Walking in North Yorkshire: Wass

Wass to Cockerdale and Byland Abbey

7.5 miles Fine and dry

We approached Wass from the A19 Thirsk turn off, via Coxwold, and parked in the village hall car park near to the tiny Church of St Thomas.

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

Getting out of the car I realised I didn't have my camera but thought it didn't matter as I had my phone and wouldn't need my zoom lens. How wrong I was as today we would come across a wild herd of 25 roe deer in Great Cockerdale Wood, the most deer we have encountered and I only had my phone to record the occasion.

We walked the few yards from the village hall to St Thomas' Church and had a look inside.

Free parking at the Village Hall

St Thomas' Church, Wass

The church was unlocked so we entered and found it to be clean and tidy with a capacity of about 40. Tom Scott Burns doesn't mention the building but it once served as the village school and appears to have been built using stone from nearby Byland Abbey.

TSB does tell us, however, that Wass comes from the Middle English wathes, meaning fords, the village having two such crossings.

We walked back down to the crossroads and turned right at the Stapylton Arms.

The Stapylton Arms

Interesting box hedge near the Stapylton Arms

We walked away from the pub along a road that soon loses its tarmac and becomes little more than a track. As we reached Snever Scar we we took the right fork where the path branches at Abbey Bank Noddle, instead of heading left to Snever Scar. (see dotted line in map above) We feel this is a nicer path as Snever Scar has been heavily wooded with saplings since TSB's day. We rejoined the original path just before our turn through the wood to the observatory.

Blind Side Gill

Abbey Bank Noddle

A nicer path

We reach the Observatory

Damage to the door and fence rails on top

"Here hills and waving groves a scene display, And part admit and part exclude the day, See rich industry smiling on the plains, And peace and plenty yell VICTORIA reigns!, Happy the MAN who to these shades retires, Whom nature charms and whom the muse inspires, Who wandering thoughtful in this silent wood, Attends the duties of the wise and good, To observe a mean, be to himself a friend, To follow NATURE and regard his end"

Reaching the Observatory we saw the rails on top had been damaged and the roof appeared to have gone, allowing weather to ingress. The door was also damaged but access had not been gained through it. Without repair it will quickly deteriorate.

We retraced our steps through the wood to the gate where we turned left into fields. The Camp Holes mentioned on the map above are clearly visible among the trees.

According to TSB these fields were the scene of the Battle of Bylands in 1322, when King Edward II was defeated by Sir Robert de Brus of Scotland. The King only escaped by 'the very pity of Christ' leaving behind in his flight the royal treasure and the crown jewels. This would be a great field to search with a metal detector!

Scene of a great battle

Our path led us to Cam Farm and then Cam House. Here we had to keep a lookout for way markers, before reaching Cockerdale Wood.

Rams are tuckered out at Cam Farm

Cam House

Walking from Cam House to Cockerdale

Beautiful Cockerdale

After Cam House we passed through a gate into Cockerdale wood where, at a wooden sign, we turned left onto a steep and tricky descent through the trees, eventually emerging on a field before Cockerdale Farm.

Turn left into the wood at the sign

... and descend steeply

There were many obstacles on our path through the wood

Leaving the wood into Cockerdale

Just beyond Cockerdale House we realised we were sheltered from the cool breeze and decided to sit and enjoy our coffee and scones. We looked down to fields and Great Cockerdale Wood and were delighted to see a herd of about 25 roe deer. They seemed oblivious to us and continued feeding and moving slowly towards the trees. It made our coffee break very special but I was cursing the lack of my camera with its zoom lens.

Scones...

... and deer!

There's about 25 of them!

They move slowly into the dense trees of Great Cockerdale Wood

The deer remained in our view until we had finished our coffee, then we set off passing carefully through a gate where it is always muddy, into a field where we climbed steadily towards a path at Mode Hill. Here we turned right to climb briskly to a small chapel at Scotch Corner. TSB tells how this was built by the sculptor, John Bunting, with stone from an old farmhouse and that it is dedicated to three pupils who had been killed in WWII.

Mode Hill

Chapel at Scotch Corner

John Joseph Bunting sculptor and artist of Ryedale built this chapel 1957 + died 19 November 2002 aged 75

We have never found this chapel open to the public

We retraced our steps down Mode Hill, finding the going much easier downhill, and we carried on to see an interesting Buddhist Stupa in the field to our right, with a cross in front of it.

The stupa was dated 2007 and the cross 2021, both dedicated to different male members of the same family, who appear to have followed different religious paths.

Leaving the stupa we set off downhill, soon joining a tarmac road for a hundred yards before turning left towards the impressive building of Oldstead Hall, built by John Wormald who also constructed The Observatory. In front of the hall was a field with a donkey, who we had seen recently on The Yorkshire Vet getting attention to a foot injury. The donkey came over to see us and was hard to leave.

Nearly at the bottom of Mode Hill

Donkey at Oldstead Hall

Comes over for a bit of fuss

The hill behind Oldstead Hall has also recently been deforested and looks most unsightly, and just before the hall we turned right at a way-mark and climbed steeply up to pass through fields before joining the Oldstead to Byland Road.

Oldstead Hall and de-forestation behind

Pass fields...

... and ponies

... to reach tarmac

Turn left towards Oldstead Grange Farm

We turned left from the road to walk a farm track which passes by Oldstead Grange Farm and then Cam Heads Farm.

Oldstead Grange Farm

Back in sheep fields

Tame lambs

We can see the White Horse from here

Leaving the farms we crossed a series of linking field tracks to reach the ruins of Byland Abbey. It is still apparent what an imposing building this must have been in its day. The last field before the abbey contained a large herd of cows and calves and there was no way of avoiding them. We stuck to the field margin.

Careful now! Don't make eye contact.

Safely over the stile into the road

Bylands Abbey

TSB tells us that the church, in itself 330 feet long, was fringed by chapels and columns, only traces of which remain. When the Abbey was dismantled in 1540 after the suppression of the monasteries by Henry VIII it housed 25 monks as well as the Abbot. An interesting webpage about the monastery, showing a reconstruction of how it looked in its heyday, is here!

Weather vane at Bylands Abbey

Entry is free to the Abbey ruins

We walked past the Abbey ruins, admiring a Spitfire weather vane at the house opposite, and continued to Abbey House before crossing fields to return us to Wass.