The scenery is breathtaking, the stream is narrow and the current is peaceful. But beyond all those enchanting qualities is a chasm well prepared to suck you in the moment you step in to enjoy its favours.
Located between Barden Tower and Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, England the small innocuous-looking mountain stream, about six feet across, is known as Bolton Strid, or simply the Strid. Below the water's surface is a deep chasm with powerful undercurrents that pulls anybody that falls into it to certain death. It is believed that not a single person who has fallen into the Strid has ever come out of it alive. Not even their bodies.
To understand how a small mountain brook can have such a dangerous reputation, take a walk upstream. In less than 100 yards, this “small” stream will have expanded to a substantial river 30 feet across. This is River Wharfe which runs through Yorkshire, but when it comes to the area of Bolton Abbey the river is forced through a narrow gap causing the water to gain tremendous speed and depth. The narrow gap on the Strid is only an illusion as both banks are seriously undercut. Hidden underneath is a network of caverns and tunnels that hold all of the rest of the river's water. Nobody really knows how deep the Strid goes.
On the surface the Strid appears so modest and the banks so close to each other that many foolhardy visitors in the past have assumed they could jump across it, or walk across its stones because it only seems knee-deep. Indeed, it’s believed that the name Strid comes from the word “stride”. There are warnings signs on trees around the area discouraging people to attempt the leap. Still there are plenty of stories of individuals slipping and getting sucked mercilessly into the underwater caves and eroded tunnels.
One supposed victim of the Strid was young William de Romilly, the son of Lady Alice de Romilly, who attempted to leap across the Strid in 1154 and perished. His mother was so grieved by her loss that she donated the surrounding land to establish the Bolton Priory monastery.
