Kirby Knowle to Felixkirk and Boltby

8.5 miles          Fine and dry

We approached Kirby Knowle from the Knayton A19 turn-off and parked on the grassed area set aside for parking, opposite St Wilfred's Church.  We saw that the church door was open but on walking over found the painters were in, no admittance for us today.

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

St Wilfred's, Kirby Knowle

We walked out of the village along the tarmac road towards Upsall (up-salir, Old Norse 'high dwellings') .  Over to our right, high on the hill, we saw the imposing 'Newbuilding.' Originally called Kirby Knowle Castle and sometimes referred to as Newbiggin, Tom Scott Burns explains that it actually dates from the 13th century.  It has been restored and modernised but still contains many of its original features. 

Village house in Kirby Knowle

Newbuilding

Weather vane at Kirby Knowle

Just before Upsall we turned off the road into fields at a metal footpath sign to follow a little walked path towards Turton Beckstead.  Tom Scott Burn's walks often follow rarely visited paths but today's route must be the least walked of all, the tracks were lush with vegetation and there was no sign that other boots had passed this way.

Turn into fields before reaching Upsall

The first fields contain cattle with calves, we stick close to the fence

Our path follows the field margins

... before entering Millers Wood

... and fighting our way through the brambles

'Beckstead' means 'a farm near a river' and as we reached the beck we saw a large stone on which we could just make out the engraved words,  'The Turton Beckstead.'  This old stone is deteriorating lying in the stream and was completely covered with moss, however Clive had a wire brush in his bag and set to work cleaning it up.  We suspect it had once formed part of a bridge, long collapsed, as there are many old blocks of stone here.

Clive spots the engraved stone...

.. and gives it a bit of TLC

Moss removed to reveal... The Turton Beckstead

Tom Scott Burns relates a strange event that apparently happened here. In the 1860s some mourners were carrying a body from Felixkirk to Kirby Knowle for burial.  The bearers set down the coffin to rest briefly at this spot, but on raising it up again it felt much lighter and they discovered that the corpse had disappeared. The empty coffin was buried and the site at Beckstead Wood became known as Lost Corpse End.

It is a fact that bodies were carried by this route from Felixkirk to Kirby Knowle for burial, so that much at least is true.

Leaving Turton Beckstead we climbed gently over Carr Hill to approach the village of Felixkirk through the overgrown fields.

More bean fields, no margin left for right of way

This made us chuckle, it was impossible to cross this stile as the barbed wire is much higher than one's inseam!  We had to improvise...

Nevison Beckstead

Another tricky stile, this time dropping down onto a rotten timber over a stream

.. and then a climb through undergrowth

The houses of Felixkirk appear in the distance

We reached the tarmac road at Mount View and turned right to walk into Felixkirk and the church of St Felix which we found to be unlocked.  The most striking feature is the domed roof.  There are only six churches dedicated to St Felix in the UK.  He was a 7th century monk from Burgundy who converted the kingdom of East Anglia to Christianity.  The use of the name suggests there has been a church here since Saxon times.  The church was restored in 1860 but much of the stonework is original and dates to the 12th century.

St Felix Church, Felixkirk

The unusual domed roof

A Lady and her Knight lie near the altar

Those underlined died in combat

Graffitti or mason's name?  'Thomas Carlton 1629' on door arch

Ther mouseman of Kilburn has provided the church gate

As always we paid our respects at the grave of tragic Hannah Cornforth, who died at 21 and has possibly the saddest epitaph we've seen.

Hannah Cornforth 'Twenty years I was a maid, 1 year I was a wife. 18 hours a mother, and then departed life'

Retracing our steps to the road junction we turned right and climbed the lane to pass the lodge to Mount St John, famous for its equestrian centre and gardens.  Shortly afterwards we turned right off the road and onto a farm track that we followed towards Cinque House, but here the track diverts from TSB's map above, as it has been re-routed around the rear of Cinque House, across a sheep field.

In fact the sheep field was extremely full of sheep today but we resolved to stop here, sheltered from the breeze by Cinque House and its hedges, to enjoy our coffee and scones with a fine view over towards Boltby Scar.

Mount St John Lodge

Leaving the road at the farm gate

Always lots of horses in these fields

Our path is diverted through fields as we approach Cinque House..

... into a sheep field

..where we pause for coffee and scones

A buzzard checks us out as we dine

Cinque House

We set off once more and our diversion rejoined the track below Cinque Cliff House to follow a grassy lane to the road, where we turned left and walked into Thirlby. 

Thirlby is a very pretty village and the road is bordered with neat rural cottages.  One of these, Keepers Cottage, has a roadside stall which sometimes sells home made jam, but today offered only free range eggs.  

Weather vane at Thirlby

Keepers Cottage

A point of interest is that Alf White, aka James Herriot, lived in Thirlby and today we were on a mission to find a plaque dedicated not to Herriot but to his boss Seigried Farnon, or Donald Sinclair as he was really named.

Thanks to Steve for information about this plaque. We eventually found it near to the village hall and almost obscured by ivy.  Clive took his brush to it and all is revealed once more.

No mention of his alter-ego Seigfried Farnon

Walking down the high street we came to Pear Tree House where Thirlby's own woodcarver lives; Bob Hunter, who worked with Mouseman Thompson at nearby Kilburn, and whose trademark is the wren.

Pear Tree House

We continued along the lane through the village, crossed the ford and left the tarmac at Thirlby Farm, turning left to follow a track through a grassy meadow.

Pretty Gurtof Beck at Thirlby

'No shop or inn is there here about, so why not sit down and enjoy summat for nowt'  - donated by 'two good sorts in memory of Bill'.  The memorial bench has the wren emblem

Leaving Thirlby

We followed our path, sometimes across fields and sometimes through trees, steadily approaching Boltby.

At Boltby we turned left at the packhorse bridge and walked through the pretty village before turning right at a waymarked sign at the lane between Spring Garth and Gurtof House. 

The packhorse bridge at Boltby

Cottage in Boltby

We followed a series of field boundaries to reach the modern mansion of Ravensthorpe Manor, which we climbed above into Westow Plantation.  Here we followed a muddy track behind Ravensthorpe Manor, which was now invisible to us because of the plantation's trees.

Boltby Scar 

Looking back to Boltby

Ravensthorpe Manor

Climbing above Ravensthorpe Manor

In Westow Plantation

We get a glimpse of Raventhorpe's large box hedge feature below us.

The path became easier and we walked gently downhill, eventually emerging in Kirby Knowle near the old school house, where we turned left and walked back to the car.

This is a nice walk taking you through pretty villages but needs some navigation preparation because, as stated in the text, many paths appear unwalked.

There is no pub in Kirby Knowle but a short drive took us to Osmotherley where we discussed today's walk.

Leaving Westow Plantation

A new memorial...

Kirby Knowle

To Turton Beckstead!