Our deviation from Tom Scott Burns' route in order to visit Kildale Church added about a mile to his 8. We parked on Great Ayton High Street near to Suggitt's Cafe and crossed the River Leven by the steel bridge opposite the cafe.
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| Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills |
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| Great Ayton High Street |
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| Suggitt's Cafe |
We paused briefly to admire the old 'pissoir' which has been located near the bridge as a non-operational feature and painted red for some reason. There were originally three of these and to my recollection they were painted a more tasteful green; I remember being glad of their presence when I was a child and used to cycle to Ayton from Middlesbrough.
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| For display purposes only.. |
Leaving the old urinal we passed the waterfall and followed the river upstream.
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| New information sign near the waterfall |
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| Clive passes the waterfall |
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| Early snowdrops |
Tom Scott Burns says in his walker's guide that Great Ayton was known as Canny Yatton in the local dialect and was once the haunt of Au'd Nanny, a notorious witch described in Blakeborough's verse, T' Hunt of Yatton Bridge:
Her naals they were lang an' humped war her back
And baith lugs war pointed, her skin ommaist black..
The recent dry and windy weather meant easy and firm going through the fields alongside the river and we soon reached Woodhouse Farm. We stopped by the river near the farm to say hello to two geese who are usually at this spot and appear to have survived another Christmas. After Woodhouse Farm we crossed a horse field whose inhabitants had no interest in us whatsoever, thank goodness.
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| Good underfoot today |
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| Woodhouse Farm |
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| Inscription at Woodhouse Farm C.T. 1712, Rebuilt 1922 |
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| Domestic geese can live 15 - 20 years and we've seen this pair for the last 8 years |
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| Crossing the horse field |
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| Woodhouse Farm |
A couple more fields led us to a bridge over the river to reach Easby Lane, which we followed through Easby to cross the railway bridge just as the Whitby train passed underneath.
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| Reaching Easby Lane |
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| Easby |
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| Hunting weather vane at Easby |
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| Hello, we've just met your cousins.. |
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| The Whitby Train |
We stayed on the tarmac road for half a mile before crossing a way-marked stile into fields just before Borough Green Farm and just past a 'Private Road' sign, and began a steady climb to Easby Moor.
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| Captain Cook's Monument appears on the horizon |
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| We leave the road at those gates... |
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| Through another gate and upwards to the moor |
Reaching the Moor Gate we turned right to follow our path below the moor to Mill Bank Wood. Entering the wood we walked through the trees for over a mile. TSB says that the wood is named after an old Bleach Mill where woollen cloth was 'fulled' in order to soften and shrink it to a warmer, closer weave. The mill was destroyed on the night of 21st July 1840 when heavy rains caused enormous volumes of water to burst two fishponds at Kildale Hall. A wall of water 40 feet high carried away two stone bridges, a corn mill, sluice gates, an earth dam and the bleaching mill, and still 6 feet high as it rushed through Great Ayton.
We came out of the woods by Bankside Farm and joined the tarmac lane and here decided to deviate from TSB's route to visit Kildale Church which we could see half a mile below us.
As we descended on the road we met a Northumbrian Water Board employee who told us he was surveying the area but was having terrible difficulty getting a signal.
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| Looking down at Easby Hall from the moor gate |
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| Entering Mill Bank Wood |
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| Bankside Farm but we'll turn right |
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| What's he doing? |
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| No blinking signal! |
Following the road down we came to the railway bridge and turned right onto a track that took us directly to the rear of St Cuthbert's Church.
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| Cross the river then leave road to follow small path on this side of railway embankment... |
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| ... to reach the rear of St Cuthbert's Church |
We walked round the church to reach the bridge across the railway lines and after crossing into the churchyard settled down to our coffee and scones, sheltered from the wind.
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| Over the railway bridge |
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| St Cuthbert's Church |
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| The Whitby train passes as we settle down to coffee and scones |
The church was re-built in 1868 but is of great antiquity and mentioned in the Domesday Book. There are some interesting grave slabs inside the porch and a particularly nice stained glass window showing a steam train passing through Kildale.
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| Dragons on the church tower |
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| Head next to main entrance |
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| Grave slabs |
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| Looking towards the altar |
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| The original font, stored in the bell tower |
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| Steam train passing through Kildale |
After exploring the church we headed back the same way to rejoin TSB's route at Bankside Farm.
We followed the farm road uphill from Bankside Farm until coming to a fork where we turned left to walk through the trees of Coate Moor. A gentle climb led us to Captain Cook's Monument where we were buffeted by a very strong wind.
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| Bankside Farm |
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| Looking back to Kildale and its church |
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| Long gentle climb to... |
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| Captain Cook's Monument |
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| Plaque on Monument |
TSB notes that the monument was built in 1827, the foundation stone being laid by Robert Campion of Whitby.
Walking down from the monument we passed the remains of old workings that is the site of Ayton Ironstone mines, worked by Pease and Partners from 1909 to 1928.
Our path now took us through two farm gates to Aireyholme Cottage where we turned sharp left. This track took us to Cliff Rigg Quarry, where whinstone was mined. This hard reddish stone is the remains of a volcanic explosion on the west coast of Scotland about 58 million years ago, and is the only such stone on the Yorkshire moors.
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| The remains of Cliff Rigg Quarry |
Descending from the quarry we crossed the railway line once more before following the path alongside Cleveland Lodge and into Great Ayton. We walked past the old undertaker's shop, Harbottle's, and into the Royal Oak where we enjoyed a pint and discussed our walk.
We were interested to see photos taken by the photographer Joe Cornish of the undertaker, Mr Harbottle and Mr Suggitt, the proprietor of Suggitt's Ice Cream on the pub wall and were informed that these were taken in 2000.
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| Mr Harbottle |
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| Mr Suggitt |
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| Two more, not so esteemed, gentlemen |
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