Yorkshire Dales Quiz: Dry Stone Walls, Field Barns and Limestone
This Yorkshire Dales quiz hikes the green valleys of northern England. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on dry stone walls built without mortar, enclosure history, stone field barns, Malham Cove, clints and grykes, the Ribblehead Viaduct, the Yorkshire Three Peaks, Wensleydale cheese, Aysgarth Falls and how the dales got their names.
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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds
Walls
What holds a dry stone wall together?
History
When were many straight walls built across the hills?
Barns
What are field barns in Swaledale?
Cove
Which huge limestone cliff is near Malham?
Pavement
What are the cracks in limestone pavement called?
Viaduct
Which railway viaduct has 24 arches?
Peaks
Which is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks?
Cheese
Which cheese comes from a Dales valley?
Falls
Which waterfalls tumble in three steps on the River Ure?
Names
How are most dales named?
Your score
0/10
Scroll down to see the explanation for each question.
Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions
- Q1: What holds a dry stone wall together?
Answer: Careful stacking with no mortar
Skilled wallers fit each stone.
- Q2: When were many straight walls built across the hills?
Answer: During enclosure in the 1700s and 1800s
Land was divided into fields.
- Q3: What are field barns in Swaledale?
Answer: Small stone barns in fields
They housed cattle and hay.
- Q4: Which huge limestone cliff is near Malham?
Answer: Malham Cove
It has a limestone pavement on top.
- Q5: What are the cracks in limestone pavement called?
Answer: Grykes
The blocks are clints.
- Q6: Which railway viaduct has 24 arches?
Answer: Ribblehead Viaduct
It carries the Settle-Carlisle line.
- Q7: Which is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks?
Answer: Pen-y-ghent
Whernside and Ingleborough are the others.
- Q8: Which cheese comes from a Dales valley?
Answer: Wensleydale
Wallace and Gromit made it famous.
- Q9: Which waterfalls tumble in three steps on the River Ure?
Answer: Aysgarth Falls
They appeared in a Robin Hood film.
- Q10: How are most dales named?
Answer: After their rivers
Swaledale follows the River Swale.
Walls, Barns and Limestone Valleys
The Yorkshire Dales are a landscape of green valleys, or dales, in northern England, protected as a national park since 1954. Most dales are named after their rivers, such as Swaledale and Wensleydale. Thousands of miles of dry stone walls, built without mortar, divide the fields into a patchwork.
Many of the straight walls running up the hills date from enclosure in the 1700s and 1800s, when open land was split into fields. Small stone field barns in Swaledale once housed cattle and stored hay. Wensleydale is famous for its crumbly cheese.
Limestone shapes the scenery. Malham Cove is a huge curved cliff topped by limestone pavement, with blocks called clints and cracks called grykes. Walkers tackle the Yorkshire Three Peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, while the Ribblehead Viaduct's 24 arches carry trains across the moor.
What This Quiz Teaches
Countryside fans will enjoy these questions.
- How walls are built
- Why fields were enclosed
- Which limestone features exist
- Which peaks to climb
- Which foods come from the dales
Did You Know?
- Swaledale sheep are a hardy local breed.
- Gaping Gill is a huge pothole cave.
- Villages often hold agricultural shows in summer.
- Hay meadows bloom with wildflowers in June.
- Wallers still repair walls using old methods.
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