| Gordale Scar | |
| Location: | 1 mile (1.6 km) north-east of Malham, North Yorkshire, England |
| Type: | Limestone ravine |
Gordale Scar is a limestone ravine 1mile north-east of Malham, North Yorkshire, England. It contains two waterfalls and has overhanging limestone cliffs over 100m (300feet) high. The gorge could have been formed by water from melting glaciers or a cavern collapse. The stream flowing through the scar is Gordale Beck, which on leaving the gorge flows over Janet's Foss before joining Malham Beck 2miles downstream to form the River Aire.[1] A right of way leads up the gorge, but requires climbing approximately 10feet of tufa at the lower waterfall.
William Wordsworth wrote in the sonnet Gordale, "let thy feet repair to Gordale chasm, terrific as the lair where the young lions couch".
James Ward created a large and imaginative painting of it that can be seen in Tate Britain. J. M. W. Turner also painted a picture of it in 1816, also to be seen in Tate Britain.
Colin Tudge references this feature and James Ward's painting in his book The Time Before History.[2]
The waterfall was used as an exterior filming location in the 1982 film The Dark Crystal. Goredale Scar appears in the Netflix series The Witcher (S2 E3: "What is Lost").