Chronicles and Stories of the Craven Dales

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII. HE ancient town of Skipton is called Skiptonin-Craven, to distinguish the capital of the district from Skipton-on-Swale, a place of very minor importance. The first syllable of Skipton is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word signifying "Sheep." Whitaker, frequently at guess-work in his derivatives, is correct here. In the Roman times, as we know historically, England was the granary of north-western Europe. Our southern, south-east, and central counties, not only produced sufficient grain for home consumption, but exported largely. The Saxons destroyed the civilization which was brought in by the Romans. Even agriculture was abandoned, along with viticulture, which also prevailed to a considerable extent, among the ancient Britons. Savages depend more on animal food, than on cereals. Cattle could be easily transferred from one district to another; even in days when the drover could not be put aside for a vehicle of any description. Our climate--we speak here of Craven-- is peculiarly favourable to cattle breeding. It is by no means so for the culture of cereals, unless science be called in aid; and there was not much science in Britain's Saxon days! The people, principally fed on pigs or wild boars; an indigenous race that abounded in the woods, where they still retain possession, as anyone who has visited some of our old forests is aware. These hardy brutes flourished from Norway to the Equator. From the tenth to the fifteenth century, sheep began to supplant the pigs, and to form the wealth of the country. Their flesh fed the people, and their wool clothed them, forming a becoming substitute for the cutical pictorialism of the Aboriginal Britons! One of our waggish friends suggests, that the horns of the rams would be...