CHARNEY HALL A Legendary Warning


Scout Scar - Credit : Ian Cylkowski


One of Mr Fawcett’s cautionary tales, perhaps by way of a warning to those boys who may have been tempted to stray on walks across the limestone pavements of Hampsfell, relates to a certain Mr Hodgson. No more is known about this gentleman save only his surname.


Documentation of the event is very thin on the digital ground. However I have unearthed one reference to the legend and found some other interesting references to the cliff in question.

The escarpment lies to the west of Kendal and is named Scout Scar or Underbarrow Scar. It reaches 235 metres (771 ft) high. 


At Charney Hall  I realise that I was mistaken, my imagination taking precedence over common sense, as Mr Fawcett was not making reference to the magnificent Whitbarrow Scar which towers over the hamlet of Mill Side, just north of the A590, midway between Levens and Lindale, but Scout Scar, no less spectacular but on a smaller scale. Between the two lies the Lyth Valley, famous for its damsons, jam and gin that all boys and parents were able to consume in season.


Legend has it that Mr Hodgson, in a drunken moment, bet he could ride his horse down the steep edge of Scout Scar….He blindfolded his horse, which meant that both had no idea of what they were letting themselves in for, and sadly neither survived - a salutary tale shocking enough to be imprinted forever in the brain of any schoolboy.


Scout Scar - Credit: Ian Cylkowski

Hodgson’s Leap - Credit: Ian Cylkowski

Thereafter the site was named Hodgson’s Leap - perhaps the horse, the hapless innocent party, should have been remembered too!


A Local Chronology, Notes of the Principal Events, reprinted from the Kendal Mercury and Westmoreland Gazette was published in 1869. It records another event concerning one James Bush which occurred in 1830 as follows:


I also refer to the splendid photographs taken by Ian Cylkowski included in his blog ‘Pandemic Peregrinations’, some of which are credited here, which portray the drama of the place, setting the scene in this small, unspoilt part of the Lake District.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_Scar


https://www.cumbrianaturally.co.uk/about-scout-scar.html


https://www.iancylkowski.com/blog/2020/4/13/pandemic-peregrinations-scout-scar-cumbria-spring


https://www.alltrails.com/trail/england/cumbria/scout-scar-kendal



















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