Muker

Swaledale mini break 5

Up the dale from Reeth, there is a string of small villages and hamlets, each with their own character.  One of the more attractive is Muker (pronounce it 'Mooker' rather than 'Mewker', I think), which is famed for its flower-rich hay meadows, still farmed traditionally thanks to grants paid to farmers to continue their conservation. The village was at one time a centre of hand knitting. It also has one of the few churches in the dale. For centuries, the only parish church was in Grinton, beyond Reeth, meaning that people had to carry their dead in wicker coffins as far as 16 miles for burial. There is an ancient footpath known as the Corpse Way, with coffin stones at intervals where the pallbearers would rest. In 1580, a chapel of ease in Muker was substantially rebuilt and a graveyard consecrated so that people didn't have to travel to Grinton. The church was restored in 1891 and you can see its tower in my first photo. 

The Swale flows from the north into Muker before turning to the east.  There were a lot of boulders in the river bed but very little water, a sign of the dry spring we've had.