Coverdale (dale)
Coordinates: 54°15′04″N 1°54′07″W / 54.251°N 1.902°W / 54.251; -1.902
Coverdale is a dale in the far east of the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. It takes its name from the River Cover, a tributary of the River Ure. The dale runs south-west from the eastern end of Wensleydale to the dale head at a pass, known as Park Rash Pass, between Great Whernside to the south and Buckden Pike to the north. It is accessible by a single track road, which runs the length of the dale and over the pass to Kettlewell in Wharfedale.
The valley gives its name to a variant of Yorkshire Dales cheese, produced at the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes. Coverdale cheese is of the same general texture and flavour as Wensleydale, but thought by some to be slightly sourer and therefore possessing greater 'edge'.
The River Cover meets its confluence with the River Ure at the hamlet of Coverbridge which consists of Clarkson's farm and the Coverbridge Pub, an ancient travellers inn on the road from Jervaux Abbey to Middleham. The Coverbridge Pub has at least two claims to fame including having been the hiding place of monks who kept alive the recipe of Wensleydale cheese during the sacking of Jervaux Abbey by troops loyal to King Henry VIII, and, the scene of the first formally recorded game of cricket in 1706. In 2006 the Coverbridge Cricket Festival celebrated the 300th anniversary in a massive spectacle of cricket supported by the Red Arrows and a spitfire and Hurricane of the RAF with musical support provided by the band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. A Coverbridge team of dalesmen played the visiting Awali Camels team on tour from the kingdom of Bahrain.
