Maps now available through the gallery.

Many place names in Muker Parish will be familiar to those who visit regularly, but some are known to only a handful of people, those born and brought up here, who have their own names for the tracks, woods and fields in their dale. Over the course of 2022-24 the local community recorded some 750 such names in Muker Parish, names not found on OS maps, but instead in their collective memory. The names provide an insight into the landscape and into those who made it their home. Anyone who ever walked up the muddy, slippery, double walled track to reach Occupation Road, will understand why its name is Dirty Loaning. Similarly, those who’ve walked through the hazel trees of Ivelet Wood might guess why to some locals it’s known as Nut Wood. Annas, Alice, Gordon, Anty John, Miles Willy, Anne Scott, Jack Ned, Joyce, Bob Bill and many others are recalled in the names of the pastures, meadows and woodlands. Some of the place names gathered are relatively recent, perhaps a field renamed when it last changed hands. Some are much older, passed down from generation to generation, part of an oral tradition, part of the fabric of people’s lives. Whether recent or ancient, the names are important to the community, representing a “hidden” history. 

Size 85 x 85cm, printed on 240g silk paper,  price £35