The Rosedale Railway and Botton Head from Ingleby Greenhow

 

 8.5 miles                                Dull and wet

 

Tom Scott Burns  says in his Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills, that the name Ingleby has been written in various ways over the years including Angleby, Engelbi, Yngleby and Yngylby. During the reign of William 11 (1087-1100) Guy de Baliol was granted the barony of Ingleby and it remained in his family until the 13th century.

We parked in Ingleby Greenhow in the overflow car park for the Dudley Arms and walked back to the main road, in the direction of Kildale.  Our route left the road alongside a newly built house and we followed an overgrown path onto meadows.  

 

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

The Old Vicarage, Ingleby Greenhow

Turning off the road into...

...a path between houses

.... which emerges onto meadows

Apart from the moorland trails our paths today were little walked and overgrown in most places. We crossed several meadows to arrive at Bank Foot Farm, situated under Turkey Nab, which is probably derived from the old personal name Thorlkil.  Tom Scott Burns says in his Walker's Guide that in 1729 William Parkin was hung from gallows mounted on Turkey Nab for murdering his brother-in-law at Great Broughton.

Crossing meadows towards Bank Foot

Looking back towards Ingleby Manor

Turkey Nab and Bank Foot Farm appear in the distance

Unusual sheep near Bank Foot, possibly a Cotswold?

What do you mean, funny looking?

We joined the bed of the old railway track at Bank Foot and turned right to walk towards the Incline bottom. After a couple of miles we passed by some old railway cottages and reached the stiff gradient of the old incline railway.  We climbed steadily and passed by some old graffiti of a man wearing a stovepipe hat with a bird in front of his face.  TSB suggests that this is a satirical caricature carved by a railway navvy in a moment of inactivity.  We were pleased to see that someone had scraped grass and soil away from it to prevent it disappearing into the embankment. 

The old railway bed

Passing railway cottages

We reach the bottom of the incline railway

Forestry work has cleared a lot of trees from the side of the incline

Looking over towards old mine workings from the incline

A Navvy's graffiti?

Looking back down the incline from our coffee stop

The weather seemed to be changing for the worse and we realised that once on the top we would have no shelter so we decided to sit at the side of the incline to enjoy our coffee and scones, with a fine view back towards Ingleby Greenhow.  As we got to our feet to continue the walk rain started to fall and would continue for the rest of today's walk.

Approaching the top

Remains of the old winding house

To see some photos of how the old railway and winding house looked in its heyday, it is worth looking at this page.Click Here!     The line itself was officially closed on 13th June 1929.

We reached the top and continued to follow the old railway bed, now in a steady downpour.  The line used to run eleven miles from the incline summit to Rosedale Bank Top and never dropped below an altitude of 1000 feet.  The disused track now makes an excellent footpath to Farndale, Westerdale and Rosedale.

The old railway to Rosedale

This bench made a convenient stop to don my leggings

The view deteriorated in the rain

We leave the old railway track

We turned right off the old railway and joined a trail to Cockayne Head and Botton Head, which is also part of the Cleveland Way.  As we walked this trail we came to two old boundary posts, the first known as The Face Stone is mentioned in a 1642 document for the Helmsley Estate, and the second showing a carved hand near to Round Hill dates from 1711.  Near the Hand Stone is the trig point at Botton Howe which is located on a Bronze Age burial mound at 1490 feet, the highest point on the North York Moors.

'Life imitates art far more than art imitates life'  Oscar Wilde

The Hand Stone

Trig Point at Botton Howe

We walked back to the wide path and continued walking across Urra Moor, which according to TSB derives from the Old English 'horh' meaning 'filth'!  Eventually we came to a signpost and an indistinct path right which we followed to quickly drop off the moor down Jacksons Bank and into Greenhow Plantation. 

Sharp right to Jackson's Bank

Starting the descent of Jackson's Bank

Have you never seen a brolly before?

Jackson's Bank

Leaving Greenhow Plantation

We reached the lane down Greenhow Bottoms and over to the right we could see the incline railway while ahead of us Roseberry Topping appeared in the distance.  A mile or so further on the tarmac lane and we reached Low Farm where we stopped to feed an apple to a horse and foal.  We turned right, following a footpath sign into Low Farm where we admired their 'ancient' stone circle.

The incline railway can be seen opposite

Cows are too wet to bother chasing us

A fine display of Rosebay Willowherb

Our path turned left before the farm buildings into fields which we crossed, one after another, on an unseen right of way, aiming for the yellow right of way signs at the field boundaries.

Horses at Low Farm

An apple is very welcome

Stone Circle at Low Farm

Appropriate weather vane at Low Farm

An unwalked path through the fields

After a mile of field walking our path veered right into bushes and descended on a slippery paved trod to reach the bridge over Ingleby Beck, and next to the bridge, the old church of St Andrews. 

Slippery descent to Ingleby Beck

St Andrew's Church

The church was unlocked so we entered and had a look around.  The original church was granted to the Bishops of Whitby in 1143 by Adam de Ingleby and still retains traces of Norman work, we liked a nice pig effigy on one pillar.  Apparently the church was rebuilt at the parishioners' expense in 1741.

Looking towards the altar

There are two recumbent effigies, one of
   a knight  (probably C15)...

.... and the other, a priest (Willimus Wrelton, incumbent c.1300),

Original Norman carvings, a dragon?

... and a boar or pig

The altar window

List of donations

St Andrew's Church, Ingleby Greenhow

The Dudley Arms

Leaving the church, we found we were near the Dudley Arms, which has been an inn since the 1750s and is an ideal place to relax with a pint after a walk, so we did!  We agreed this walk of TSB's is enjoyable, with a bit of everything, hills, moors, farms and woods and deserves to be walked more to prevent many of the paths falling into disuse.