3. The Ice Age

In the Ice Age the Aire Valley was filled with a great glacier. On Farnhill Moor are ice scratched rocks. Further evidence of this period is to be found in all the streams of the district. For example in Sutton Beck between the Holme Bridge and the 1900 Bridge are boulders, which have been brought over the hills from Ribblesdale. Within a mile of the boundaries of the township of Sutton are still to be seen the remains of the great glacier, which gradually melted under the influence of the changing climate.

On the moors were great lakes, the one nearest Sutton being Lake Laneshaw. This lake stretched from Glusburn in Airedale, across the Pennine Range and to the neighbourhood of Colne. Boulsworth Hill and Coombe Hill formed the boundary to the South. To the North the ice on Carlton Moor formed a retreating shoreline as it melted. The most permanent height was about 1125 feet.

The great Airedale Glacier melted when the warmer conditions came. The water collected in the depressions on the hills. Thus the great lakes were filled. As the melting continued, the level of the lakes reached the lowest points in the surrounding ridges of hills. In this way several outlets were formed. One such point was almost above Sutton, and the deep gorge of Sutton Clough was carved out by the rush of water.

As a result of the emptying of these lakes, the floor of this portion of the Aire Valley was converted into a lake. The water was held up at Bingley. From the deposits left, the margin of the lake would be almost as high as the canal at Kildwick, and almost as high as the site of the Salt Pie Farm at Sutton.

We have proof of the Ice Age in our valley, and we also have proof that at some period, there must have been a very different climate. Some years ago, at Lothersdale, the workmen in the quarry came upon a pothole in the limestone. In this were found the petrified remains of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, bear, bison and hyena. All these animals need a tropical climate. The remains were examined by leading scientists of the day, and are now in the museum of the Leeds Philosophical Society.