A corner of yorkshire HIGH LAITHE BARN

Perhaps the most famous barn in the Yorkshire Dales is this thatched cruck barn standing on the shore of Grimwith Reservoir between Nidderdale and Wharfedale.

A “cruck” or crook is an A-shaped frame of timbers supporting the roof, and there are now few left in the UK. The word “laithe” is derived from the Viking word for barn.

High Laithe is thought to date from the 16th century and was part of the small community that included two hamlets, Grimwith and Gate Up, which were flooded in the early 1860s to provide water for the mills of Bradford 20 miles away. Now a Grade II listed building, the barn used to stand 100 yards to the west. It was moved in 1982 and reconstructed by Yorkshire Water because a planned extension to the reservoir would have left it just below the waterline. The steeppitched roof was thatched with heather from the local moors.