Wass to Cockerdale and Byland Abbey

7 miles                   Fine and sunny

We approached Wass from the A19 Thirsk turn off and parked in the village hall car park near to the tiny Church of St Thomas.

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

The Church of St Thomas

The church was unlocked so we entered and found it to be clean and tidy with a capacity of about 40.  Tom Scott Burns doesn't mention the building but it once served as the village school and appears to have been built using stone from nearby Byland Abbey.

Inside St Thomas' Church

Easter diorama

TSB does tell us, however, that Wass comes from the Middle English wathes, or fords, the village having two such crossings.

We walked back down to the crossroads and turned right at the  Stapylton Arms.  


We walked away from the pub along a road that soon lost its tarmac and became little more than a track.

Weather vane in Wass

Walking through Wass

Climbing up Abbey Bank Noddle

We passed a sign to Cam Farm and Observatory, the only sign for the observatory that we noticed, then passed through woods with Blind Side Gill to the right and Abbey Bank Noddle to the left. This was a steady climb which suddenly became steeper as we followed our path off the track to the ridge of Snever Scar.

TSB praises the surprise view of the Vale of York from Snever Scar but that has long since been spoiled by quick growing saplings. The path leads along the ridge and then descends until it reaches a track that makes its way left uphill, just before reaching a gate. There is no sign here but we remembered that we needed to take the track to the left in order to see the observatory.

Walking along Snever Scar

Abbey Bank Noddle

Sign down!

Heavy going through the trees

The Observatory

We would love to climb the folly to take in the view but as the door was firmly locked this was not to be.  To make sure Clive climbed onto the stone platform in front of the door.  Entry was impossible  so we retraced our steps through the wood to the gate where we turned left into fields.

"Here hills and waving groves a scene display, And part admit and part exclude the day, See rich industry smiling on the plains, And peace and plenty yell VICTORIA reigns!, Happy the MAN who to these shades retires, Whom nature charms and whom the muse inspires, Who wandering thoughtful in this silent wood, Attends the duties of the wise and good, To observe a mean, be to himself a friend, To follow NATURE and regard his end"

View from the Observatory through saplings

Clive gets up to check

No way in!

We retraced our steps through the wood to the gate where we turned left into fields.

According to TSB these fields were the scene of the Battle of Bylands in 1322, when King Edward II was defeated by Sir Robert de Brus of Scotland.  The King only escaped by 'the very pity of Christ' leaving behind in his flight the royal treasure and the crown jewels.

Battle field

Our path led us to Cam Farm where we had to keep a lookout for way markers, before reaching Cockerdale Wood.  As we passed through the wood we went left from the forest track on to a small path that descends steeply through the wood perimeter, where we saw Cockerdale Farm standing in the centre of a large meadow. Our path was very muddy and slippery.  Days of heavy rain meant that the water table of the meadow, like all the other fields we crossed today, appears to have reached maximum and we sank inches deep into the grass as we walked.

Cam House

Cam House

At last there's some sunshine for the lambs

Looking across from Cam House we see the Chapel at Scotch Corner

Cam House

After Cam House we passed through a gate into Cockerdale wood where we had a tricky and slippery descent through the trees, eventually emerging on a field before Cockerdale Farm.  We had to negotiate two farm gates here where the mud was very deep, then climbed up a hill where we paused to look back towards Byland Moor.  There was no wind here and the sun was warm, too good a spot to pass when there was coffee and scones to be had for lunch.

Turn left into Cockerdale Wood

Tricky descent

Approaching Cockerdale Farm

No easy way to get past

Looking back towards Byland Moor

A good spot for coffee and scones

Passing the farm we reached a track at Mode Hill and here we turned right to climb sharply to the little chapel at Scotch Corner. TSB tells how this was built by the sculptor John Bunting,with stone from an old farmhouse and that it is dedicated to three pupils killed in WWII.

Chapel at Scotch Corner

John Joseph Bunting sculptor and artist of Ryedale built this chapel 1957 + died 19 November 2002 aged 75

The chapel was padlocked so we retraced our steps, finding the going much easier downhill and we carried on to join a tarmac road for a hundred yards before turning left past the impressive building of Oldstead Hall, built by John Wormald who also constructed The Observatory.  Here we paused to say hello to a friendly donkey.

Oldstead Hall

Sorry, we have no sweets left!

What, no Jakeman's?!

We passed the hall and walked through wet fields before turning right onto the tarmac of the Oldstead to Byland Road then left to walk through fields once more and passing by Oldstead Grange Farm and then Cam Heads Farm.

Bench with cattle protector

Left off the Byland Road

The farm has put signs up to keep walkers on the straight and narrow

Clive chats to a Texel ram

We now crossed a series of linking field tracks to reach the ruins of Byland Abbey.  It is still apparent what an imposing building this must have been in its day.

TSB tells us that the church, in itself 330 feet long, was fringed by chapels and columns, only traces of which remain. When the Abbey was dismantled in 1540 after the suppression of the monasteries by Henry VIII it housed 25 monks as well as the Abbot.  An interesting webpage about the monastery, showing a reconstruction of how it looked in its heyday,  click here.

Weather vane at Byland Abbey

Approaching Byland Abbey

Passing by the ruined abbey we should have turned into the drive of Abbey House and then right across fields to take us back to Wass.  Abbey House, however, was an island set in flooded fields that were too deep to cross.  There was nothing for it but to return to Wass along the road.

Our path is over the stile!

Abbey House!

Weather vane at Wass

We make the sad discovery that the pub is closed