Five small colour photographs showing large boulders being placed at watering place in Alum Pot Lane near Top Farm, Selside

The photos show Alum Pot Lane in Selside, an old drovers road which had been much damaged by off-road 4×4 vehicles and motorcycles. The lane was closed to vehicular traffic by a Traffic Regulation Order in the earlier 2000s. Since then it has greened over significantly but still not recovered fully after more than 20 years.

A few hundred yards from its junction with the main road there is an ancient public watering place for cattle and other animals that were once driven along this lane. This space was much used for parking off-road vehicles and even large coaches with cavers for Alum Pot. Horton Parish Council decided to save this space by placing large limestone boulders along one side. By the 2020s these boulders had completely merged into the landscape and give little idea that they were once placed there with the help of a JCB.