Lost Lad
Out on Little Howden Moor, just beyond Back Tor there lies a very simple pile of stones, a cairn, in fact the Cairn of The Lost Lad.
Burried deep in local folk law is the tale of Abraham Lowe, a shepard boy of 13, he lived in the lowlands of the Derwent Valley with his widowed mother, poor people whos only income came from their moorland sheep. During the summer months the sheep would be moved to the higher moorland to feed and in early winter retrieved and brought back to the shelter of the low hills.
It was with the onset of winter that the young Abraham and his dog climbed the steep hill to retrieve the sheep.
Once up on the moors Abraham searched around but was unable to locate some of his flock, he searched so hard and so long that he had lost track of the time and had not noticed a storm coming in, Abraham decided, as the storm decended upon him that he should head home with the animals he had and come back for the others another day, Unfortunately the storm brought thick mist and a very heavy snow fall, Abraham quickly became disorientated and was unable to recognise what little of his surroundings he could see, cold, tired and lost Abraham sought shelter in some nearby rocks, unfortunately though this was not enough and Abraham went to sleep never to wake again after his body succumbed to the freezing temperatures.
Although searches were arranged by his mother, the fall of snow and the extreme cold made it impossible to search the area properly, indeed it was several months later that a shepard tending his flock noticed on a rock in the distance the words "lost lad" had been scratched, he investigated and found the bodies of Abraham and his dog.
A pile of stones was errected in memory of the lost lad and even today passing shepards place stones on the pile in memory of Abraham Lowe.
Several people have reported seeing a young boy with a dog out on the moors during winter months, always late in the day, the boy never responds to calls offering help....i think he still searches for his sheep.
