Ribblehead Viaduct Poem by C Richard Miles

Those lofty arches stand at lonely Ribblehead
And frame stark, captured snapshots of bleak, windswept moor
Where fluttering cotton grass waves over labourers dead,
Who for years did toil, limbs aching long and sore,
To raise high railroads up into the endless sky
And frame stark, captured snapshots of bleak, windswept moor.
Their names no longer live, as ages have passed by
Since hutted towns were built, as ragged workers strove
To raise high railroads up into the endless sky.
To profit from the tracks, to make their treasure trove,
Those railway owners saw no need to waste the stone
Since hutted towns were built, as ragged workers strove.
Beneath green moss and moor those long-lost shacks have gone
In barren limestone land, whilst engines came and went.
Those railway owners saw no need to waste the stone
On Ingleborough’s side, beneath proud Pen-y-ghent,
Under Whernside’s edge, where Pennine ramblers tread.
In barren limestone land, whilst engines came and went,
Those lofty arches stand at lonely Ribblehead.