Stonegrave and Caulkleys Bank from Nunnington

7 miles                              Fine and dry

This is the most southerly outing in Tom Scott Burns' book The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills, being four miles south of Helmsley.  We drove to Nunnington via the B1257 Malton road and parked at the roadside near Nunnington Studios as roadworks prevented us from parking in our usual spot opposite the hall.

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

'Percy' at Nunnington Studios

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.

Nunnington Studios has a life size weather vane of a dog and a few years ago we talked to the owner who told us that the weather vane was a memorial to his first and much loved dog, a spaniel called Percy.  He said the spaniel was a real character who led a very independent life, doing exactly what he pleased.

We set off 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.

The old school house

We follow the footpath for High Moor Lane

We left the road at a sign and began following the winding path of the River Rye which was in spate following the recent rain.

Riverside path

Texels, one in 'show' condition

"This is my best side."  Trimmed, primped and coloured.

After about a mile we crossed a small bridge over a tributary and immediately turned left at a sign, to follow the path through fields.

We turned left onto the tarmac of High Moor Lane and after a hundred yards or so turned left again at a signpost to return to fields. After half a mile or so we dropped down to reach the busy Malton road and the village of Stonegrave.

Leave the river bank here

... and cross fields

Approaching Stonegrave

Stonegrave Minster

Stonegrave Minster is the smallest in the country and has been on this site since the 8th century. It is always unlocked and open to visitors.  TSB explains that the name Stonegrave is from Old Norse 'steinn-gryfja' meaning stone cleft, as there was extensive stone quarrying here in the middle ages.  The Minster is mentioned in an 8th century letter from Pope Paul I to King Eadbert of Northumbria. 

Just inside its door we saw a Celtic Circle Cross which is almost complete.  An adjacent notice pointed out that such crosses are found only in the North East.

An interesting tale

Large Celtic cross

The altar window

Evidence of a picnic

We had coffee sat outside the minster and then set off to cross the Malton road and join a grassy path which veered left from the road to climb Caulkleys Bank.

Elizabethan manor house at Stonegrave

Starting the 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.

Reaching the top of Caulkleys Bank we walked along the grassy ridge and after passing Caulkleys Wood we had fine views in all directions.  TSB says that no less than 22 towns, villages and hamlets and sixteen churches can be seen from the highest point, marked by a trig point.

Approaching the trig point

We continued along the ridge walk, now in sunshine, and eventually our path started to descend towards the village of West Ness.

A fine ridge walk

We reach tarmac and West Ness

We walked past an old Wesleyan chapel to where the route joins a riverside track to the left of the bridge at West Ness.  We followed the river back towards Nunnington and came to a large building that had once been a mill.  In fact, TSB says there has been a mill on this site since the Domesday Book, although the present one dates from 1875.

Small Wesleyan Chapel

Bear left at the sign

.. and follow the river once more

Unwanted potatoes

Nunnington Mill

We walk over to look at the mill race

Plenty of water going through today

Leaving the mill behind us the river path took us back to Nunnington and to Nunnington Hall, which was owned by Sir Thomas Parr in the 16th century. It's quite possible that Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife, could have played here as a child.

Nunnington Hall

Before finishing the walk we went to the other end of the village to see the Church of All Saints and St James.  It is open to visitors and we admired the plinth of a crusader knight, which hereabouts is believed to contain the remains of Peter Loschy, the dragon slayer of local legend.

The Church of All Saints and Saint James

Peter Loschy?

Looking towards the altar

Altar window

For those who enjoy Victorian epitaphs (and who doesn't?) there are some interesting ones to be found in the graveyard, the last one below being of particular note.

'The 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'  

With regard to the unusual epitaph above I made a Google search which showed that this is the first verse of a poem called 'Lorenzo', without the last line, from a book called The Remains of Joseph Blackett.  The poem's title being:  'Lorenzo, Founded on the fact of persons having been buried alive.'     

The full 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'

We've read a lot of strange Victorian epitaphs on our walks but this takes the biscuit. Why anyone would want a poem about being buried alive as an epitaph is a mystery!

The village pub which was opposite the church has been converted to a private house so we de-camped to Helmsley where we popped into Helmsley brewery for our debrief over a pint of Yorkshire Legend.

To winter walks

This is a fairly short and straightforward walk and ideal for a winter's day.