"There must be dales in Paradise
Which you and I will find.."

Saturday, 15 May 2021

Appleton-le-Moors and Lastingham from Hutton-le-Hole

 




8 miles                                   Sunny


This is not a TSB walk but we would like to think it is in the spirit of Tom Scott Burns.

We travelled over the moors road via Castleton and Blakey Ridge to Hutton-le-Hole, where we parked in The Crown Hotel's car park at a cost of £3 which is the cheapest parking in the village.


Today's walk is marked by the yellow line

The OS map shows a series of green lanes (Oxclose Lane, Bottomfield Lane, Lingmoor Lane, Ings Back Lane and South Ings Lane) between Hutton-le-Hole and Appleton-le-Moors and we decided to make this our route.

The lanes are easy to find and follow but we still managed to go slightly off route at Lingmoor Lane where we left the track and crossed by Lingmoor Barn to reach a large disused limestone quarry.
It was interesting to see the size of the quarry but then we quickly returned to Lingmoor Lane and our track.

Hutton-le-Hole

Walking out of the village

Leave the tarmac at the sign

Entering the Green Lanes

Bottomfield Lane

Bluebells at Peppery Plantation

Lingfield Barn and we are taking a wrong turn...

Enormous disused limestone quarry

The last of the green lanes, South Ings Lane, emerges by the road directly opposite the parish church of Christ Church in Appleton-le-Moors.  This is a very strange church for the area, apparently built in the French style and it remains closed to the general public under Coronavirus rules.

Christ Church, Appleton-le-Moors


Appleton-le-Moors is a pretty village with some lovely houses and after admiring them we sat in the public garden at the front of the village hall, where tables and benches are provided for those requiring coffee and scones.

South Ings Lane

Fields are full of limestone chips

Appleton-le-Moors Hall

Houses have interesting motifs


The pub will re-open on Monday and there was a lovely smell of beer from the cellars



Three Faces House

This is a nine letter mnemonic for 'The Art Of Treating Life: How To Get Bread' The three faces represent the three bloodsuckers, the lawyer, the doctor and the clergyman.  A further carving, representing five victims of the bloodsuckers has been moved to the rear garden

An old gas lamp converted to electricity

Weathervane in Appleton

The Village Hall is on a grand scale

Coffee and scones at the Village Hall

Replete, we wandered back up Appleton-le-Moors high street until we reached a ruined medieval cross, Low Cross, and here we turned right into Hamley Lane.

We now had a walk along the quiet lane whose name changes at a left turn to Howldale Lane.  We followed it to reach Hagg Wood on our left and here took the second of two footpaths, that runs along the bottom of the wood.

More weather vanes in Appleton -le-Moors

Photo-bombed!


Low Cross

Hamley Lane

Hamley Hagg

Leaving the lane at Hagg Wood

We walked alongside Hagg Wood to reach Lastingham.



Alongside Hagg Wood

Hagg Wood

Crossing Ings Beck

Lastingham

St Mary's Church.  A notice explains that it has an early Norman crypt constructed in 1078


The Blacksmiths Arms, re-opening Monday



St Cedd's Well



Leaving the church we passed an old well, dedicated to St Cedd, and headed out of the village on a tarmac road that ends abruptly at the edge of the moor.  Here, at a modern cross, we turned left to follow the moor path to Hutton-le-Hole.

Turn left at the footpath sign...

... to follow the moors path

Cross the stream at Mary Magdalene Well

Way-marked posts keep us to the right track

As we walked across the moor we listened to the sound of a cuckoo, and to our surprise one landed on a wooden signpost about 30' away.  I quickly got my camera out but it flew off.  Drat! but as I lowered my camera another cuckoo, its mate perhaps, flew and landed on the same post. It allowed me a quick photo before moving on but my focussing skills were tested and found wanting. We were pleased to get such a good view of the birds as you often hear cuckoos but rarely see them close up.

Cuckoo


Walking on we were amused to see a black lamb chase a partridge that had invaded his personal space.


Gercha!


A black Jacobs Sheep and a rare Legless White


The route back to Hutton-le-Hole is clearly marked and we soon re-entered the High Street where we were delighted to find The Crown open for business. 





The alley leads to the High Street

Drinking is a serious business


This is a pleasant walk covering fields, villages and moorland.  Our only disappointment was that the churches in this area have not yet opened their doors to the public, unlike their counterparts further west into North Yorkshire.


2 comments:

  1. Wow - great to see the photo of the Three Faces house. Way back (60s and 70s), I had an elderly Aunt live there. As kids we loved to visit as she was always baking (fresh bread and cakes). The house is interesting as out the back this house and all along the row have 'Strip' or 'Garth' land which goes way back to, I believe, medieval times. My Aunt was pretty much self-sufficient - she even had her own orchard out the back.

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  2. It must have been a lovely place to visit back then. 'Garth' is old English for a yard or garden and of course the strip system of farming was used all through our region. Thank you for writing, your comment is really interesting and back then you must have found the Three Faces very amusing!

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