Along the Old Drovers' Road from Osmotherley
7.2 miles Cool and dry
Clive was busy this week so Carole agreed to keep me company on this pleasant Tom Scott Burns walk. We approached Osmotherley from the A19 and discovered that parking in the popular village is more difficult than it's ever been, necessitating a drive around the village until we came upon a recently vacated spot, and grabbed it.
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| Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills |
In the Domesday Book Osmotherley is known as Asmundrelac, which means 'Asmund's clearing'. We would walk past a cottage bearing this name on our return. Tom Scott Burns also recounts an alternative origin to the village's name as follows. A Northumbrian princess who had been warned by an astrologer that her son Oswy would be drowned on a certain day took the child to the summit of Roseberry Topping where he would surely be safe from that fate. While she slept the child wandered off and fell down a well, situated on the north eastern slope of Roseberry, so fulfilling the prophecy, which led the princess to kill herself. Mother and child were buried together and 'Os by his mother lay' and so the village of Osmotherly gained its name. Hmm.
Leaving the market square we walked up Quarry Lane to reach a restored pinfold before turning left into Rueberry Lane.
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| Walking up Quarry Lane |
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| The pinfold |
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| Turn left just past the pinfold |
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| Carole turns into Rueberry Lane |
Osmotherley was ravaged by William the Conqueror in 1069 and was still described as waste land in its entry in the Domesday Book in 1085. TSB also relates that the village was raided by the Scots on several occasions and a raid in 1315 was so severe that the village was excused all taxation because of the distress it had suffered. A few years later, in 1348, the Black Death carried off nearly half the population of Osmotherley.
We quickly gained height until we looked back down on Osmotherley. A little further, when the lane becomes a track, is the Lady Chapel founded by Queen Catherine of Aragon in 1515. It is still a religious retreat and we followed the twelve stations of the cross as we approached it.
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| Fungus in Rueberry Lane |
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| Viewpoint |
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| .... and view |
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| The first Station of the Cross |
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| Walking towards... |
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| Lady Chapel |
The house adjoining the Lady Chapel was built in 1725 and renovated by Sir Hugh Bell in 1916. It was lived in for a while by Gertrude Bell the Arabist and explorer, who drew up the lines of modern Iraq.
Leaving the Lady Chapel we dropped down to a track where we turned right, now following the Cleveland Way. This track has a fine view over the Vale of York and we walked along picking out landmarks such as The Tontine on the A19 below.
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| In the grounds of Lady Chapel |
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| Joining the Cleveland Way |
We walked uphill through the birch trees of South Wood to reach transmitter masts. The track continues straight past the transmitter masts at Beacon Hill and directly onwards until reaching the gate to Scarth Wood Moor. We followed the Cleveland Way path across Scarth Wood Moor, all the time enjoying a fine prospect towards the Cleveland Hills, and in the foreground, Whorl Hill.
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| The A19 below |
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| South Wood |
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| Transmitter Station |
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| We think these are the remains of a WWll decoy station, see text |
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| Moor gate at Scarth Wood Moor |
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| Wooded Whorl Hill to the left |
Eventually we reached a wooden sign at the deep trough of Scarth Nick, pointing towards Cod Beck Reservoir, and left the Cleveland Way to soon join a tarmac road that runs from Swainby to Sheepwash.
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| The Lyke Wake Walk begins at the Trig Point near this stone |
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| On the Sheepwash road |
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| Crabdale Beck, time for coffee |
We now walked through Scarth Nick to reach Sheepwash. TSB explains that during the Ice Age of approximately 20,000 years ago, a glacier from the north enveloped an area 20 - 30 miles wide and 1,000 or more feet thick. It failed to cover the moors but crept into Scugdale depositing materials from Scotland, Cumbria and Durham. Sand, gravel and stones left by meltwater formed the conspicuous mound of Round Hill, the present car park at Sheepwash.
