Discover North Yorkshire and Explore the Geodiversity and Fossils of Malham Cove
- Jan 2, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 7
Malham Cove is one of North Yorkshire’s most striking natural landmarks, rising as a vast limestone amphitheatre within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. This dramatic dry waterfall and karst pavement records over 350 million years of Earth history, from tropical Carboniferous seas to tectonic faulting, glaciation, and erosion. Easily reached from Skipton, the cove offers iconic walks, geological insight, fossil heritage, and rich biodiversity. Visitors can explore limestone cliffs, clints and grykes, dry valleys, and nearby caves, while learning how water, ice, and time shaped this protected landscape. Malham Cove combines scenery, science, and cultural history into a must-visit destination. It appeals to walkers, photographers, geologists, and travellers seeking nature, heritage, education, and unforgettable upland experiences in all seasons annually.
Malham Cove was once described by Thomas West an early 18th travel writer (among other professions) as, “This beautiful rock is like the age-tinted wall of a prodigious castle” and more recently Malham Cove was the backdrop to a number of Hollywood movies including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in 2010.
Malham Cove is a superb first destination to head for by taking a number of signposted local footpaths and walks through the dry valley of Watlowes to Gordale Scar on to Janet’s Foss as well enjoying a small part of arguably the most iconic of England's National Trails, The 431 Km Pennine Way. Also don't be too surprised if you see Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) stoop in the spring and summer months as their nest scrapes are located on the rocky edges of the Cove where clutches are laid from the end of March to mid-April.
A large part of the area around Malham has been designated under Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a site recognised by Natural England as nationally important; Malham Tarn and its associated wetland, 2 miles north of Malham village, is a National Nature Reserve and is owned and managed by the National Trust and designated under the Ramsar Convention, as a wetland of international importance.
Malham Cove is an upland limestone landform primarily composed of Carboniferous limestone a sedimentary rock formed during the Carboniferous Period. At that time, much of what is now the United Kingdom was submerged beneath a warm and shallow tropical sea forming the Carboniferous Limestone Supergroup.
The exposed cliff face of Malham Cove has a number of visible horizontal beds or thick layers that indicate that over millions the sedimentary limestone was formed by a series of accumulations of calcium carbonate derived from the shells and skeletons of marine organisms. The main cliff is composed of the Cove Limestone Member of the Malham Limestone Formation and capped by the Gordale Limestone Member making the clint and gryke limestone pavement.
Malham Cove is at the edge of the Mid-Craven Fault a significant geological feature in North Yorkshire formed during the late Carboniferous into the early Permian periods as a result of tectonic stresses associated with the Variscan Orogeny or mountain building event. The Mid-Craven Fault underpins North Yorkshires complex tectonic history and serves as the boundary between two contrasting geological zones of the elevated granite Askrigg Block and the lower depositional Craven Basin and Ribblesdale Fold Belt.
One of the most striking aspects of Malham Cove's geodiversity is not only it scale but also its limestone pavement, located at the top of the cove. The pavement consists of large, flat blocks of limestone, known as clints, separated by deep fissures called grykes. These features result from the enlargement of natural cracks in the limestone due to chemical weathering. The grikes provide microhabitats for a variety of specialised plants and animals to thrive in this moist, shaded and protected environment.
Below the surface of Malham Cove and the surrounding area is an intricate network of underground caves and subsurface streams created by the dissolution of limestone but also from the mining for lead and zinc. This underground world is explored by potholers and cavers in places such as White Scar Cave, Stump Cross Caverns, Ingleborough Cave and many more. Afterall there are over 2,500 known caves in the Yorkshire Dales.
The geodiversity of Malham Cove has also been shaped by glacial and post-glacial processes. Glaciers have advanced and retreated across the region, scouring the landscape and depositing glacial debris. While Malham Cove itself was not directly formed by glacial activity the melting of glaciers contributed to the area's hydrology and the subsequent formation of the cove.
At the end of the Ice Age, large quantities of meltwater flowed through the region. This powerful flow of water likely played a significant role in deepening and shaping the cove. Over time the glaciers receded and the water flow lessened until the once-powerful streams that fed Malham Cove dried up leaving behind the striking dry valley of Watlowes that leads to the cove.
Malham Cove exemplifies the rich geodiversity of the Yorkshire Dales showcasing the intricate interplay of geological, hydrological, and ecological processes. From its ancient origins as a tropical seabed to its role as a haven for biodiversity. Malham Cove is a must see place to understand how the power of nature shapes our world.
