Kirby Knowle to Felixkirk and Boltby
8.5 miles Fine and dry
We approached Kirby Knowle from the Knayton A19 turn-off and parked on the grassed area set aside for parking, opposite St Wilfred's Church. I forgot my camera so today's photos are taken with my phone.
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| Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills |
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| St Wilfred's,Kirby Knowle |
After booting up we wandered over to St Wilfred's and found it open to visitors.
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| Looking towards the altar |
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| Towards the rear |
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| Modern window, see text below |
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| Old crosses and font |
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| 'All you who come to read this stone,Consider how soon I was gone,Death sometime doth no warning give, Therefore be careful how you live' |
We like the modern stained glass windows dedicated to Doctor Jane Rajan.
For more about the window and Dr Rajan see here
We walked out of the village along the tarmac road towards Upsall (up-salir, Old Norse 'high dwellings') . Over to our right, high on the hill, one can see the imposing 'Newbuilding.' Originally called Kirby Knowle Castle and sometimes referred to as Newbiggin, Tom Scott Burns explains that this actually dates from the 13th century. It has been restored and modernised but still contains many of its original features.
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| House in Kirby Knowle |
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| Leaving Kirby Knowle |
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| 'Newbuilding' |
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| Weather vane near Kirby Knowle |
Just before Upsall we turned off the road into fields at a metal footpath sign to follow a little walked path towards Turton Beckstead. Tom Scott Burn's walks often follow rarely visited paths but today's route must be the least walked of all, the tracks were lush with vegetation and there was no sign that other boots had passed this way.
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| Leave the road at the footpath sign |
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| A hare spots us and runs |
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| Unwalked paths and poorly maintained gates and stiles |
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| Entering Miller's Wood |
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| I don't know if anyone has been through since our last visit |
We walked into Miller's Wood and dropped down to the beck. 'Beckstead' means 'a farm near a river' and in previous years we have found a large stone block engraved with the words 'Turton Beckstead'. This year we found someone had erected a sort of bridge and try as we might, we were unable to locate the engraved block.
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| This could be the block under Clive's foot, but turned upside down |
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| A few years ago Clive had a wire brush with him and cleaned up the block, see below |
Tom Scott Burns relates a strange event that apparently happened here. In the 1860s some mourners were carrying a body from Felixkirk to Kirby Knowle for burial. The bearers set down the coffin to rest briefly at this spot, but on raising it up again it felt much lighter and they discovered that the corpse had disappeared. The empty coffin was buried and the site at Beckstead Wood became known as Lost Corpse End.
It is a fact that bodies were carried by this route from Felixkirk to Kirby Knowle for burial, so that much at least is true.
Leaving Turton Beckstead we climbed gently over Carr Hill to approach the village of Felixkirk through the overgrown fields.
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| Climbing Carr Hill |
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| No sign that other boots have passed this way |
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| New stile here.... |
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| But this old bridge is still a tricky crossing |
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| Arriving at Felixkirk |
We reached the tarmac road at Mount View and turned right to walk into Felixkirk and the church of St Felix which we found to be unlocked. The church was sporting a new gate, the old one had Mousy Thomson's mouse carved on it but the new one appears to be the work of Bob Hunter, the Wren Man at Thirlby.
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| The old gate on our last visit |
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| New gate |
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| The wren replaces the mouse |
The most striking feature of the church is the domed roof. There are only six churches dedicated to St Felix in the UK. He was a 7th century monk from Burgundy who converted the kingdom of East Anglia to Christianity. The use of the name suggests there has been a church here since Saxon times. The church was restored in 1860 but much of the stonework is original and dates to the 12th century.
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| Fox weather vane as we enter Thirlby |
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| Cottage in Thirlby |
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| Home of the Wren furniture |
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| Clive checks the display |
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| Thirlby beck |
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| A plaque to Donald and Audrey Sinclair, see below |
Thirlby is a very attractive village and a point of interest is that Alf White aka James Herriot lived in the village. Also in the village is a plaque to his vet partner Donald Sinclair, aka Seigfried Farnon. Sinclair lived in nearby Southwoods Hall with his wife Audrey.
Alf White died in February 1995 and Sinclair's wife in early June the same year. Sadly Sinclair then took his own life by barbiturate poisoning two weeks later. The plaque is near to the village hall and has not been looked after very well, consequently it was almost hidden by holly, weeds and undergrowth, which we cleared back a bit.
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| A bench near the beck, the work of the wren man. 'No shop or inn is there here about, so why not sit down and enjoy summat for nowt' - donated by 'two good sorts in memory of Bill'. |
We continued along the lane through the village, crossed the ford and left the tarmac at Thirlby Farm, turning left to follow a track through a grassy meadow. We followed our path, sometimes across fields and sometimes through trees, steadily approaching Boltby.
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| Leaving Thirlby |
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| Walking through Hollins Plantation |
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| Boltby Scar over to the left |
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| Through unwalked meadows |
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| ... and awkward rights of way |
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| .. to Boltby |
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| Entering Boltby |
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| Packhorse bridge at Boltby |
At Boltby we turned left at the packhorse bridge and walked through the pretty village before turning right at a waymarked sign at the lane between Spring Garth and Gurtof House.
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| Boltby |
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| Once the Johnson Arms, now a riding school, it appears to be getting a new roof |
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| Clive shares an apple as we leave Boltby |
We followed a series of field boundaries to reach the modern mansion of Ravensthorpe Manor, which we climbed above to enter Westow Plantation. Here we followed a muddy track behind Ravensthorpe Manor, which was now invisible to us because of the plantation's trees.
