Wain Wath Force is a waterfall on the

River Swale The River Swale in Yorkshire, England, is a major tributary of the River Ure, which becomes the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse, that empties into the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. The river gives its name to Swaledale, the valley throu ...

in the

Yorkshire Dales National Park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England which covers most of the Yorkshire Dales, the Howgill Fells, and the Orton Fells. The Nidderdale area of the Yorkshire Dales is not within the national park, and has instead ...

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. The falls are at grid reference , upstream from the hamlet of Keld which has three other waterfalls in its vicinity (

Kisdon Force Kisdon Force is a series of waterfalls on the River Swale in Swaledale, England. The falls are situated within the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the county of North Yorkshire, 500 metres downstream from the small hamlet of Keld at grid refe ...

East Gill Force East Gill Force is a waterfall in Swaledale, east of the hamlet of Keld, North Yorkshire, Keld, in the Yorkshire Dales, Yorkshire Dales National Park, North Yorkshire, England. The falls are located on East Gill at grid reference , just befor ...

, and Catrake Force). The names of waterfalls in the north of England often contain "force" after the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

word ''foss'', which means "waterfall". Its name derives from the ford above the fall, ''wath'' being the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

word for a ford. Wain may denote that it was passable for a cart or wain. Wain Wath Force is not a substantial waterfall: it has a drop of only around 1.5 metres as the river flows beneath the

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

cliffs of Cotterby Scar. Despite its modest height it is popular with visitors; the Coast to Coast long-distance footpath passes the falls on the north bank of the River Swale while the main motor road up Upper

Swaledale Swaledale is a valley in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Dales, which are part of the Pennines, and within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is named after the River Swale, which runs through it. Swaledale is the mo ...

passes on the south bank.

References

Waterfalls of North Yorkshire Force (waterfall) Swaledale {{Richmondshire-geo-stub

See also

References