Reaching the water splash at Sheepwash we crossed the bridge and sat on Crabdale beck's stony bank to enjoy our coffee and scones.
Crabdale Beck is a nice sheltered spot and after our break we headed uphill towards Pamperdale Moor.
We now walked along High Lane alongside the forestry plantation above Cod Beck Reservoir. This was once a Drovers' Road and TSB suggests that it was probably used by prehistoric man, the Romans and, before the present day road was made, as a corridor through the Cleveland Hills.
Over to our left we saw an unusual brick building which I have previously investigated and found to be a WWII Starfish, one of five such sites built during the last war to protect industry at Teesside by the following means:
A series of iron tanks, raised on gantries, would be set out. These tanks held inflammable liquid that could be ignited and quenched on demand. The fires were lit as soon as German bombers began an attack. When they were quenched, the resulting steam looked like the smoke of a burning city, and enemy pilots would drop their bombs harmlessly on the moors instead. Such decoys were officially known as ‘SF’ or ‘Special Fire’ locations, but were generally called ‘Starfish’ sites.
Last time we visited we suspected that the site is still in use, possibly for astronomical reasons, so we walked across to see if we could find out anything further. We were disappointed to see that someone has smashed holes in the door and broken the lock. The door was swinging open and looking inside we saw that the walls have been recently boarded out, otherwise it was empty.
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| Walking along the Drovers' Road |
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| A lot of felling since our last visit |
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| Carole looks over at the Starfish site |
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| The fires were lit on the concrete area |
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| Inside the Starfish, new boarding |
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| The door has been vandalised |
We returned to High Lane and continued on our route. As we reached the tarmac road from Osmotherley we passed the ruins of Solomon's Temple, which was built by the eccentric Solomon Metcalf in 1812 and had images of the sun, moon and stars on its walls. Now only fallen stones mark the spot.
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| Returning to the Drovers' road |
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| The site of Solomon's Temple |
Shortly afterwards we reached Chequers Farm. This interesting building was an old inn and held a licence for 300 years until 1945. When it was a hostelry it was famous for keeping an old peat fire alight for 150 years! The sign of the Inn was a chequers board and TSB says this was derived from the chequers that were handed to the drovers to be exchanged for refreshment at the inn. The sign was the cryptic message "Be not in haste, Step in and taste, Ale tomorrow for nothing." Of course as we all know tomorrow never comes. The old sign has been mounted behind glass on the farm wall.
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| Chequers Farm |
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| The original pub sign |
TSB notes that drovers used to bring vast herds of cattle from the Highlands of Scotland across the Hambleton Hills on their way to the markets of East Anglia, the Midlands and London. Their average pace was just 2 miles per hour.
We turned right at Chequers Farm where the path heads gently downhill towards the two small reservoirs at Oakdale. A little way down this track is a family memorial placed against the wall, which commemorates one of our region's war heroes, Ronald Tucker.
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| Conifer garden |
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| Artwork at conifer garden |
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| In Green Lane |
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| White House Farm |
After White House Farm we crossed a small bridge over a stream and climbed steeply uphill where our path then crosses a field into Osmotherley.
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| Bridge over Cod Beck |
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| Cod Beck |
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| Cross the field... |
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| ... and alley |
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| .. to reach Osmotherley High Street |
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| Old Wesleyan Chapel |
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| Passion flowers in Chapel Alley |
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| A nice display |
Entering the village along a narrow alleyway we noticed a chapel in the terraced row of cottages, obviously still in use. Tom Scott Burns tells us that John Wesley preached in Osmotherley in 1745 and the chapel was built nine years later. Wesley returned to preach again at Osmotherley in June 1761 and probably used this chapel.
We walked into the village and then found that our feet had taken us to the Golden Lion so we lingered there a while to discuss today's walk over a pint.
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| "To Asmundreslac!" |
This is a simple yet interesting walk. As always drop me a line for the .gpx track if required.
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