A Bilsdale Circular from Clay Bank

Approx. 6 miles               Grey, cool and still

We decided on a shorter walk today as I am recovering from two weeks with 'flu.  We drove along the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley road and parked at Clay Bank car park, once the site of eight Bronze Age burial mounds which were excavated when the car park was built in 1969.

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

Walking from Clay Bank towards Spring House

We were surprised at how much snow still lay on the eastern side of the hills.  We set off walking back down the B1257 for about a hundred yards before crossing the road to enter the forestry plantation.  Our path through the trees ran steadily downhill until we came to a right fork which we followed.  This minor path led straight down hill through the trees, parallel with the road, to meet the B1257 again, near to the entrance to Spring House.  

Take the right fork

Paths appear to have been little walked since the snow arrived three weeks ago

We drop below the snow line

Spring House entrance

We turned sharply left at this junction and followed a vehicle track towards Spring House, whose residents must have been pestered by trespassers in the past as there are numerous signs warning of loose dogs and also CCTV.  Checking our route was correct on the GPS we walked confidently across the front of Spring House where an ancient tractor was blocking our path.  Squeezing past we entered a field where yellow way-marks now indicated our direction.

Welcome sign at Spring House

Yellow way-marks keep us right

Spring House

Immediately past Spring House our path runs into fields

At first there was no sign of a path and we followed the GPS across a couple of fields but soon we joined a pleasant path which took us below the Cleveland escarpment and was in total contrast to the rough terrain above.  We passed an attractive building called Broughton House and then reached the untidy buildings of Huntons Folly and a little further along the road, a farm called Solomon's Porch. 

 

Horses have made the track messy

Looking north towards Middlesbrough

Turn left here

Our track becomes a road

Broughton House

We'd like to know why the latter two farms are so named but haven't yet been able to find any information and unusually, TSB is silent on this matter.   The track continued past Solomon's Porch to a couple of buildings whose unusual signs we admired. 

The old buildings of Huntons Folly

Solomon's Porch

Intricate sign of tractor and hedge cutter

We didn't reach these cottages, instead turning sharp left to enter fields at a way-mark and begin a long, steep ascent to the top of the Cleveland escarpment.  Eventually we left the trees behind and had a clear view across Cold Moor and we rewarded ourselves with coffee and scones, sitting behind a stone wall to duck out of the chilly breeze. 

We start the long climb to the top of Cleveland escarpment

Entering the forestry tracks

Up and up

An old Romany sign meaning 'coffee and scones here'

Much refreshed we started the climb to the top of Cold Moor, surprised by a female fell runner who overtook us near the top.  She was the only person we saw on the hills today.  A cautious descent from Cold Moor on icy stones brought us to another climb, this time towards the Wainstones.

Ram and ladies on Cold Moor

Looking back from start of climb to Cold Moor

"We'll let you past...!"

From top of Cold Moor

We walk under the Wainstones

Our path veered off here to the right through an open gate and we walked towards Garfitt Gap and a farmhouse called Garfitts.  Tom Scott Burns says that the original name of Garfitts was Garthwat (in 1335) meaning 'a clearing with an enclosure on it'.   All along this path were pheasant feeders and birds complaining noisily about our presence.    Garfitts was a very pretty house despite its remote situation and we passed it by and followed the road gradually down into the valley of Bilsdale.

Garfitts Gap

Approaching Garfitts

Garfitts

Tom Scott Burns tells the story that William the Conqueror brought his army through Bilsdale on route to York, after harrying the North Riding in the winter of 1069/1070.  To William's fury the army became bogged down in deep snowdrifts and the pace was very slow through Bilsdale valley.  This story is said to have given rise to the local phrase "swearing like Billy Norman" and Billy's Dale, later Bilsdale.

Reaching the B1257 we turned left and followed the road for a couple of hundred yards before crossing to enter the gates of Holme Farm.  In The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills TSB has a photograph of Holme Farm dating from1896 which I've copied below.  You'll see that the farm hasn't changed much in 120 years!

Holme Farm in 1896

Holme Farm today

The path turns left in front of the farm and joins the old Bilsdale Road, which climbed steadily back to Clay Bank and our car.  

The old road

Old Nunthorpe from Newton-under-Roseberry

7 miles                                             Snow, poor visibility and calm

Snow on the hills made us decide to choose a more local walk today and one which we haven't walked before.  We parked at the lay by in Newton-under-Roseberry and walked back through the village past the King's Head and turned into Roseberry Lane.

