Hawnby, Easterside Hill and Shaken Bridge

7.5 miles Sunny and dry

We approached Hawnby from the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley Road and drove to the lower houses of Hawnby Bridge, parking behind the village hall where parking is freely available for about a dozen cars.

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

Free parking.. BUT!

Houses are owned by the estate and all painted the same green

Turn right out of the car park and walk towards the junction

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 all the Methodists out 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, 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.

Leave the road next to the white seat

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.

Looking back we see Upper Hawnby top right

Alongside Ellers Wood

At a sign we turned right off the road and followed the trail under the shadow of Easterside Hill until dropping down to follow the farm track for High Banniscue Farm.

Farm track to High Banniscue Farm

Hawnby Hill with its distinctive nick is opposite

We reach High Banniscue Farm and pass to the right of it

Pheasant season began on 1st October and there were pheasants in every field today. Most of our walk was accompanied by the sound of distant guns.

"Don't shoot!"

When we reached High Banniscue we turned left after the farm 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.

We spot Sportsman's Hall on the other side of the valley

Approaching Crows Nest

We pass by the ruin

.. to reach the 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 window 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.

Follow the small track through heather

An unusual sight nowadays. Since Sept '25 peat must be deeper than 30cm for legal heather burning

Pepper Hill at right, Easterside Hill behind

Path almost vanishes in bracken. Bilsdale below.

In a hundred yards or so we turned right through a gate off the Hawnby road, to re-enter fields. Staying high we crossed the field to reach an old building, now a store, where we sat in the sun behind a wall to enjoy our coffee and scones with fine view down to the River Seph below.

Back on the Hawnby Road, turn right through the gate

.. and cross to this unoccupied building

Find a spot in the sun and it's...

Scone-time!

After enjoying our coffee we headed down towards the River Seph, dropping down to the ruins of Grimes Holme where we found that the old buildings had been renovated since our last visit. They are still being used by feral pigeons.

We move on after coffee

.. to reach Grimes Holme

... and its feral residents

Looking back to Easterside Hill from Grimes Holme

We left the old farmstead and walked down to cross a wooden gated bridge over the River Seph at a point which TSB says is often frequented by herons. Not 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.

Fair Hill Farm

Weather vane at Broadway Foot Farm

Modern Broadway Foot Farm

We continued down the farm track to reach the road and Shaken Bridge. TSB tells us that its name derives from the Old English 'sceacre' or robber. ie Robber's Bridge. The River Seph and the River Rye combine a few hundred yards upstream from the bridge and become the River Rye.

The River Seph is formed when Raisdale Beck and Bilsdale Beck join just to the south of Chop Gate and then runs for 13 miles down Bilsdale to the Rye. Seph is old Swedish for 'calm'.

Shaken Bridge

The River Rye

We crossed the bridge and after walking on the road for a hundred yards we turned sharp left to follow a farm road uphill until we reached East Ley Wood. Bearing right up the track an old barn comes into view, a building we recognised as one we have approached from other directions on various walks.

Turn left at sign for Shaken Bridge Farm

.. and head uphill

Shaken Bridge Farm

Easterside Hill Far below

These leather hiker signs are vanishing as gates are replaced. We would love to know their provenance

The old barn has had new roofing since our last visit

Keep to the fence past the old barn

Walking past the old barn we ignored the first gate but at the second gate we went through into East Ley Woods. We commented on the old leather signs bearing a rough sketch of a hiker on the gateposts along this path. They've been there for many years and we have often wondered who put them here and why.

In East Ley Woods

Our path is blocked by a recent fallen tree. Last week's Storm Amy?

We meandered along this path for about 1.75 miles, first alongside and then in East Ley Woods, before eventually exiting at Murton Bank top.

Leaving the woods at Murton Bank Top

Hawnby Hill from Murton Bank

Gowerdale House from Murton Bank Top

We turned right here, onto the tarmac road to descend steeply with fine views over to our left, first of Dale Town and then the twin settlements of Hawnby.

We crossed the bridge and walked back into Hawnby where we collected the car to drive up to Upper Hawnby and The Owl.