FOUNTAINS EARTH. situate among lofty moors, is a township, partly in the ecclesiastical parish of Middlesmoor and partly in that of Ramsgill, formerly part of the parish of Kirkby Malzeard, 8 miles north from Pateley Bridge and 16 ½ west from Ripon, in the Eastern division of the Riding, lower division of Claro wapentake, Pateley Bridge union, Knaresborough petty sessional division and Ripon county court district. The moor land was enclosed in 1856. The Marquis of Ripon is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are, E. Barlow, J, Yorke, W. C. Rockliff, s. Robinson, W. Harker, Thomas Carter and T. H. Carnochan esqrs. The soil is loamy and gravelly; the subsoil is gravel and rock. The land is principally in pasture. The area is 6,744 acres; rateable value, £3,596; and the population in 1871 was 361.

Endowed school, founded by John Lazenby, in the year 1743, for ten poor children, eligible from the three townships of stone Beck Up, stone Beck Down & Fountains Earth. & endowed with land now in the occupation of the master, st let for the yearly rent of £39; the property of the school was the subject of a Chancery suit in 1855, when judgment was given in favour of the charity.