Stonegrave and Caulkleys Bank from Nunnington

7 miles                              Fine and bright

This is the most southerly walk in Tom Scott Burn's book, The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills.  Set in the gently rolling Howardian Hills this route would be graded very easy and the going is good underfoot. 

We approached Nunnington on the B1257 from Helmsley and parked in a lay-by opposite Nunnington Hall, next to the river.

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

Tom Scott Burns explains that the name Nunnington is derived from the old English personal name Nunna and not from the Saxon nunnery that once stood where the hall now stands.

We crossed the bridge over the river and walked through the village admiring the neat streets, laid out in a grid formation with all the houses decorated in the same dark green and cream paintwork.

Passing by houses in Nunnington

Limestone gives the houses a clean, new look

The Old School

The coffee shop gets ready for customers

Nunnington Studios, note the weather vane

As we passed Nunnington studios we paused to admire the weather vane which we were once told is a life sized memorial to a much loved dog, a spaniel called Percy.  Apparently the spaniel was a real character who led a very independent life, doing exactly what he pleased.  At the other end of the village is a small copse of trees named after the dog and known as Percy's Plantation.

Percy

Clive passes by the old grocers

Good advice

Bridge cottage

We leave Nunnington

Leaving Nunnington at Bridge Cottage we walked for about a mile alongside the river until we crossed a small bridge over a beck.  Here we turned sharp left and walked away from the river into fields.

Our path follows the river

After walking through several fields we turned left onto the tarmac of High Moor Lane and after a hundred yards or so turned right at a signpost to return to fields.  

Turn left to ?  The sign should say 'Stonegrave'

High Moor Lane

Leave High Moor Lane at the sign.. if you can find it!

After half a mile or so we dropped down to reach the busy Malton road and the village of Stonegrave.

Dropping down towards Stonegrave

House at Stonegrave

Stonegrave Minster comes into view

Crossing the busy B1257 we followed the wooden sign to the rear gate of Stonegrave Minster, England's smallest minster.

TSB explains that Stonegrave is derived from steinn-gryfia meaning a 'stone cleft', and that there were important quarries of building stone to be found here in the Middle Ages.

We entered the churchyard by a stile and crossed to the Minster which we were disappointed to find locked.  Undeterred we took advantage of a bench next to the minster to enjoy our coffee and scones in the sun.

Stonegrave Minster

Coffee in the sun

Rear view

We were surprised to find the minster locked and as the door still had a sign saying 'Welcome' we hope this was an oversight.  It is worth looking round, not least to see one of the  finest Celtic crosses in England. 

8th Century Celtic Cross, taken on a previous visit

Leaving the Minster we walked past the old manor house and crossed back over the Malton road to join a grassy path that veers left from the road to climb Caulkleys Bank.

The name Caulkleys is a corruption of 'Chalk Lands' and in The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills one reads that the terrain here consists mainly of rich deposits of reef limestones and detritus known as Coral Rag, all pointing to the marine origins of this hillside.

The old Manor House

Looking down on the Manor House from Caulkleys Bank

Climbing Caulkleys Bank

A new build blocks our view of the old thatched cottage in Stonegrave

Passing Caulkleys Wood

Reaching the top of Caulkleys Bank we walked along the grassy ridge and after passing Caulkleys Wood we had fine views in all directions. 

We followed the ridge walk for about 2.5 miles: at its highest  point it is marked by a trig point.  TSB says that no less than 22 towns, villages and hamlets and sixteen churches can be seen from here.  We didn't check.

Lots of wild flowers on Caulkleys Bank

Hoveringham in the distance

Surprising sign at Caulkleys Wood warning of the move to a cashless society. I do hope their predictions are wrong!

Crossing The Avenue which runs down to Nunnington

We reach the trig point

Eventually our path began to lose height and we reached the houses of the tiny hamlet of West Ness, where we passed an old Wesleyan Chapel, long disused.

Following the ridge walk

We eventually drop to the road and West Ness

Wheat for sale at West Ness Farm

The Wesleyan Chapel dated 1836

Just past the chapel, built in 1836, the path leaves the road and rejoins the River Rye.  We walked alongside the peaceful river for about 1.5 miles and reached Mill Farm.  

Leave the road at the sign

.. and drop down to the riverside path

.. which you follow for about 1.5 miles

I send Clive on ahead to check the route

Waiting to pounce!

The natives are friendly

Speckled wood butterflies were all along our path

We reach Mill Farm and the old mill

Mill Farm

.. and its friendly collie dog

TSB says there has been a mill here since Domesday and the present mill dates from 1875.  Until 1950 the mill race powered a generator providing electricity for Nunnington Hall.

The mill race

Continuing alongside the river we reached Nunnington Hall, where the screeching of peacocks could be heard. This was owned by Sir Thomas Parr in the sixteenth century so it's possible that Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife, played in the village as a child.

Nunnington Hall

Nunnington Hall from The Avenue

Old Alms Houses 

We emerged on to The Avenue and went back through the village, this time to the Church of All Saints and St James, which we knew from our Tom Scott Burns' book, contains the remains of Peter Loschy, the dragon slayer.  The church was open and we soon found the effigy of a knight with a dog at his feet.

All Saints and St James

Looking towards the altar

Colourful altar

Victorian organ

Looking towards the rear of the church

'Peter Loschy and his dog'

Kilburn mouse 

The church is very attractive with a fine Victorian organ.  After a look around the interior we wandered the graveyard, as always fascinated by the bleak Victorian epitaphs.

'A lovely bud, so young, so fair, Called hence by early doom, Just came to show how sweet a flower,
In Paradise should bloom'

'Fresh in the morn the opening flower, Hangs withering 'ere tis noon. We scarce enjoy the balmy gift, But mourn the pleasure gone'

'Wrecked on the shore where silence sleeps/ Attended by the worm that creeps/ Through rayless death-extinguished eyes/Enshrouded in a coffin's gloom, Amidst the victims of the tomb'

This last epitaph I found particularly interesting and a google search reveals that it is the first verse of a poem called 'Lorenzo', missing the last line, from a book called The Remains of Joseph Blackett.  The poem's title is:  'Lorenzo, Founded on the fact of persons having been buried alive.'     

The verse goes:

'Wrecked on the shore where silence sleeps, attended by the worm that creeps, through ray-less death extinguished eyes, enshrouded in a coffins gloom, amidst the victims of the tomb, the young Lorenzo prematurely lies'
Why anyone would want this as an epitaph is a mystery!

Click here and page down to see the poem in full

The village pub, which used to be opposite the church, is now a private house so we drove to Helmsley where we popped into Helmsley Brewery and discussed today's walk in their beer garden.

'To Lorenzo!'