Hawnby, Easterside Hill and Shaken Bridge
7.5 miles Cool and dry
We approached Hawnby from the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley road and parked at the lower houses of Hawnby Bridge behind the village hall, where parking is free although a sign indicates an honesty box.
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Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills |
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Clive pops some cash in the honesty box |
Tom Scott Burns explains that the village of Hawnby is divided into an upper and lower part because in the 1750s a zealous landlord turned out all the Methodists from their houses. They had lived in what we now think of as the top village. They moved a short distance away where they built some small houses and a Wesleyan Chapel, completed in 1770, which is now the lower village hall.
Turning right out of the car park we walked past the few houses to a gate in the field opposite. We went through the gate into a sheep field with a faint path to follow across this and the next meadow to cross Ladhill Beck at a bridge.
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Walking through the village |
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Enter the fields at the white bench |
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Easterside Hill awaits us |
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Crossing Ladhill Beck |
We walked alongside Ellers Wood and reached the Hawnby road next to Easterside Farm, where we turned left on to the tarmac.
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Banniscue Wood |
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Hawnby Hill to our left |
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High Banniscue Farm |
Just before High Banniscue we were buzzed by a couple of fighter jets, which seems to becoming a weekly event.
When we reached the farm we turned left to walk downhill along a faint track to reach an old ruined building shown as Crows Nest on the OS map. We turned right at these ruins to pass through the moor gate and followed a path through heather to skirt Pepper Hill and Easterside Hill.
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Bandits! |
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Buzzed just before High Banniscue Farm |
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Here comes another! |
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Crows Nest ruins |
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Pepper Hill and Easterside Hill from Crows Nest |
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Beyond renovation |
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Moor gate |
Smaller Pepper Hill sticks out from Easterside Hill and in the last war a German Dornier crashed here on 17th December 1942, killing all the crew. There is a memorial to the crew in Hawnby Church.
Passing Pepper Hill we walked through heather along the east side of Easterside Hill looking down at the valley of Bilsdale to our left before dropping down to join the Hawnby road.
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Looking across Bilsdale as we skirt Pepper Hill |
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Alongside Pepper Hill and Easterside Hill |
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Looking into Bilsdale |
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Turn right off the Hawnby road at the sign |
After a hundred yards or so on tarmac we turned right off the Hawnby road at a new gate and old footpath sign and once again entered sheep fields. Here we soon came to the deserted buildings of Wass House where we sat sheltered from the wind and enjoyed our coffee and scones while watching the beaters on Easterside Hill and listening to the constant sound of guns from Low Banniscue.
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Wass House |
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Ripe for renovation |
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A sheltered spot for coffee |
Refreshed, we left the old farmstead and descended across the meadows to arrive at the ruins of Grimes Holme, where beaters were returning to their cars with their dogs.
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Descending from Wass House to Grimes Holme |
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Looking back to Wass House |
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Grimes Holme |
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The dogs' work is done |
After Grimes Holme we walked down to cross a wooden gated bridge over the River Seph at a point which TSB says is often frequented by herons. Not the case today, unfortunately, and we crossed more fields to join a farm track that leads past Fair Hill Farm and to recently renovated Broadway Foot farm.
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Winter calf |
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Fortunately the cattle were disinterested in us |
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The first of many fallen trees |
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The path enters East Ley Wood |
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The trickiest of the lot, we have to go into the wood to bypass |
East Ley Wood became Cliff Wood and eventually we reached Murton Bank Top where we turned right and walked downhill coming to a 'surprise view' at Peak Scar Top, a short distance down the road.
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Murton Road |
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Surprise view of Hawnby from Peak Scar Top |
Now on tarmac for the remainder of the walk, we descended steep Murton Bank to Hawnby where we ended our walk with a pint in the Owl.
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The Wesleyan Chapel |
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Clive turns his back on temptation.. |
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.. but not for long. Cheers! |
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