Approximate Location
Grid Reference: SJ 86043 78030
Latitude / Longitude: 53°17′57″N , 002°12′39″W
Saddlebole is a waymarker on the journey of the farmer and the wizard from Thieves Hole to the cave of the sleepers in The Legend of Alderley:
“By Seven Firs and Goldenstone they went, to Stormy Point and Saddlebole.“
Garner, A., 1960 (1989 edition), The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. William Collins / Lions. London. p10.
Colin and Susan were attacked in a disused quarry on Saddlebole (see header image) by the svart-alfar. The scene is set in Weirdstone, Chapter 3 – The Maggot-breed of Ymir: “Once over the ridge, they found themselves in a dell, bracken and boulder filled, and edged with rocks, in which were cracks, and fissures, and small caves; and before them a high-vaulted beech wood marched steeply down into the dusk.”
Cadellin later informed the children that “Saddlebole was ever a svart-warren” (Weirdstone, Chapter 4: The Fundindelve). Ironically, the Iron Gates lay very close by, on the slopes leading down towards Saddlebole and the two locations are intervisible.
In the essay By Sevenfirs and Goldenstone: An Account of the Legend of Alderley, Alan Garner states that Saddlebole probably incorprates the Old English place-name element “-bolla” a round hollow, a bowl or a crucible. He has also speculated that it may have been a location for metallurgy.