Nether and Over Silton, Big Wood and Oakdale Reservoir

 

7.8 miles                                  Fine and dry 

 

The seasonal display of daffodils at St Mary's Church at Over Silton make this Tom Scott Burns walk a delight at this time of year.

We parked at Square Corner, the moors car park which is two miles from Osmotherley on the Hawnby road. 

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

Today is Good Friday and even though we had a fairly early start the car park at Square Corner was full and we had to resort to parking on the road side as had many others.  Would we have a busy walk?  No, nobody else seemed to be walking our route thank goodness.

Leaving the car we walked southwards along the forest path up the shoulder of Black Hambleton.  Just before reaching a gate we saw the standing stone on the left which bears the inscription 'Cray Hall Stone'.  Tom Scott Burns says that he has been unable to find any further information about this old boundary stone or the hall it refers to, and our modern day Google search has proved equally uninformative. For this reason I always show the stone in the hope a new reader might know more about its history.

  

The view down to Osmotherley from the car park

We start by walking towards Black Hambleton

The mysterious Cray Hall Stone

We turned right through a gate giving access to the remains of the conifer plantation, where the path, known as Moor Lane, takes one steadily downhill for about 2.5 miles.  This is a pleasant start to the walk and took us out of the stiff cold breeze.

Moor Lane

Moor Lane is also a cycle-way

We walked through through conifers, passing the ruins of a lime kiln and the imposing Moor House.  

Old lime kiln

Moor House

Southdown sheep

In a field nearby we saw 'teddy bear' Southdown sheep in a field and, a little further along Moor Lane we arrived at Rose Cottage. On the right is an ancient drinking trough, now almost invisible in the undergrowth, and then we joined Kirk Ings Lane, leading into Nether Silton.  

Ancient drinking trough

Rose Cottage

Horseshoe deer in Nether Silton

All Saints Church

All Saints is a chapel of ease that was rebuilt in 1812. Such a chapel is built for the convenience of parishioners who would find it difficult to access the main church, in this case isolated St Mary's which we would pass by shortly.

Tom Scott Burns explains that wood used in the altar rails and other  refurbishments was presented by a R M Jaques, and were from HMS Dreadnought of Lord Nelson's day.

Crime in Nether Silton

Looking towards the altar in All Saints Church

Altar window

Clive admires the wood from HMS Dreadnought

All Saints at Nether Silton

We left the church and walked through the village to admire the enormous lime tree that dominates the village green before returning to leave the road at a white gate opposite the church. We then followed a narrow track behind houses to reach open fields.

After crossing several fields we came to the ancient and isolated church of St Mary, Over Silton, standing alone in the middle of fields without any path leading to it.   We have visited this church in April before and found a splendid display of daffodils, would we be lucky today?

Enormous lime tree in Nether Silton

Entering fields after Nether Silton

We share fields with Suffolk sheep from nearby Greystone Farm

Suffolk lambs

Over Silton appears in the distance

Walking towards isolated St Mary's Church

The daffodils are at their best

We sat in the graveyard on the Jubilee Bench and enjoyed our coffee and scones before spending some time exploring the church and reading the inscriptions on the old gravestones.  The church is always open to visitors and has a very peaceful air.  No electricity of course and candelabras hang from the roof. 

Looking towards the altar in St Mary's, note candelabra as off-grid

The rear of the church

Altar window

"Just in the darling of my youth, then death to me was sent, and you that have a longer stay,
be certain to repent"

While I read old epitaphs Clive reads a book about the church's history

"When though in lonely grief we sigh, for friends beloved no longer nigh,
Submissive still we would reply, Thy will be done"

"Cruel death did soon take them both away, Because on earth they might no longer stay,
But hope in heaven we shall meet again, And in endless joy always remain"

"In infant years obdurate death, did snatch away their vital breath, and left their parents to complain,
'till with joy they meet in Heaven again"

Eventually we decided to move on and we walked across the fields away from the isolated church and towards the village of Over Silton where we turned right to pass by the old manor house. We walked through the village towards Crabtree Plantation accompanied by the raucous calls of peacocks, which seem to have free roaming in the village.

Looking back we see how isolated St Mary's church is with not even a footpath leading to it

Peacock in Over Silton

Turning into Crabtree Plantation

The next 2.5 miles were to be through conifers, sometimes on wide forestry tracks and sometimes on narrow footpaths but always very muddy and quite difficult to negotiate.  

We climbed steeply for the first mile then the path levelled out for the next mile.  As we picked our way through the muddy tracks of Crabtree Plantation we looked out for the Hanging Stone above us.  In TSB's day this would have been quite a sight but today the huge stone is almost hidden by sapling growth. Eventually we passed beneath the Hanging Stone which is also known locally as Lion Stone.  TSB reports that there is a path up to this feature but we have yet to see it among the thick saplings.  As we don't actually visit it, I have re-named the title of this walk to include Big Wood rather than Hanging Stone.

Muddy going today

I get a glimpse of Hanging Stone with my zoom lens

Clive looks up at the stone but we see no path for access

We climbed from Crabtree Plantation into Big Wood, always accompanied by the sound of firing from Thimbleby Gun School, which is situated just below.

We check the pond for frogspawn

Yep, plenty of it!

This is always a tricky spot, very muddy today

Through the mud and up we go..

In Big Wood

There is a distinct path to follow through the dense trees of Big Wood and we followed a way-marked path until arriving at a new clearing where tree felling has taken place on a grand scale.  Fortunately our path was still visible through the destruction.

This is new!

A path of sorts is still visible

Our exit is next to the teepee

We can't avoid the mud

We went back into saplings, then trees, before reaching the site of last year's felling which we crossed to regain the trees once more.

Entering last year's felling

A clear view of Osmotherley now

Back in Big Wood again

Eventually we came to the end of the felling, just as we turned right in Big Wood above Oakdale Lower Reservoir and we exited the trees to make the steep descent to the bridge over Jenny Brewster's Gill.

A long steep descent

.. brings us to the bridge over Jenny Brewster's Gill

Tom Scott Burns explains that Jenny Brewster's Gill was named after a famous witch and was once the haunt of smugglers who peddled liquor to the surrounding villages.  Several secret stills were dotted around the moors, one being at Solomon's Temple, another Wildgoose Nest, near what is now Cod Beck Reservoir and another at Swainsty Crag on Nether Silton Moor.

We crossed the bridge and left the wood to climb to the reservoir service track, which we joined to follow towards what used to be the upper reservoir.  Oakdale Reservoirs were built in the 19th century to provide water to the local area but have been decommissioned. The upper reservoir has been downgraded to a small lake that it is hoped will attract wildfowl but no wildlife was to be seen today.

The run-off from Oakdale lake

Big Wood behind us now

Leaving Oak Dale we climbed steeply back to Square Corner and the car.  We weren't the only people to be returning and as we arrived we were surprised to see a hang-glider immediately above us. In moments he had landed, perfectly neatly and on his feet next to the car park and his vehicle. 

Nearly at Square Corner

Someone else arrives

How neat is that?

He must have had a super view of  Big Wood

This is one of Tom Scott Burns' best walks and we heartily recommend it even though Big Wood gets smaller (and muddier) each year.  A short drive later we were enjoying a pint and discussing the highlights of the day.

"To Big Wood!"