Tag Archive for Great Britain

Valentine’s Day approaches – Lovers Leaps again in the public imagination: Brimham Rocks

All hail, Google Alerts!

We’re still keeping up on the worldwide phenomena of Lover’s Leaps … the geography that gives real meaning to the phrase “Til death do us part.”  As we pointed out in Lover’s Leap Legends: From Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Tee of Waco, this is a tale that has come down through millennia (“back in the mists of time,” says Great British Life) from all corners of the globe.

7 romantic walks for Valentine’s day in Yorkshire

Lovers’ Leap – Brimham Rocks

Go to Brimham Rocks and share a story that’s been embedded in the stone (and local folklore) for generations. It’s said that way back in the mists of time, Edwin and Julia were madly in love but were forbade to see each other. Unable to face life apart, they decided to leap from the rocks and spend eternity together. Fortunately, instead of plummeting to their deaths in a gory tumble of limbs and teeth, the couple floated gently to the ground in such a miraculous fashion that Julia’s disapproving father changed his mind and consented to their marriage. Their launch pad to matrimony is now fondly known as Lovers’ Leap.

The tale they recount here differs from the one we found in that today’s tale has both lovers leaping while the 1884 legend we include in the book has only Miss Royst taking the despairing leap. Both have the saving grace of a ballooning skirt saving the day (er – life/lives).

From Lover’s Leap Legends, page 220:

Brimham Rocks (left) are fifty acres of the grit of millstone (a sand-stone once used to grind grain) shaped by weathering and exfoliation into bizarre configurations. These “curious” rock formations not only have a Lover’s Leap, some are thought to resemble elephants, bears, and hippos. It is claimed a few have a Druid or Devil connection. The highest is called Lover’s Leap. In “1766 or 1767,” reported The Leeds Mercury of October 11, 1884, “a young woman . . . by the name of Royst on being disappointed in love, determined to destroy herself by leaping”:

A strong wind was blowing from the west at the time, which inflated her dress in such a manner that she made the descent comparatively unharmed, in the adjoining field, and instead of breaking her neck, only sprained her thumb. She made no attempt to repeat the experiment, which probably cured her hopeless passion, as she lived long afterwards, and died at Kirby Overblow.


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