Stonegrave and Caulkleys Bank from Nunnington

7 miles                              Wintry showers

We approached Nunnington on the B1257 from Helmsley and parked in a lay-by opposite Nunnington Hall, next to the river.

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

We walked back over the bridge and set off on the most southerly of the walks in Tom Scott Burns' The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills.

Tom Scott Burns explains that the name Nunnington is derived from the old English personal name Nunna rather than from the Saxon nunnery that once stood where the hall now stands.

We walked through the village admiring the neat streets, laid out in a grid formation with all the houses decorated in the same dark green and cream paintwork.

Nunnington

The Old School House

Nunnington Studios

'Percy'

Walking here in 2017 we paused to admire the above weather vane at Nunnington Studios and were told that it was a memorial to a much loved dog, a spaniel called Percy.  Apparently the spaniel was a real character who led a very independent life, doing exactly what he pleased. The weather vane of Percy was made to order and is life sized.  At the other end of the village is a small copse of trees named after the dog and known as Percy's Plantation.

Walking through Nunnington

Bridge Cottage

At the end of the village we followed a footpath sign just beyond Bridge Cottage directing us through a gate and onto a field path running alongside the River Rye.  After about a mile we crossed a small bridge over a tributary and immediately turned left to follow a faint path through fields.

Past the cottage and through the gate...

.. to follow the river for a mile or so

Clive checks a rickety bridge

This one is beyond checking!

Turn left to follow a faint path

As we followed the field path snow started to fall and as we reached and turned left onto a farm track known as High Moor Lane, it began to fall heavier.

A hide at Low Moor Plantation

Snow starts to fall

We turn left to ?

High Moor Lane

We crossed a tarmac lane before continuing through fields to reach the B1257, where we emerged just above the village of Stonegrave, home of England's smallest minster.

We reach the B1257 and see the minster

Stonegrave Minster, founded around 757AD

TSB says that Stonegrave is derived from steinn-gryfia meaning a 'stone cleft', and there were important quarries of building stone here in the Middle Ages.

We turned off the busy road and walked past an Elizabethan manor house to reach the tiny and ancient Stonegrave Minster which was mentioned in an eighth century letter from Pope Paul to Eadbert, king of Northumbria.

It started to snow heavily as we arrived so we moved a bench into the minster porch to sit, warm and cosy, with our coffee, watching the snow fall outside the door.

Passing by the Elizabethan Manor 

Stonegrave Minster

We watch the weather worsen

After drinking our coffee we had a look around the minster and I was particularly impressed by a Celtic cross dating from the 8th or 9th century. 

Celtic Cross

Side window

Altar window

The Thorntons

Eventually it was time to step out into the snow once more and we found the gravestones illegible in the snow, so after returning the bench to its proper spot, we crossed the Malton road and joined a grassy path which veers left from the road to climb Caulkleys Bank.

Time to go

Norman head

Stonegrave Minster

We give up trying to read the epitaphs

Climbing Caulkleys Bank

The name Caulkleys is a corruption of 'Chalk Lands' and in The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills one reads that the terrain here consists mainly of rich deposits of reef limestones and detritus known as Coral Rag, all pointing to the marine origins of this hillside.

Reaching the top of Caulkleys Bank we walked along the grassy ridge and after passing Caulkleys Wood we had fine views in all directions.   We were pleased that the grassy track which had all but been destroyed in 2017 by horse and bike traffic, was returned to its proper state.

Thatched cottage at Stonegrave

Climbing Caulkleys Bank

Walking alongside Caulkleys Wood

A lonely pine catches the sun

The grassy track appears to have recovered

We followed the ridge walk for about 2.5 miles, at its highest  point it is marked by a prig point.  TSB says that no less than 22 towns, villages and hamlets and sixteen churches can be seen from here.

Good job we know the way..

Trig Point...

.. and memorial bench

Starting to descend

Eventually our path began to lose height and we reached the houses of the tiny hamlet of West Ness.

Clive and I had been looking forward to inspecting the produce of a little cake stand we found at West Ness Hall Farm last visit but were disappointed today to see that it was no longer in operation.

Entering West Ness

Rams at West Ness Hall Farm

"Where's the cake stall??"

Old chapel at West Ness

Just past a Wesleyan chapel built in 1836, the path leaves the road and rejoins the River Rye.  We walked alongside the peaceful river for about 1.5 miles and reached Mill Farm.  

TSB says there has been a mill here since Domesday and the present mill dates from 1875.  Until 1950 the mill race powered a generator providing electricity for Nunnington Hall.

Geese share the sheep field

Approaching Mill Farm

The old Mill buildings

The mill race

Continuing alongside the river we reached Nunington Hall, where the screeching of peacocks could be heard. The Hall was owned by Sir Thomas Parr in the sixteenth century so it's possible that Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife, played in the village as a child.

Following the river

Nunnington Hall

Hall cottages

Hall and farm buildings

Southdown sheep at Nunnington Hall

Pheasant weather vane at Nunnington Hall

We crossed the bridge and returned to the car.  Sadly the village pub, The Royal Oak, has closed its doors to business and a trip further afield would be necessary should one want post-walk refreshment.