Beast
The Trollers Gill Barguest
One look, and you are stone.
See it clearly
- What's there
- A narrow limestone ravine
- Legend from
- Wharfedale tradition
- Best time
- Dusk (said)
- Tone
- Eerie
In a narrow gorge waits a black dog whose single glance can turn you to stone.
Trollers Gill is a narrow limestone gorge near Skyreholme in Wharfedale. The Yorkshire Dales National Park says it is home to a Barguest, a huge long-haired black dog with massive eyes and sharp claws. One look at it can turn you to stone or be a sign of death. The gill is also said to house fairies, trolls and sprites. Some think the Barguest inspired Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, as his mother told folk tales and lived nearby at Masongill. The name is said to mean town-ghost, mountain-ghost or bear-ghost. Wikipedia adds that trolls were blamed for stones pushed down on walkers.