Walking in Yorkshire and Cumbria – News and information

Flamborough Head Tower

The famous chalk tower at Flamborough Head was built in 1674 as a lighthouse by Sir John Clayton and partner George Blake who were granted additional patents from Charles II to build lighthouses at Farne Islands, Cromer, Lowestoft and Portland Bill.

Constructed of brilliant white chalk, the tower was a visible beacon from afar, both at sea and on land. It was as a signalling point that the tower was particularly useful.

Freebrough Hill

Standing prominently above the surrounding countryside, Freebrough Hill is an enigmatic landmark visible from the A171 Guisborough to Whitby route. It lies on the south side of the road between Lockwood Beck Reservoir and Scaling Reservoir.

There has been much speculation in the past as to how this hill came to possess its distinctive rounded profile. John Walker Ord, in his book The History and Antiquities of Cleveland, published in 1846, says the hill was thought to be a great burial mound for no less than the legendary King Arthur and his Knights, the idea originating from poet J.H. Stephenson’s verse:

Freebro’s huge mount, immortal Arthur’s tomb

Warren Moor Mine

Warren Moor Mine is located in Leven Vale, about 1½ miles south-east of Kildale in the North York Moors.

It features England’s only fully intact Victorian ironstone mine chimney. A relic of a speculative enterprise that came to nothing.

Lowna Burial Ground

This historic site in the Farndale area of the North York Moors is a burial ground of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers.

It was established in 1675 when the Quakers were being fiercely persecuted.

Grosmont Railway Tunnels

The North York Moors village of Grosmont lies on the Whitby to Pickering railway line, which was built by George Stephenson and opened over its full length on 26 May 1836. There are two adjacent railway tunnels to the south of the village, and the current line passes through the large one.

The earlier small tunnel is now used as a pedestrian route through to the North York Moors Railway engine sheds. Built between 1833 and 1835, it is a Grade 2 listed building, 130 yards long, 14 feet high and 10 feet wide. It was one of the world’s first passenger railway tunnels and carriages containing up to 10 people would have been pulled by horses.

Pillars Past

The sculpture ‘Pillars Past’ is just a couple of minutes walk from Pateley Bridge town centre. It can be found by following the Six Dales Trail towards Glasshouses alongside the River Nidd. Commissioned by Sustrans, it forms part of the public art trail ‘Passing Places’ which mirrors the long distance Way Of The Roses Cycle Route.

This coast-to-coast route between Morecambe and Bridlington passes through some of the most beautiful landscape in the north of England, and ‘Passing Places’ was developed as a public art project with the aim of adding a cultural and historic experience to enrich the travellers’ journey. Pateley Bridge, sited half way along the route, was selected as the location for one of the pieces of public art.

Easby Abbey

Easby Abbey was known in the Middle Ages as the Abbey of St Agatha by Richmond. It was founded in 1151-2 by Roald, constable of nearby Richmond Castle.

Easby was a house of Premonstratensian canons, the third house of this order to be founded in England. They were an order of regular canons, meaning communities of ordained priests living together, rather than monks – who take vows but are not ordained.

Freewill House

This building is one of the earliest Nonconformist chapels in the North Pennines and was an important meeting place for dales people during the 18th and 19th centuries. It is situated in Briscoe, Baldersdale, about three-quarters of a mile east of the Hury Reservoir dam.

The property originally had a roof thatched in heather from the local moorland. It was accessed by the congregation at first floor level where a porch led into two larger rooms in the now derelict section. One was used for meetings and the other as a supper room.

Ravenscar Radar Station

The group of buildings that make up this radar station can be found in a field on the Yorkshire Coast about one mile south-east of Ravenscar. Access to the site is by way of the Cinder Track dismantled railway line, or the Cleveland Way cliff-top footpath.

During World War II radio waves pulsing from this site helped detect invading German ships and aircraft. The station was built in late 1940 and was one of a chain, known as Coastal Defence Chain Home Low, built around Britain’s coast. It enabled operators to see enemy craft approaching that were otherwise invisible to the naked eye.

Radar was invented by the British just before the war started and played a vital role in defending the country. Radar meant the British could find and attack intruders before they were attacked themselves and prevented the loss of many pilots and aircraft because attacks could be pinpointed more accurately. Earlier stations were crucial during the 1940 Battle of Britain and helped the RAF defeat the much larger German Luftwaffe.

Smardale Gill

Smardale Gill is a beautiful valley in the Yorkshire Dales just a couple of miles north of Ravenstonedale and contains Smardale Gill National Nature Reserve. One of the joys of the reserve is its easy access. A wide path, of very little gradient, allows visitors to experience a range of truly glorious, unspoilt habitats, from ancient woodland to flower-rich limestone grassland. This landscape also holds interesting archaeology, from the Romano-British times through to the railway heyday. A visit to the nature reserve transports you to a truly remote area of landscape all easily accessible along its 3½ mile length.

The woodlands are ancient and semi-natural, meaning that there has been a constant covering of trees in the area since at least 1600. Within them there is a large amount of dead wood, providing important habitat for a vast number of insects and woodland birds. The limestone grasslands of the nature reserve are internationally important. Between May and September, they burst into a glorious display of colour as the plants, which are much more abundant than the grasses, come into flower. These include melancholy thistle, knapweed, wood cranesbill, great burnet, northern marsh butterfly, fragrant and common spotted orchid, common rock rose, wild thyme, bird’s-foot trefoil, salad burnet, limestone bedstraw, devil’s-bit scabious, bloody cranesbill and fell wort.