Black Dub

It wasn’t quite as easy as it looked on the map, but we made it eventually – to the Black Dub Monument on Crosby Ravensworth Fell. And I made it back – just!

A few days ago, whilst looking up something else, I came across a reference to this monument. The fact that it was so close to home and we did not know about it, and the fact that it is supposed to be the source of the River Lyvennet, made me want to seek it out. The first part of the walk was easy, as it was a track following the route of a Roman road up the slopes of the fell. However, diverting from this track to find the monument, which we could see in the distance, was a bit tricky as it meant making our own way across the moorland through the heather.
 
Anyway we made it and here is the monument. It was erected around 1851 to commemorate the occasion when Charles II drank from the source of the River Lyvennet as he marched with his army from Scotland in 1651. It is a rather fine obelisk, although obviously weathered. It has a profile of Charles II on one side and a now almost indecipherable inscription on another (I have quoted other sources for the reading of it below).

Dub means pool and close by is a large hole, which although dry at the moment, we assume is often a pool, and it was from here that Charles II drank (and hopefully his soldiers as well). This is said to be the source of the River Lyvennet which then flows north to Crosby Ravensworth, so we assume that in wetter weather there is a spring here. However, we did find a bit further away a stream emerging from the ground, which then seemed to join the outflow of the dub, so this could be another source. (I've put this into extras, as I liked the moorland grasses and the wonderful stone that seems to mark the spot.) 
 
HERE AT BLACK DUB
THE SOURCE OF THE LIVENNET
KING CHARLES THE II
REGALED HIS ARMY
AND DRANK OF THE WATER
ON HIS MARCH FROM SCOTLAND
AUGUST 8 1651