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

 

The Kings Head

Roseberry Lane

Tom Scott Burns informs us that the King's Head dates back to 1796 and was run by an old woman known as 'Old Gag Mally Wright'  who started a fair at the village and was a 'handy body' who acted as midwife  and for laying out the dead. Locals said she 'tied up t' jaws of t' dying afore tha wur deead'.  The fair developed into a kind of disorderly annual orgy attended by the lowest classes and in 1901 the Vicar of Newton, the Rev. Tugman, successfully petitioned for it to be suppressed.  Far too cold for orgies today as Clive and I picked our way towards Roseberry Topping.

Looking back along Roseberry Lane

Approaching the summit of Roseberry Topping

Site of the rockfall

TSB tells us that a Northumbrian princess had been warned by an astrologer that her son Oswy would be drowned on a certain day.  To avoid this she took the child to the summit of Roseberry Topping where he would surely be safe from drowning. While she slept the child wandered off and fell down a well situated on the North East slope of Roseberry, fulfilling the prophecy, which led the princess to kill herself.  Mother and child were buried together and 'Os by his mother lay' and so the village of Osmotherly gained its name.   The name Roseberry has puzzled many historians.  In 1119 it was Outhenesbergh, Osenburgh in 1424 and Roseberye in 1657.  The hill was mined for iron ore between 1880 and 1926 and in 1912 the mining caused a landslip that gave the hill its distinctive shape.   We climbed the hill then turned west to walk down to the folly built on its western slope.

Heading down

Wilson's folly

After looking at the folly we walked down to a gate and entered Newton Woods.  Our path followed the edge of the wood and then dropped down until we came to the site of the old incline railway running parallel with Cliff Rigg Quarry.   We crossed the Middlesbrough to Whitby railway line via a stone bridge and on reaching the road turned right before turning left at a footpath sign.  There was a Mountain Rescue jacket draped over the railing and we realised the hut behind it is the Rescue HQ.  Chatting to a volunteer we learned that there was to be a practice with a helicopter that would be arriving at 12 noon.   "Hmm, nearly 12 now" so we walked a little further down the path and sat on a couple of old tractor tyres to enjoy our coffee and scones and wait for the helicopter.

Looking back at Roseberry

Walking through Newton Woods

'I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow.'  Bench in Newton Woods

Crossing the Middlesbrough to Whitby Line

Mountain Rescue Building near our path.

No sign of the helicopter, perhaps delayed by the misty weather, so we set off again following the old rail bed to Langbaurgh Quarry to our left, then taking a path parallel to a ridge with more disused quarries.  This ridge is of whinstone (the term for any hard dark coloured rock) and stretches to Quarry Hill Farm, a very imposing building which we passed to reach the A179 Stokesley road.

Our path towards Nunthorpe

Crossing the Main Stell

Quarry House Farm

We crossed the A179 and walked over a field to Old Nunthorpe.  The original name of the village was Torp which was amended to Nunthorpe in the early 12th century in honour of a Cistercian Nunnery.  In 1231 the nunnery moved to Baysdale.   We walked through some stables where Clive couldn't resist spoiling a horse and a couple of pet sheep with his Rich Tea biscuits.  Turning right along the road we could see, belatedly, the mountain rescue helicopter buzzing round Roseberry in the distance.  We passed by Nunthorpe Hall, the original site of the Priory, and turned right once more to walk through a farm and back across fields towards the A179.

'Rich Tea Biscuits, my favourite!'

'Yummy'

Helicopter and Roseberry

Nunthorpe Hall

Re-crossing the road we headed straight along a farm track to Morton Carr Farm.  TSB reports that Carr is a Norse word for a marshy piece of land, and these lowland meadows which are drained by numerous stells are certainly marshy.  We passed by Morton Carr Farm and turned right at its outbuildings and walked across fields towards Eastfield Farm.  As we approached yet another metal bridge over a stell Clive spotted some deer on the other side of the bridge.  I took my camera out but the deer were off.  Amazingly, before we could speak or move, two foxes ran over the bridge towards us.  It was a terrific sight and I suddenly remembered my camera and attempted to grab a shot - not very successfully!

Field Paths

Morton Carr Farm

Can you see the two foxes? 

The bridge the foxes ran across

We walked past Eastfield Farm, amused by a small cannon near the front door, and across more fields until we reached the Middlesbrough to Whitby line where our path, which ran under a stone bridge, was flooded.  I had better not say how we got to the other side but cross we did and carried on until we emerged near Newton Church and the village green.  A quick walk back along the road took us to our car.  We thought it was hard going today in the snow but a very enjoyable new walk.

Eastfields Farm, ready to repel intruders

Sheep at Eastfield Farm

We arrive at the same time as the 2.30 from Whitby!

Oh 'eck!

Crossing the stell outside Newton

St Oswald's Church, Newton