Etymology
Douk features a number of times in the names of caves and locations in the Yorkshire Dales, including Low Douk on Ireby Fell, Douk Gill Cave near Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Dowkabottom Cave in Littondale, and High Douk Cave near Great Douk Cave. One meaning of the term offered by Smith in The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire published in 1961 with reference to Dowkabottom is "damp, wet, mist", but William Carr in a book on the dialect of Craven published in 1828 gives the meaning as "To bathe, to duck".
The first known publication in which the cave was referred to as 'Great Douk Cave', as opposed to 'Douk Cave' as in earlier publications, was Harry Speight's The Craven and North-West Yorkshire Highlands, published in 1892, although William Stott Banks refers to "great and little Douk" in his Walks in Yorkshire published in 1866.
Read more about this topic: Great Douk Cave
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