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Crackpot Hall, Swaledale

The ruins of Crackpot Hall lie about a mile east of Keld on the northern slope of Birkdale North Yorkshire. There may have been a building on this site since the 16th century when a hunting lodge was maintained for Thomas, the first Baron Wharton, who visited the Dale occasionally to shoot the red deer.

 

The current ruin is of a farmhouse dating from the mid 18th century. It was an impressive two story building with a slate roof and matching "shippons" or cow sheds at each end for animals. The building may also have been used as mine offices, as intensive lead mining was carried out in the area, and there were violent disputes over mine boundaries in the 18th century.

 

This building was abandoned in the 1950s because of subsidence.

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Uploaded on June 13, 2015
Taken on May 25, 2015