Rievaulx Abbey and Caydale from Murton

8.5 miles                      Cold and dry

A busy week for me with the first part walking in the Lake District (Maps and photos here) and now this brilliant Tom Scott Burns Walk to Rievaulx Abbey.

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

Leaving the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley Road at the Hawnby turn off we parked at the roadside near to the buildings of Murton Grange, which were being scoured of their white paint by workmen.  We wondered if they would be repainted or whether they were being returned to natural stone.

Murton Grange, work in progress

Hawnby Hill, Hawnby and Easterside Hill 

Tom Scott Burns explains in his 'Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills' that the township of Murton was given to Byland Abbey by Hugh Malebisse in the 12th century.  A grange was constructed by lay brothers and was basically a well organised farm with a small chapel.

We walked past the Grange and after a short distance turned into Ox Pasture Lane to walk along a muddy track alongside Deep Gill Wood.  We followed this lane for nearly two miles, eventually leaving the woods at a farm gate and crossing fields occupied by hardy cattle, to an old barn.

Ox Pasture Lane

Quite a few trees blown down in Deep Gill Wood

Cows and calves move away as we approach

The Old Barn

Passing to the left of the barn we descended to Barnclose Farm where the path goes through the farm yard and turns right onto the farm track.  As we approached the farm we passed a row of men with flags waiting for the whistle to start 'beating' game towards the guns.  They told us with a grin that they were beating away from the public path.  As we neared the farm a line of 4x4 vehicles carrying the shooters drove slowly past.

Barnclose Farm

We are escorted into the farm by a friendly collie

As we entered the farmyard I was surprised to see a hen with chicks in January.  I commented on this to the farmer and he laughed and said that it must be caused by global warming.

January chicks

Leaving Barnclose Farm we had a steady climb on tarmac to reach Tylas Farm, which TSB tells us was built by the monks of Old Byland as a grange and tile house, hence its name.  Our walk was now accompanied by volleys of shots from behind.

Shooters' vehicles near Barnclose Farm

Beaters waiting for the whistle

Tylas Farm

We passed the farm and continued along the road to Oxendale until reaching a gate and a way-mark on our left, where we turned off the road and gradually descended to the River Rye.

We reach the River Rye

The path now leads through the valley of Oxendale, the River Rye on the left.  We followed a pleasant grassy track until we reached the river and our path became a boardwalk over areas that obviously suffer from flooding.

Non-slip panels on the boardwalk are a great help

Who killed the shrew?

We emerged onto tarmac and almost immediately crossed the river at Bow Bridge, originally built by the Cistercian monks of Rievaulx.   A short walk on the road brought us to a sign pointing to our path across fields to Rievaulx Abbey.  We left the road at a wooden Inn Way sign and soon the Abbey came into sight.

Frozen ground where the sun doesn't reach

An old sign points back the way we came

Bow Bridge

Yorkshire North Riding

Leave the road at the Inn Way Sign

Our route across the fields follows the traces of the old canal that the monks had built in the 11th century to carry stone for the Abbey from the nearby Penny Piece Quarry, so named because quarrymen were apparently paid a penny a day.  The river was dammed here and water diverted into the canal. 

As we walked through fields towards the abbey we were rewarded with a fine view of the ruins.  Tom Scott Burns says that Rievaulx Abbey is undoubtedly a place to walk to, rather than from.  He explains the name Rievaulx is from old French for Valley of the Rye.  Under its third abbot, Aelred, the monastery had 640 men dependent on its Cistercian order.

Rievaulx appears in the distance

Rievaulx Abbey

Houses in Rievaulx

Tiny Alexandra Cottage

We walked uphill through the village and stopped at a public bench to refresh ourselves with coffee and scones, before resuming the climb to reach the Slipper Chapel of St Mary's.  This was a place where pilgrims would remove their shoes and put on soft slippers or socks to enter the holy buildings of the Abbey.  It was renovated early in the twentieth century.  


We found the church unlocked and entered to find a neat, well kept building with a fine altar window. 

Coffee in Rievaulx

A finch shares my scone

St Mary's Chapel

Altar window

Looking towards the altar

Memorial window to the Earl of Feversham

Just outside the church is a heavy wooden cross erected in memory of the Earl of Feversham and inside we found the following explanation for its presence.

St Mary's weather vane

Opposite St Mary's is a fine house with a prominently placed sun dial (which was correct!) with the words 'Lucem Demonstrat Umbra', meaning something like, 'the shadow shows light', which is of course the function of a sundial. There is a sun dial with the same slogan on York Minster.

Sun Dial

'The shadow shows/demonstrates the light'

We set off once more, down through the village and past the Abbey ruins to Rievaulx Bridge.  TSB tells how Wordsworth's sister, Dorothy, who, arriving here during a July afternoon, described how she "could have stayed in this solemn, quiet spot till evening without a thought of moving, but William was waiting for me."   

TSB explains that the Abbey sits in a natural amphitheatre which was granted to the Cistercian monks by the Lord of Helmsley, and  building began in 1132.  Because of the Abbey's site between a hill and the River Rye the church faces North - South instead of the usual East - West.  By 1200 there were 140 monks and 500 lay brothers but like nearby Byland Abbey, it was suppressed in 1538.

We walked past the Visitors Centre to reach Rievaulx Bridge which we crossed, following the road to pretty Ashberry Farm.  Here the path turns behind the building and immediately starts to climb Ashberry Hill.  

Follies on Rievaulx Terrace

Ionic Temples built above the abbey by a local squire in 1758.

Rievaulx Bridge

Rivaulx Bridge House

Approaching Ashberry Farm

Now on the cold and shady side of the valley we followed the wooded path through Lambert Hagg Wood and left the wood on the same road that we had followed on our outward route, past Tylas Farm.  This time we left the road just before reaching the farm, turning left onto a muddy track that runs along Birk Bank.  

Climbing through Lambert Hagg Wood

We cross two cattle grids both made from light railway track  

A last look at the Abbey

Crisp ground makes easy walking...

... with the occasional hurdle

We puzzled whether this was a natural death or otherwise

The path meanders in and out of trees about the midway point of Birk Bank until, after a mile or so it finally reaches Caydale Mill, almost unseen in the trees below.

Caydale Mill

Just beyond the mill we reached the road and a ford where we washed the mud from our boots.  

Cars using this lane must drive through 100 yards of water, but walkers cross by a bridge and can avoid getting wet feet, rejoining the road at the other side of the ford.

Ford

A hard slog

Hawnby

Beyond the ford the lane becomes a very steep (1:4) climb for about half a mile, before eventually levelling out. After eight miles of walking this final climb is a test for the legs!  Eventually the white buildings of Murton Grange appeared in the distance and we reached the end of our walk.

Just down the road is the Owl at Hawnby to which we retired for a pint of Black Sheep and a discussion of this fine walk, in front of a roaring fire.

"To short walks and long drinks!"