Rievaulx Abbey and Caydale from Murton

 

8.5 miles            Warm and mostly sunny

We left the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley Road at the Hawnby turn off and parked at the roadside near to Murton Grange.

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

Tom Scott Burns explains in his 'Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills' that the township of Murton was given to Byland Abbey by Hugh Malebisse in the 12th century.  A grange was constructed by lay brothers and was basically a well run farm with a small chapel.

We walked past the neat white buildings of the grange and after a short distance turned into Ox Pasture Lane which we followed to the top of Deep Gill Wood.   Ahead of us trotted dozens of young pheasants, determined not to take to the air, until a dog running alongside some horse riders ran towards them barking. 

Ox Pasture Lane

We have company along the lane

Leaving Ox Pasture Lane to walk along the edge of Deep Gill Wood

We emerge onto meadows

Our path ran alongside the wood for some time before reaching fields which we crossed to reach an old disused barn before descending to Barnclose Farm.

Approaching the old barn

Clive goes for a look around

Descending to Barnclose Farm

We walked through the farm and then had a steady climb on the road to reach Tylas Farm, which TSB tells us that the monks of Old Byland built as a grange and tile house, hence its name.  We passed the farm and continued along the road to Oxen Dale until reaching a gate and way-mark on our left where we turned off the road and gradually descended to the River Rye.

 

The road to Tylas Farm

Our turn off is almost hidden by bracken

Walking through Oxendale

Our path now led through the valley of Oxendale, the River Rye to our left. We followed a pleasant grass track until we reached the river and our path became a boardwalk over areas that obviously suffer from flooding.

 

 

The River Rye from our path

Looking back at an old sign to Hawnby

We emerged onto tarmac and almost immediately crossed the river at Bow Bridge, originally built by the Cistercian monks of Rievaulx.   

A short walk on the road brought us to a sign pointing to our path across fields to Rievaulx Abbey.  We left the road at a wooden Inn Way sign and soon the abbey came into sight.  Our route followed the traces of the old canal that the monks had built in the 11th century to carry stone for the abbey from the nearby Penny Piece Quarry, so named because quarrymen were apparently paid a penny a day.  The river was dammed here and water diverted into the canal. 

As we walked through fields towards the Abbey we were rewarded with a fine view of the ruins, Tom Scott Burns says that Rievaulx Abbey is undoubtedly a place to walk to, rather than from.
 

Remains of the old canal

Leaving the road near Bow Bridge

Walking towards Rievaulx Abbey

We soon arrived at the village and the road and decided to leave our route for a while to visit the church of St Mary's which could be seen uphill to our left.  

Apparently the church was originally a 'slipper chapel' to the abbey, a place where pilgrims would remove their shoes and put on soft slippers or socks to enter the holy buildings.  It was renovated early this century.  

We found the church unlocked and entered to find a neat, well kept building with a fine altar window.

The Church of St Mary's, Rievaulx

Hen weather-vane

Looking from the door towards the altar

The altar window

Window commemorating the Earl of Feversham, who died at the Somme

Just outside the church is a heavy wooden cross erected to the memory of the Earl of Feversham and inside we found the following explanation for its presence.

The cross, made from wood recovered from the Somme battlefield

Memorial on the cross to the Earl of Feversham

We retraced our steps downhill and came to a bench where we sat and enjoyed our coffee and scones, looking down on to the village. 
Refreshed, we walked down to view the abbey from the road as we walked towards Rievaulx Bridge.

TSB tells how Wordsworth's sister, Dorothy, who, like us, arrived here during a July afternoon, described how she "could have stayed in this solemn, quiet spot till evening without a thought of moving, but William was waiting for me."   

The Abbey sits in a natural amphitheatre which was granted to the Cistercian monks by the Lord of Helmsley and building began in 1132.  Because of the Abbey's site between a hill and the River Rye the church faces North - South instead of the usual East - West.  By 1200 there were 140 monks and 500 lay brothers but like nearby Byland Abbey, it was suppressed in 1538.

Walking through Rievaulx

Rievaulx Bridge

We crossed the bridge and followed the road to pretty Ashberry Farm where our path turned behind the building and immediately started to climb Ashberry Hill.  As on previous visits our view was not the magnificent one enjoyed by TSB in the days before it was spoiled by new growth, however at one point a gap in the trees gave us a view of one of the Ionic Temples built above the abbey by a local squire in 1758.

Old York North Riding sign near Ashberry Farm

Ashberry Farm

Tuscan style temple above the Abbey

We followed the wooded path through Lambert Hagg Wood and left the wood on the same road that we had followed on the way out, past Tylas Farm.  This time we left the road before the farm, turning left to climb onto Birk Bank on the other side of the valley. 

Walking back through Oxendale

Looking towards Tylas Farm

We saw tiny frogs crossing our road

The trees of Birk Bank

A mile of walking along this woodland track took us to Caydale Mill below us, and just beyond we reached the road and a ford where we washed the mud from our boots.  Cars on this route drive through 100 yards of water, but walkers cross by a bridge and avoid getting wet feet.  

A long steep climb up this road took us back to Murton Grange and our car.  A short drive later we were relaxing in the Buck at Chop Gate where we discussed an enjoyable walk over a pint of Ruby Red ale.

Washing boots in the ford

Murton Grange