Hawnby, Easterside Hill and Shaken Bridge

7.5 miles                                 Clear sky, raw wind

We approached Hawnby from the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley Road which we left at the Laskill turn-off.  We drove through the top village and continued down to the houses of Hawnby Bridge. Tom Scott Burns explains that the village was so divided because in the 1750s a zealous landlord turned out all the Methodists from their houses.  They moved a short distance away where they built some small houses and a Wesleyan Chapel, completed in 1770.  We parked behind this Chapel where parking is free for about a dozen cars.

Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills

Clive walking through Hawnby Bridge

Leaving the car park we turned left into Hawnby Bridge, crossed the road at the junction and went through the gate (seen in the above photo) into a field following the way-marks and a faint trail in the grass.   We crossed several meadows to Ladhill Beck after which we had a long gentle climb to some woodland before exiting on a road near to Easterside Farm.  We followed the road for a short time in the shadow of Easterside Hill, before leaving it to follow a farm track to High Banniscue Farm.

An indistinct track

Crossing Ladhill Beck

Looking back towards Hawby

Just past the farm the track circumnavigated the distinct shape of Pepper Hill and we walked into a very cold head wind.  The outside temperature gauge on my car had reported 4 degrees at Hawby and the wind chill was a shock to us after a long summer of warm walks.  On the eastern side of Pepper Hill we saw the damaged wall and impact crater made by a German Dornier in the last war when it crashed on 17th December 1942.  We had earlier inspected a memorial window to the airmen at Hawnby Church.

Pepper Hill

Circumnavigating Pepper Hill

Hole and crater made by German Bomber

Memorial window to the German Airmen at Hawnby Church

We continued around the side of Easterside Hill, eventually crossing the Laskill to Hawnby road, now looking for a sheltered spot where we could stop for coffee.  We descended across some meadows, and after carefully avoiding a group of about a dozen horses we arrived at the ruins of Grimes Holme, where we sat on slabs of rock in the lee of the building to enjoy our scones.

Descending across meadows

Coffee and scones at Grimes Holme

Leaving the old farmstead we walked down to cross a wooden gated bridge over the River Rye at a point which TSB says is often frequented by herons.  Not today, unfortunately, and we crossed a couple of fields to join a farm track that led past Fair Hill Farm and the ruins of Broadway Foot, which appeared to have been a thatched building before it was burned to the ground.

Crossing the River Rye

Joining the farm track past Fair Hill Farm

Weathervane at outbuilding, Broadway Foot

Sad ruin of Broadway Foot

The farm lane led us down to the road and Shaken Bridge.  TSB tells us that its name derives from the Old English 'sceacre' or robber.  ie Robber's Bridge.  Parts of the old stone bridge looked new and we were unsure whether stone had been replaced or cleaned.  We crossed and after walking on the road for a hundred yards we turned sharp left followed a farm road uphill until we came to East Ley Wood.  Bearing right up the track an old barn came into view, a building we recognised as one we have approached from other directions on other walks.  We walked through a gate into East Ley Wood.

Approaching Shaken Bridge

Looking downstream

The Old Barn... again

Gate into East Ley Woods

Someone has added these hand drawn leather patches to gate posts in the area - their calling card?

The path meanders along the side of the wood for 1.5 miles, eventually emerging at Murton Bank top.  We turned right into the road and walked downhill coming to a 'surprise view' at Peak Scar Top, a short distance down the road.

Alongside East Ley Wood for 1.5 miles

Turn into the road and approach Peak Scar Top...

...where you get a surprise view of Hawnby below

We now had a steep descent down Murton Bank and enjoyed a fine view down to Hawnby and the houses at Hawnby Bridge below us.  We returned to the car and after removing boots were soon warming ourselves by the fire in the Inn at Hawnby while discussing the highlights of the walk over a pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord.

Hawnby Bridge below and Hawnby above