The name means 'The bend',[1] The hamlet is the only settlement in Crummackdale, the upper valley of Austwick Beck.

Moughton Fell rises immediately behind the hamlet to a height of 1,400 ft (430 m).

The upper plateau of Moughton is contained within 856 acres (3.46 km2) of common land with grazing rights (known as sheep gaits).

The hamlet is within the boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park[3] and is close to the Norber erratics, a group of boulders moved by glaciers during the last ice age.

The 1841 census shows 11 households, with a population of 36 (29 adults and 7 children) with an average age of 36 years.