Brimham Rocks

Brimham Rocks is a National Trust site on the high moor above Nidderdale, about eight miles south of Ripon. The moorland is scattered with enormous boulders of millstone grit that have been eroded over millions of years into extraordinary shapes — stacks balanced on impossibly narrow bases, arches, overhangs, and towers that look more like deliberate sculpture than natural formation. The largest rocks stand ten metres high.

It is excellent scrambling country — the rocks are low enough to be climbable without specialist equipment, and children in particular find it irresistible. The views from the higher points extend across the whole of Nidderdale and on a clear day as far as the Yorkshire Dales to the north. There is a small National Trust car park; arrive early on summer weekends to avoid the crowds.

things to do sight
A story
The rocks have been given names over the centuries by visitors trying to describe their shapes: the Idol Rock, the Druid's Writing Desk, the Baboon, the Dancing Bear. None of these names has any connection to the Druids, who had nothing to do with the site — the formations are entirely the work of 320-million-year-old millstone grit eroded by wind, ice, and water. The name "Druid" was attached in the 18th century by antiquarians who assumed any ancient-looking landscape feature must be ceremonial.