Walking in North Yorkshire

Old Byland to Nettledale and Scawton

7.5 miles Mainly sunny

In The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills, Tom Scott Burns describes this walk as embodying all the charm of Ryedale as it passes through the villages of Old Byland, Scawton and Cold Kirby.

We approached Old Byland from the B1257 Bilsdale road via Reivaulx village and parked in the village, at the roadside close to the green.

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

TSB goes on to relate that in 1143 the Norman Baron Roger de Mowbray granted land in Ryedale to some wandering monks from Furnace Abbey in Lancashire. They moved about the dale for a few years before finally settling on a site they called Bellalanda, or Byeland.

Walking from the car to the village green we saw the C12th Church of All Saints almost hidden from view behind houses in the north west corner of the village. We decided to start our walk with a look around the church and found it was unlocked. There were some interesting pagan stone carvings decorating the outer stonework.

Entering Old Byland

Fox weather vane in Old Byland

C12th Church of All Saints

Church weather vane

Early Norman dragon

Horned man, possibly Saxon

Exposed medieval roof timbers

Old font

Looking towards the rear of the church

Coming outside we looked at a few epitaphs and were pleased to see that sheep are being kept in the graveyard and were keeping the grass short.

'The winter of troubles is past, The storm of affliction is o'er, The struggle is ended at last, And sorrow and death are no more'

Grass-cutters in the graveyard

We walked through the village green and on leaving the village we turned left through a gate into the woods of Low Gill. The track was muddy and tricky in places. It gradually descended to Ashberry Pasture, a wild-flower sanctuary maintained by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

Leaving Old Byland to enter Low Gill

We descend through Low Gill....

... to enter the hidden valley of Ashbury Pasture

Early bluebells in the sheltered valley

We joined the road just below Ashberry Hill and walked to a junction next to picturesque Ashberry Farm where we chatted with the old sheepdog chained to his dog kennel.

Reaching Ashbury Farm

Dozing in the sun

Duck pond at Ashbury Farm

Leaving the farm buildings

We turned right over the bridge at Ashberry Farm and followed the Scawton road past Hagg Hall, leaving the road at Bradley Bank and following a woodland track as it meandered through Nettle Dale. Three large man-made lakes were to our right and stretched along most of our track through Nettle Dale until we reached a footbridge and Cleveland Way sign on our right. We tuned left here and walked uphill into Spring Wood.

Highland Cattle at Hagg Hall

The first pond at Nettledale

We leave Nettledale and the Cleveland Way to go through the gate ahead

Our path went through Spring Wood until we reached a tarmac road which we followed into Scawton, which is Norse for farm in the hollow.

We sat on a convenient bench in front of the church and enjoyed our coffee and scones.

Climbing through Spring Wood towards Scawton

We share our path with The Inn Way

We arrive in Scawton

Church Farm at Scawton

Church of St Mary, Scawton

This 1925 bench didn't look too comfy...

... but this will do for coffee and scones

After a pleasant refreshment break sitting in the sun we decided to look in on St Mary's Church, which was unlocked and welcomes visitors.

The church was built by the Cistercians of Byland Abbey, 'owing to the divers perils and fatigue which the parishioners underwent in coming from Scawton to Byland.'

Memorial plaque in church porch

Looking towards the altar

Church history

"Dearly beloved..." No, Clive is not preaching but pointing out that the walls are not true

'Bright angels beckon me away, then mother dry that tear, I go from thou to endless day, Say would'st thou keep me hear (sic) I know thou would'st not mourning then, thy daughter's early doom, Thy loss is her infinite gain ,
She lives beyond the tomb'

Leaving the church we returned to the village green and crossed the grass to an overgrown path behind the village telephone box. From this point it would appear that this section of today's walk is not being used by other walkers and the fields show no sign of tracks.

Straight ahead to leave the village green

Into sheep fields

A Kerry Hill sheep looks like it's been crossed to produce standard looking lambs

Dirty knees!

These dis-similar lambs both have 168 on their backs, but surely different fathers?

Three shakes of a lamb's tail.

In the fields above Flassen Dale we found three lamb's tails that had obviously recently dropped off, the rubber rings having prevented circulation. Good finds, as these are usually quickly eaten by crows.

We kept to our path by using the yellow way-marks posted on field boundaries until we descended back into Flassen Dale, which we found to have been recently deforested. We stopped and chatted to a forestry worker in a JCB who was tidying our path. He told us most of the wood was to be chipped for the biomass power station, and also to be made into pellets for wood burning stoves. He was working alone and happy to chat for a while.

"Where are the trees?"

Same spot, August 2016

Flassen Dale today

Leaving him we reached the valley floor and turned left onto a broad path then almost immediately climbed up the other side of the dale.

We now crossed more fields to reach the village of Cold Kirby, passing decrepit game bird pens that had been full of partridge when we passed by a couple of years ago.

2018

2016

We walked into the village of Cold Kirby and almost the first building we encountered was the Church of St Michael which Tom Scott Burns explains was rebuilt in the 1800s. It originally dated back to the 12th century when the parish was administered by the Order of Knights Templar. We weren't sure about the purple ceiling, which seemed to continue the purple theme of the stained glass windows.

Village Hall, Cold Kirby

Church of St Michael

Purple!

Altar window

Rear of church

Toning flowers display

We looked into the village briefly and then followed the Cleveland Way sign to rejoin our path for the steady descent back to Nettle Dale.

At Nettle Dale we parted from the Cleveland Way as we reached the lakes, turning left into a field and crossing to a gated bridge over a stream. We now had a steep climb out of Nettle Dale through Calister Wood, until we reached fields on the other side. Our path now ran straight across these field boundaries to Old Byland, first descending and crossing Low Gill's woods once again.