Photograph of meer stone 7 - Grassington Moor

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Location: 360 metres on a bearing of 26° from John Young Gate.

Latitude: 54.099401 Longitude: -1.964672

NGR: SE 02408 67059

Inscription: W B

This is a small, fairly insignificant stone, probably marking the boundary of one of William Bagshaw's leases marked on the Brailsford survey of 1781 - probably the south-east corner of the meer adjacent to the Minikin & Co meer. It appears to be associated with the Burnt Ling Vein. The lettering on this stone is remarkably similar to the lettering on the other stone initialled WB. Of the 51 leases named on the Brailsford survey, William Bagshaw's name is associated with eight of them. Originally from a landed Derbyshire family, William Bagshaw (1713-1785) inherited the estates and mining interests from his godfather William Drake of Coates Hall, near Barnoldswick, in 1758. He continued to invest in the moor, as he was granted a lease in 1774 for 21 years by William, Duke of Devonshire. There was a long-lasting interest by the Bagshaw family in the area. A Bagshaw of Derbyshire is recorded as having interests in the area as early as 1730, and the family were still working the mines as late as the 1840s. See also MS 68.