Walking in North Yorkshire

Rievaulx Abbey and Caydale from Murton

9.7 miles Cold and dry

Tom Scott Burns says this walk is 8.5 miles long but that was in the days before GPS. We found it was 9.7 miles and a later check on Tracklogs found this to be accurate. The walk ends with a hard climb back up to Murton and as I have just returned from a couple of days walking in the Lakes (Maps and photos here) I noticed both the climb and the distance.

Leaving the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley Road at the Hawnby turn off we parked at the roadside near to the buildings of Murton Grange, overlooking the village of Hawnby below..

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

Hawnby below and sun on Easterside Hill

First snowdrops at Murton Grange

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 very muddy fields to an old barn.

Murton Grange

We turn into Ox Pasture Lane

Deep Gill Wood

Old Barn

Very muddy around 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 were passed by beaters, some on foot and some in quads.

No sign of cattle but the ground is very broken

Reaching Barnclose Farm

Clive lets the last of the beaters through the gate

Old buildings at Barnclose Farm

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.

We passed Tylas 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.

Leaving the road at the gate

.. and walking laong the valley

Boardwalk alongside 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.

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.

Old metal footpath sign

Clive approaches Bow Bridge

'Yorkshire North Riding'

Inn Way footpath sign

The Abbey comes into view

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.

Approaching Rievaulx

Rievaulx Abbey

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 time

The telephone box is decrepit ....

... but the phone is working!

Alexandra Cottage appears to be bowing at the sides

House in Rievaulx

Approaching the slipper chapel of St Mary's

Altar window

Memorial window to the Earl of Feversham

House opposite St Mary's

'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.

Rievaulx Abbey from the Visitor's Centre

Rievaulx Bridge

Ashberry Farm and someone has knocked part of the bridge down

Ashberry Farm

Now on the cold and shady side of the valley we followed the wooded path through Lambert Hagg Wood from where we had a view through saplings of the Abbey and above, the Ionic Temples built by a local squire in 1758.

Fake temple

Clive looks over at the Ionic Temple

Looking back over Ashberry Meadow

We left the wood on the same road that we had followed on our outward route, past Tylas Farm. In the distance we could see shooter's vehicles crossing fields and in a few minutes they were passing us by, all waving cheerily. As we left the road just before reaching the farm, turning left onto a muddy track that runs along Birk Bank, we came to a couple of keepers sorting out the day's bag. We stopped to chat for a while, asking what happened to the game, was it sold locally. 'It all goes to game dealers' they told us.

Shooting Party

We crossed two cattle grids, both made from light locomotive rails

Approaching Tylas Farm

The Bag!

Gun dogs

Clive chats to the keepers

The birds are tied in pairs

We left the keepers and walked into Birk Bank Wood where we found an injured pheasant on the path, unable to move. Clive swiftly dispatched it, a shame but kinder than leaving it to be pecked by crows. We wondered how many injured birds were in the woods, unseen from the path. I suppose the dogs can't find them all.

Birk Bank Wood

Injured pheasant

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.

Reaching the ford

Clean yer boots!

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