Ilkley West Ramble #7: Reynard Ings - Old BeeVille
This is the 7th in a series of 30 caches which will take you on a memorable ramble through some fine, varied West Yorkshire countryside immediately west of Ilkley and south of Addingham. The southern half of the ramble traverses Addingham Moorside.
See Ilkley West Ramble #1: Intro & Start for maps, background info on the trail, and parking waypoints.
From IWR #6 Pass through/over the stile and follow the wall to the culvert crossing of the small beck and continue heading straight (north) across the field to the south of the stone stile . . .
You are looking for a camo-taped preform tube.
Looking east from the cache behind the wall you will note some 100m away a small stone farmhouse & holiday cottage - this is Reynard Ings [Reynard = fox (from Old English), Ings = water meadows or marshes (of Norse origin)], an interesting and unusual part of which is Grade II listed as per the following British Listed Building entry . . .
4/59 Bee-boles in wall attached to rear of Reynard Ings
GV II
Bee-boles, probably contemporary with house, mid C18. Coursed rubble wall with 4 rectangular recesses for the bee skips. These have monolithic lintels and sills and composite jambs. 25" x 28" x 23" deep.
A bee bole is a cavity or alcove in a wall. A (bee) skep [or skip as above] - a traditional form of beehive made from wicker and mud, or grass/straw coils - is placed in the bee bole.
Before the development of modern bee hives, the use of such protective structures as bee boles was a practical way of keeping bees in some parts of Britain - particularly those exposed to wind and rain, such as southwestern and northern England.