[7] One such settlement is at Dew Bottoms (SD912692), which shows distinct outlines in the ground of huts, both circular and rectangular, and crude boulder walls for pens.

[8][9] In the latter half of the 12th century, William de Percy [II] granted the rights of the pasture land between Malham Tarn and Arncliffe to the monks of Fountains Abbey.

[10] At the eastern end of the beck, where it spills into Littondale, the north-west facing stones are home to dryas octopetala, a now rare plant that exists at is southernmost in England at Cowside.

[16] Cowside beck is known to be home to trout, bullheads, wandering snail (lymnaea peregra), the river limpet (ancylus fluviatilis) and gammarus pulex.

"[20] In normal flow, Cowside Beck discharges water into the River Skirfare at a rate of 0.25 metres per second (0.82 ft/s).

[26] One of the caves in the valley, Robinson's Pot, has a strange access point being located in a grate underneath the kitchen window of Darnbrook Farm.

[35][36] On the south side of the gorge is Yew Cogar Scar, where the limestone is in layers interspersed with other stones, providing a horizontal strata look to the edges.

[40] A single road crosses the valley on the northern side, leaving Arncliffe south-westwards and taking the watershed between the Wharfe and Aire catchments to the head of Malham Tarn.