WHATEVER happened to the fourth Kirkdale of the North York Moors? Until around the 19th century, the area now known as the North York Moors National Park could boast four small valleys all bearing the name Kirkdale. Now there are only three.

Perhaps the best known is Kirkdale near Kirkbymoorside. It boasts the wonderful pre-Reformation Minster of St Gregory dating to Anglo-Saxon times. The church is a masterpiece and bears an historic sundial above its south doorway. This carries some carved lettering which is difficult to read due to the language and the weathering of the stonework.

However, the inscription has been deciphered by experts and is said to read: "Orm, the son of Gamal, bought St Gregory’s minster when it was all broken and fallen, and he has let it be made new from the ground ... in Edward’s days, the King, and Tosti’s days the Earl. That is c1060. Hawarth me wrought and Brand the priest or prior."

Clearly, there have been many changes to this church throughout its long Roman Catholic and Protestant history, the tower being added as late as 1827, with the chancel following in 1881.

The interior, small though it is, never ceases to fascinate visitors with its Anglo-Saxon coffin lids and stone carvings.

However, Kirkdale Minster is not the only attraction here. Just a few yards away is a large elongated hole in the cliff face. This is the renowned Kirkdale Cave, once home of some exotic animals. The cave was explored in 1821 by an expert called Dr Buckland but it had previously been entered by the quarry workman who discovered it.

When the workman saw the piles of bones inside, he threw them into Hodge Beck below but fortunately they were recognised by a Mr John Gibson who happened to be on holiday in Helmsley. Recognizing their age and importance, he summoned expert assistance to examine the bones and although some were lost, he realised that most had come from creatures that existed here some 70,000 years before the birth of Christ.

They included wolf, fox, brown bear, cave bear, stoat, lion, spotted hyena, mouse, water vole, Abbot’s vole, short-tailed vole, brown hare, rabbit, slender-nosed rhinoceros, woolly rhinoceros, horse, pig, red deer, hippopotamus, reindeer, giant deer, European bison, wild ox, straight-tusked elephant and mammoth. The distinctive teeth marks on the bones suggested they had been gnawed by hyenas.

The bones were distributed among museums but many were lost for ever – some were crushed and used as local road-making materials but it is not known whether humans ever occupied the Kirkdale Cave.

The waters of Lake Pickering once lapped that cave entrance, all helping us to understand our landscape’s ancient history.

The second Kirkdale is sometimes known as Kirkdale Slack, slack being an old name for a long narrow valley, and it lies to the north of Thornton Dale near Pickering. When I called, I found a small narrow valley with a footpath that led into Dalby Forest from the hamlet of Ellerburn. Like the other Kirkdales, this lived up to its name by hosting the tiny ancient church of St Hilda, probably dating from the 11th century. Kirk, of course, is an old northern name for a church or chapel.

Further along the A170 towards Scarborough, the third Kirkdale lies to the north of that road between Ebberston and Allerston. The dale heads north into the moors towards the famous Scamridge Dykes and King Alfred’s Cave where a memorial to Alfred the Great was erected. As one would expect, there is a small ancient church here too. Dedicated to St Mary, it probably dates from Norman times albeit with many recent additions and alterations. Sadly, the church was closed when I arrived.

With three Kirkdales fairly close together on the southern edge of the North York Moors, what happened to the fourth? It did exist but is nowhere to be seen. Modern maps do not mention it. However, it was situated a mile or so to the west of Egton, and like others of the same name not far away, it was a small dale with an ancient church., This one stood on Kirk Cliff and overlooked the River Esk and Stonegate Beck. That old church dated to the 12th century. Dedicated to St Hilda, it was renowned for its Norman style pillars, wall paintings, timberwork and named pews much of which was later destroyed during the Edwardian Visitations.

Its problem was that it had served the noted Recusant district of Egton parish – Recusants were Roman Catholics who refused to attend Church of England services and due to its large population of Catholics and their stubborn refusal to conform to the new faith, this tiny valley of Kirkdale was renowned at government level as a Bishopric of Papists. The Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1598-1601 defined it as being west of Egton, including Egton Banks, West Banks, Kirkdale Banks and Westonby, all familiar locations in Kirkdale and on the Recusant Returns.

However, in later years when historians and writers came to visit the area, this Kirkdale did not feature on the newly created Ordnance Survey maps. Surveying of the landscape for these official state maps began in the early years of the 19th century and this particular sheet was printed between 1859 and 1861. The name Kirkdale has been omitted from that edition although some hamlets and other locations are included. So far as I can see, this Kirkdale does not appear on subsequent Ordnance Survey maps; in fact, it seems to have been airbrushed from English history. Locally, the area has become known as Church Dale although none of my maps records it by this name.

When I telephoned Ordnance Survey at their Southampton Head Office and provided the necessary references, I was told that no records of the eradication of Egton’s Kirkdale remained. I was also informed that a Nazi bomb had destroyed all the relevant records.

Fortunately, I discovered a privately produced hand-drawn map dated 1636 that was orientated with north at the foot rather than the top as in modern maps. Before I realised that distinction, the map was difficult to understand but it recorded this particular Kirkdale along with Kirk Cliff, Kirkdale Intake, Low Kirk Intake, two Kirke Fields, one Kirk Field, and the early church of St Hilda. This amazingly detailed map gives valuable support to a number of historic documents including the Recusant Returns in which this Kirkdale strongly features.

Incidentally, the map also shows the then recently completed (1621) Beggar’s Bridge across the River Esk at Glaisdale; it was known as Ferry Brigg after its builder, Tom Ferris. But that’s another story!

And finally, next Monday is the Feast of St Matthew when autumn was believed to begin. An old saying tells us: “St Matthew shuts up the bees and brings the rain, the cold and the dew.” Apparently, a south wind on that day means the rest of autumn will be mild.