Old Byland to Nettledale and Scawton

8 miles                 Overcast and warm

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 Rievaulx village and parked our cars in the village, at the roadside close to the green.

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

TSB relates 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 Byland.   

We walked through the pretty village and saw the C12th Church of All Saints almost hidden from view behind houses in the north- west corner of the village. The church was unlocked so we went inside for a look around.

House in Old Byland

All Saints Church

The church dates to the 12th century and is very much as it would have been at that time.  On the porch walls are a pair of early Norman winged dragons.

Early Norman carvings

Looking towards the altar

Saxon Font

Early Norman head with rams horns

Looking towards the rear of the church

Leaving the church we walked through the village green which is dominated by huge sycamore trees, and just as we exited Old Byland we turned left through a gate into the woods of Low Gill.  The track here is very overgrown and slippery with a dangerous drop of 100' or so to the right.  We proceeded with a great deal of caution until we dropped down to Ashberry Pasture.

Old Byland green

Dominated by huge sycamores

Old Byland Hall

Entrance to Low Gill

Glad we didn't wear shorts

Steep drop to the right

We reach the safety of Ashberry Pasture

Ashberry Pasture is a wild-flower sanctuary maintained by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is a lovely unspoilt valley to walk through, almost 2 miles without a road or buildings.

Leaving Low Gill Wood behind we entered the grassy bottom of the pastures, which appeared to be unwalked.  We soon came upon the sad sight of a dead baby fawn and wondered at the circumstances as it appeared uninjured.  Possibly something had happened to its mother or perhaps it had become lost, we'll never know.

We wondered what had caused this tragedy

We walked through the lovely valley and eventually emerged onto the Rievaulx to Old Byland road just below Ashberry Hill and followed it to a junction next to picturesque Ashberry Farm.

Walking through Ashberry Pasture

Bluebells and garlic

Hoof fungus, usually found on Beech and Silver Birch

Leaving Ashberry Pastures

Ashberry Farm

Ashberry Farm pond

We turned right over the bridge at Ashberry Farm and followed  Scawton lane past Hagg Hall.  We left the lane at Bradley Bank to follow a woodland track that meanders through Nettle Dale.  Three large man-made lakes are to the right stretching along most of the track through Nettle Dale.

Bringing in the stragglers near Hagg Hall 

Looking over towards Nettledale

Hagg Hall

Turning off Bradley Bank into Nettledale

Walking through Nettledale..

.. and its lakes

Nettledale

Just past the third lake we reached a footbridge and Cleveland Way sign on our right. We turned left here and walked uphill into Spring Wood where a steady half mile climb took us to tarmac and the road into Scawton.

Nettledale

Climbing alongside Spring Wood

Old Inn Way sign

Follow the road...

... into Scawton

Pretty houses in Scawton

The bench on the village green makes a good coffee stop

After enjoying our coffee and scones we decided to look around St Mary's Church, which was almost opposite.  The church was unlocked and open to visitors.

St Mary's Church Scawton

'We loved her yes we loved her, But Jesus loved her more, He hath sweetly called her, To yonder happy home'  ( shore would definitely scan better..)

War memorial in church porch

Norman carving

For washing sacred vessels

Lavatorium, possibly brought from Rievaulx

Looking towards the altar

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.'

Leaving the church we returned to the village green and crossed the grass to an overgrown path behind the village telephone box.  The box isn't operational and is in poor repair. A couple of years ago, being curious to discover why the box has a wooden door we googled for further information and discovered it to be an early K6 model which always had a teak wood door.  It is a shame the village hasn't made arrangements for cleaning and painting the box.

Leave the village green next to the telephone kiosk

.. and enter sheep fields

It would appear that the next section of today's walk is not being used by other walkers and the fields show no sign of tracks.  There are waymarks on field boundaries and we aimed for these as we crossed several sheep fields.

We kept to the path by using the yellow way-marks posted on field boundaries until we descended back into Flassen Dale, which has been recently deforested.  On reaching the bottom we turned left onto a broad path then almost immediately climbed steeply up the other side of the dale.

Follow the waymarks on unwalked fields

Before dropping down into Flassen Dale

.. and climbing straight back up the other side

We now crossed more fields to reach the village of Cold Kirby where almost the first building one encounters is 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. It was unlocked, so we entered the building and found an unusual purple colour scheme.

Entering Cold Kirby via the Church of St Michael

The unusual purple interior

The purple paint scheme matches the windows

Cold Kirby

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.  As we walked into Nettle Dale we were impressed by the clubhouse for shooters that includes a bar and archery butts as well as stands for clay pigeon shooting.

Leaving Cold Kirby and looking over towards Old Byland in the distance

Passing Zwartbles Sheep, critically rare a few years ago, on the way to ..

Nettledale once more

Shooters' club house

Clay Pigeon Butts

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.  The path now runs straight across these field boundaries to Old Byland, first descending and crossing Low Gill's woods again.

The lakes of Nettledale

Over the bridge..

.. to climb through Calister Wood

Across field boundaries

This pheasant led us across the field

Someone watches us pass by..

All Saints Church on the horizon

Back into Low Gills Wood

This is a lovely walk but the paths in Low Gill are not maintained and are slippery with considerable drops and require care.  The paths  between Scawton and Cold Kirby are unwalked but yellow way marks are on the field bounderies.

There is no pub in Old Byland so we stopped at the Buck in Chop Gate for a post walk pint and debrief.

To Nettledale!