Sinderhope - Circa 1904

Holmes Linn – holmr is of Norse origin and in the Northern England and Scottish context means ‘a piece of flat low-lying land by a river or stream, submerged or surrounded in times of flood’, the falls evidently taking their name from the house (Holms) and Holms Haugh close by.

‘Linn’ is slightly more complex. In Scotland and northern England, a Linn is a geographical water feature, a watercourse that has cut through a shelf of hard rock creating a narrow (usually), steep-sided crevice through which it runs.   Linn can also refer to a waterfall or a pool at the foot of a waterfall, with the derivation a confusion of Scots Gaelic linne (pool) and Old English hlynn (torrent).  Both of which would apply in the case of the falls and pool on the East Allen.