The Tally Cliffs

CliffsWind, falling water, and three hundred years of scratch-marks

The vale ends in a wall of pale limestone three hundred feet high, where the Brisk comes over the top in a single white fall. Halfway up, where a wide ledge runs across the face, the rock is scored with marks: long grooves in rows of ten, each as deep as a man’s arm, two hundred and ninety-nine of them. Every Midsummer morning for three centuries there has been one more. The vale’s Tally-reader walks up to the pool at the foot of the falls on Midsummer Eve, and at first light, if a new groove has been cut, lights a beacon that is passed down the hills to Summerhythe, and the fair opens when the town sees it. The vale said the cliffs kept the Founder’s count. This year, for the first time, no beacon was lit.

Points of interest

• The ledge. Where Orpiment perches, suns herself, and on still afternoons hums, loud enough to carry down the vale to Summerhythe.
• The Tally. One groove for every summer of the lease. The three-hundredth has not been cut.
• The signing stone. A flat slab at the top of the fall, reached by a goat path, where the vale’s legend says the Founder argued with the dragon for three days. The Wardens now know that she signed a lease there instead.
• The pool. At the foot of the fall, deep and cold. Sir Ivo Latchford has been in it once.

Visiting

The goat path to the signing stone is steep but walkable. The ledge is not reachable without wings or an invitation. Orpiment has said that tenants are welcome to call, so long as they do not bring crossbows.