the 1870s the pub was popular with the railway navvies living in a camp near the pub while building the Settle-Carlisle railway and the Wensleydale Line to Hawes. Some of the navvies who drank there referred to it as ''The Junction Inn''. During that time it was fined for "allowing drunkenness ndserving outside of permitted hours". After a train crash at nearby Ais Gill in 1910, twelve bodies were stored in the pub until they could be buried at Hawes, and the preliminary inquiry into the crash was held there since it was "the largest room for miles..". In 1975 the landlords died in a fire on the day of their retirement party. The pub, which is above sea level, is adjacent to the junction of the B6259 road and the A684. It is also on the Pennine Bridleway and near the Pennine Journey and the

Dales High Way A Dales High Way is a long-distance footpath in northern England. It is long and runs from Saltaire in West Yorkshire to Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, roughly parallel to the line of the Settle and Carlisle Railway. Route The Dales High W ...

. Owing to its height at the west end of Wensleydale the Moorcock is known to be the wettest place in Wensleydale, averaging of rainfall a year. The route of the B6259 was built in 1825 as an alternative to the through road to Mallerstang from Cotterdale. From Monday to Friday four buses per day in each direction connect Garsdale railway station and the Morcock Inn with Hawes. The pub closed in 2023, and planning documents lodged in 2024 indicate the owners intent to convert the pub into a tearoom and living accommodation.

References

{{Pubs in North Yorkshire Pubs in North Yorkshire Hawes