Visitors to the Bolton Strid have claimed the girl’s desperate cries can still be heard above the rushing waters, whilst the shades of the two lovers sometimes appear walking hand-in-hand beside the turbulent river. Inevitably, however, disaster ensued the girl was dragged down by the roiling waters-shortly followed by her paramour as he attempted to save her from the opposite bank.Īccording to one romantic legend, in 1154 young William de Romilly - colloquially known as the Boy of Egremont - attempted to leap across the Strid whilst he was hunting. She was reluctant to use any of the bridges lest she be observed and chose the Strid as the most likely point at which to traverse the river. Legends surround Bolton StridĪccording to another legend, two young lovers once arranged to elope together, but the girl first had to cross the Wharfe to meet her swain. Not one returned to describe what they’d seen. When a fatality occurs there, a spectral white horse is said to rise from the churning waters of the River Wharfe as the body is dragged down much like the kelpie in Scottish folklore or the pooka in Ireland.Ī variation of the tradition claims the steed is ridden by the Queen of the Faeries, and hoping to catch a glimpse of this remarkable apparition, three sisters from nearby Beamsley Hall gathered at the Strid on May Day morning. Hazardous landscape features are often personified as terrifying beasts in local folklore and the Strid is a classic example. These cenobites subsequently founded Bolton Abbey and centuries later the tragic legend of the Boy of Egremont was immortalised by William Wordsworth in his poem “ The Force of Prayer”. His mother was so grieved by her loss that she donated the surrounding land to a community of Augustinian monks to pray for her son’s soul.

Bolton Strid is one of England’s most dangerous waterways

The striding place gertrude atherton