Hushes, delfs and river stonary: alternative methods of obtaining lime in the gritstone Pennines in the early modern period

The production of burnt lime in regions with outcrops of limestone is well documented but lime was also produced on a proto-industrial scale along the northern edges of the South Pennines where sandstone and gritstone constitute the dominant solid geology. Demand for lime led to the development of alternative ways of obtaining raw limestone locally. Along the moorland edge, water was channelled to flush limestone cobbles out of glacial deposits by hushing; cobbles were dug from limestone boulder pits on the moors north and south of Airedale and Wharfedale; and rights to pick limestone cobbles from within river channels were leased as river stonary along the Wharfe and smaller streams. These practices have been identified from the medieval period to the end of the eighteenth century.