Ladhill Gill and Bumper Castle from
Fangdale Beck
7.5 miles Fine and sunny
We turned off the B1257 Bilsdale road and drove past the old green telephone box to the village of Fangdale Beck where we parked at the road side.
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| Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills |
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| Walking through Fangdale Beck |
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| Old Wesleyan Chapel, now a house |
Tom Scott Burns tells us that Fangdale comes from the personal Scandinavian name Fangi or Fangulf, meaning 'Fangi's Valley'.
Leaving the car we crossed the beck by the little bridge and walked past the old Wesleyan Chapel, now converted into a private house.
A walk along a farm track brought us to a farm called Malkin Bower, which apparently means Matilda's or Maud's Dwelling. We continued straight past the farm with the tarmac changing to a muddy grassy track.
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| Looking back to Fangdale Beck |
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| Resident at Malkin Bower |
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| Weather vane at Malkin Bower |
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| Walking along the Bilsdale Valley |
We followed the path along the valley of Bilsdale, parallel to the road below us. The track dropped down to the River Seph before gently climbing up to Helm House where mechanical repairs are carried out to farm vehicles, as well as it being a working farm. A couple of old tractors were out on display.
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| Approaching Helm House |
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| Helm House Farm |
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| His and her's! Tractors at Helm House Farm |
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| Stand-off! A pheasant and a Blue Leicester sheep stare each other out at Helm Farm |
Leaving Helm House we continued on a very muddy path across sheep fields before arriving at Benhill Bank Plantation where our track climbed steadily up to reach the moor gate.
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| A Texel ram between two Blue Leicesters |
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| The cattle are in for the winter at Helm House Farm |
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| Climbing through Benhill Bank Plantation |
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| A short spell on tarmac brings us to the moor gate |
We crossed the moor to look down on the remains of Bumper Castle. Tom Scott Burns reports that the monks of Rievaulx wrought iron on Bumper Moor and there are old spoil heaps still to be seen dotted about on the moor.
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| More Blue Leiecester Sheep near the moor gate |
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| Hawnby Hill appears in the distance |
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| Our path appears little walked |
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| Looking across to Sportsman's Hall |
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| ... and among the trees is the ruin of Bumper Castle |
We decided that today we would visit the ruins and made a bee-line through the dying bracken to reach the old building, which has all the appearance of a derelict farmhouse.
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| No path to Bumper Castle |
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| We approach the ruin |
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| Bumper Castle |
There appeared to be fire damage and the building is in an unsafe condition. We looked around and headed back to our track. I was interested to find out more about the ruin's original purpose and later made an internet search, which gave this:
For a farm house Bumper Castle was well built with a slate roof which would have to have been imported into the dale. There's a date on the gable of 1722. It is said that in the 18c the 3rd Duke of Rutland and the Marquis of Granby stayed here for the shooting. So the house may have been built as a shooting lodge.
From the Hawnby parish register in 1794 William Douglas, Bumper Castle, batchelor, 74, was buried "when there was the greatest depth of snow ever known in memory". In 1801 Samuel Tiplady was christened, son of Samuel (gamekeeper) and Dillery Tiplady, Bumper Castle. In 1811 William Mansell, gamekeeper to the Duke of Rutland, died at Bumper Castle aged 38.
From the mid 19c it seems to have been used as a farm. According to the 1851 census Richard Hilbert was farming 127 acres here. In 1881 and 91 Thomas Wrathall was resident. In 1920 Mrs. Clark, widow of Noah Clark was paying £25 rent.
TSB reports in The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills that Bumper Castle was owned by George Villiers, the notorious second Duke of Buckingham, who, when he died in 1687, had squandered £50,000 a year and had become an outcast from society. There is no record of him actually visiting the building however.
Satisfied that we had seen all there was to see at Bumper Castle we set off along a muddy track to eventually rejoin our original path, which we followed down to Ladhill Gill Beck. Just before the bridge over the beck we saw a large flat stone in the sun and out of the wind, and sat to enjoy our coffee and scones.
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| Walking to rejoin our path... |
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| ... we come to obvious workings. Did the monks of Reivaulx dig here? |
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| The bridge over Ladhill Beck |
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| Clive discovers a nice, flat 'table'. |
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| Ladhill Gill |
We crossed the bridge and climbed steeply up the opposite side of the valley, turning left to join a track that led us above Sportsmans Hall. TSB suggests that this name probably has something to do with Bumper Castle and the Duke's sporting pastimes.
We walked towards the Hawnby road and turned right along a vehicle access track at the moor gate. The track divides twice and on each occasion we took the right fork, heading towards Bilsdale mast.
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| Sportsmans Hall |
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| Looking back at Easterside Hill and Hawnby Hill |
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| Keep right! |
Eventually the path struck off faintly across the moor. We lost sight of the track occasionally but it didn't matter, we knew we had to head east to cross the upper reaches of Ladhill Gill, where it joins with Wetherhouse Beck. Here the route is indicated by a row of wooden stakes showing the location of some shooting butts.
In one of the shooting butts we saw the remains of a hedgehog. This new style of shooting butt where the shooter steps down into a wood paneled 'box' seems deadly to small wildlife, which fall in and can't get out. Time and again we have seen dead rabbits, toads, mice etc, surely some sort of escape ramp could be built in?
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| Trapped! |
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| Upper reaches of Ladhill Gill |
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| Passing through the moor gate |
This part of the walk is a bit hit and miss, the moor track being either non-existent or overgrown, but eventually we reached the shooting butts and we turned left to follow their line down towards the moor gate.
We went through the moor gate and by some old quarries and then descended via the usual hollow way to emerge at Malkin Bower where we turned left to return to Fangdale and our car.
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| Passing an old quarry |
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| Hollow way to Fangdale |
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| Malkin Bower ahead |
On the B1257 just opposite the Fangdale turn-off is the Church of St John which must have been built to serve the upper Bilsdale valley, including Fangdale. We decided it was time we paid it a visit and were delighted to find it unlocked.
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| We liked the ploughman motif |
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| The Church of St John, Bilsdale |
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| Clive examines the WW1 War Memorial |
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| Looking towards the altar, we admired the barreled roof |
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| The altar window |
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| Looking towards the rear of the church |
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| Why, we wondered? |
The church was built by Temple Moor between 1896-98 and so there are few gravestones of interest. There is a fine war memorial dedicated to the men of Bilsdale who died in WW1.
There is an excellent internet page on the church here.
We left the church and retired to the Bay Horse in Great Broughton to discuss an interesting and enjoyable walk.
