Wharncliffe Crags (Sheffield)

 feature, geography, crag, interesting place, Site of Special Scientific Interest - SSSI (UK)

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Outcrop of Pennine millstone grit (laid down 320 million years ago), surrounded by Greno Wood.

See: www.ukclimbing.com/databases/crags/craginfo.html?id=85

The location has literary associations, being alluded to in the first chapter of "Ivanhoe" by Sir Walter Scott:

"In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster. The remains of this extensive wood are still to be seen at the noble seats of Wentworth, of Warncliffe Park, and around Rotherham. Here haunted of yore the fabulous Dragon of Wantley..."

"The Dragon Of Wantley" is the title of a famous 17th Century satirical poem, which only approximately locates its action (Rotherham is significantly further than three miles away):

"In Yorkshire, near Rotherham,
The place I know it well,
Some two or three miles, or there abouts,
I vow I cannot tell;
But there is a hedge, just on the hill edge,
And Matthew's house hard by it:
Oh! There and then was this Dragon's den,
You could not chuse but spy it."

In the first verse, we are told the name of the fable's hero:

"Old Stories tell how Hercules,
a Dragon slew, at Lerna;
with seven heads and fourteen eyes,
to see and well discern-a:
But he had a club this dragon to drub,
Or he'd never have done it I'll warrant ye:
But Moore of Moore Hall, with nothing at all,
he slew the dragon of Wantley."

The reservoir to the West of the crags is "More Hall reservoir" (and the road from the valley up to Bolsterstone is "More Hall Lane").

The full text of the poem can be found at:

en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Dragon_of_Wantley

and the background to the story at:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_of_Wantley

However, the version of the poem displayed at Wikipedia is the bowdlerized version. If you want to know how Moore really killed the dragon (he didn't kick the creature in the throat: it was a blow aimed somewhat lower), or what the dragon's last action was before expiring, further investigation will be required.

There is a public house at Thurgoland, a little to the north of here, called The Green Dragon. Whether this relates in any way to the Dragon of Wantley/Wortley I don't know.

The valley below the Crags used to carry the now-defunct Trans-Pennine Railway Line (through the Woodhead Tunnel).

For the Forestry Commission's intentions in this area, see their news release #8953 (27.10.06):

www.forestry.gov.uk/newsrele.nsf/WebPressReleases/AF85E...