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. 

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

After booting up we wandered over to St Wilfred's and found it open to visitors.  

St Wilfred's Kirby Knowle

Looking towards the altar

Looking towards the rear of the church

Impressive modern window

Mousey Thompson of Kilburn made the lectern

We like the modern stained glass windows dedicated to Doctor Jane Rajan.
For more about the window and Dr Rajan see here

We left the church and walked out of the village towards Upsall (up-salir, Old Norse 'high dwellings') along the tarmac road.  Over to our right, high on the hill, we saw the imposing 'Newbuilding.' Although it is called Newbuilding, 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.

House in Kirby Knowle

Weather vane in Kirby Knowle

Newbuilding

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 and there was no sign that other boots had passed this way. The paths are shown clearly on the OS map so the walk is easily navigable.

Turn left into fields just before Upsall

The fields are very dry, grass hardly grown

We saw a few Speckled Wood butterflies

Leave the fields into Millers Wood

'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.'  Last year Clive cleaned the stone with a wire brush but moss and grime have returned to make it barely legible.

Millers Wood is a struggle

... until we reach the beck

"Where's the stone?"

"There it is!"

We think there was once a stone bridge here of which the beckstead stone formed part, certainly there are a lot of stone blocks lying around the beck.

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.

Walking through overgrown fields

.. and crossing an unfriendly stile

... brings us to Nevison Beckstead

The drought has left the beck almost dry

A tricky crossing on a rickety bridge

Horses!  Several fields had stock in them today

We made the gate ahead of the two greys... just!

We reached the tarmac road at Mount View and turned right to walk into Felixkirk and towards 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.

Entering Felixkirk

Mousey Thompson has been here too..

St Felix Church

Unusual domed roof

Crusader 

.. and his lady

A large church for the size of the village

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

Graffitti or stone mason's signature?  Thomas Carlton 1622

St Felix Church was owned by the Knights Hospitaller in the 12th century and nearby Mount St John, which we would shortly pass by, was the location of a preceptory of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in the 11th Century.

Retracing our steps to the road junction where we turned right and climbed the lane to pass the lodge of the said Mount St John, now 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.

The grasscutters of St Felix Church

Rear of St Felix

Approaching Mount St John Lodge

Mount St John gatehouse and lodge

Approaching Cinque House

A good spot for coffee and scones

Parched fields and hikers

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. 

Green lane approaching Thirlby

The green lane has livestock

We pass by very cautiously

Boltby Scar from Thirlby

Walking through Thirlby

Thirlby weather vanes

Horse and cat weather vane

Thirlby is a very attractive village and a point of interest is that Alf White aka James Herriot lived in the village.  Also in the village is a plaque to his vet partner Donald Sinclair, aka Seigfried Farnon.  Sinclair lived in nearby Southwoods Hall with his wife Audrey.

 Alf White died in February 1995 and Sinclair's wife in early June the same year.  Sadly Sinclair then took his own life by barbiturate poisoning two weeks later.

Clive spots the plaque to Donald Sinclair

"I wonder why they call it Pear Tree House?"

Thirlby's rival to Mousey Thompson

Bob Hunter worked with Thompson at nearby Kilburn

... and his trademark is the wren

Crossing Gurtof Beck

'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

The wren can be spotted throughout Thirlby

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.

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.

Leaving Thirlby

Blackface sheep

More cattle, they ignored us

Towards Boltby

Wiltshire sheep

Boltby

Packhorse bridge, 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 track behind Ravensthorpe Manor, which was now invisible to us because of the plantation's trees.

Ravensthorpe Manor

Ash dieback claims another tree

Above Ravensthorpe Manor

We followed the track, first above the manor and then through the woods, eventually walking gently downhill and emerging in Kirby Knowle near the old school house, where we turned left and walked back to the car.

We get a glimpse of Raventhorpe Manor's box feature

Emerging from the woods above Kirby Knowle

The last gate of the walk

Walking past calves and giving them lots of space

Houses of Kirby Knowle, Newbuilding in the distance

This is a nice walk taking you through some pretty villages but it needs 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 over a pint.