Ainthorpe to Danby Castle ~ Medium Walk

Distance Covered: 3.5 miles   Time to complete walk: 1h 45m

Safety Tips: Use your GPS if you feel you are off the path of the walk

This walk includes open moorland walking and fine views of the moors and passes the remains of Danby Castle and includes a detour to the Moors Centre in Danby - it roughly takes about two hours and is just over 3 miles long.

Getting There

From Middlesbrough go up Ormesby Bank and take the left turning at the roundabout onto Middlesbrough Road. Follow this road to Whitby on the A171 until you see the signposted right turning to Danby. Go through Danby either park in Danby or in Ainthorpe which is just past the Esk Valley railway line.

                           
                                                  Remains of Danby Castle

The Walk

 

Ainthorpe to Danby Castle walk route

After parking either in Ainthorpe or Danby take the road to the left signposted as Ainthorpe and climb to the top of this steep road.

 

Road signposted as Ainthorpe

 

 

Walkng up this road you soon come to the Fox and Hounds pub - stop for a pint before re-commencing your walk...

 

 

Fox and Hounds Inn

 

Follow the road uphill passing a tennis court. At the second signposted public footpath turn right and the walk joins the moor. Follow the moorland path over a stile until you come to a wooden makeshift bridge.

 

Makeshift bridge

 

Cross over the bridge onto the narrower moorland path which will take you to the crest of the moor. When you reach the crest there are some stunning views.

 

 

The path now makes its way steeply down onto the road below with a cattle grid to its left. Turn left and follow this road until you come to the remains of Danby castle. The castle is used for functions such as weddings now.

 

                                                   Remains of Danby castle

Passing the castle you will come to a road junction.

 

Junction in road

Turn right at the road junction and walk down to the river. You will then come across Duck Bridge which you can then cross if you wish to take a detour to the Moors Centre for refreshments.

 

Duck Bridge

 

If you want to take the detour to the Moors Centre cross the bridge and take the first left turning until you come to the Moors Centre, which has a café, open space events and activities and an interactive museum and gift shop.

 

 

The Moors Centre

 

If you don't wish to take the detour or after you have visited the Moors Centre take the left turn just after Duck Bridge before you crossed it and this road will take you back into Ainthorpe.

 

Danby Castle

 

Danby Castle was built to replace an earlier castle at Castleton. It is a quadrangular castle - essentially a rectangular building with a central courtyard and towers at each corner. This type of castle was quite common in the north of England at the end of the fourteenth century, and Danby Castle is normally dated to that period, or to the early years of the fifteenth century.

This fits well with a change of ownership at Castleton. For most of the fourteenth century it was owned by the Latimer family. However, in 1381 the last Latimer died without a male child. He did have a daughter, Elizabeth, who had married John Neville of Raby. They inherited the castle in 1381. Neville died seven years later, leaving Elizabeth in control of the estates until her death in 1396. The estate was then inherited by her son, another John. In 1396 he was only seventeen, so had to wait until he came of age in 1400 to gain control of his estates. John Neville was not his fathers oldest son - that honour went to Ralph Neville, some thirty years old than John, and Earl of Westmorland since 1397. To mark the establishment of his own family, John soon took the title of Lord Latimer. He was probably the builder of Danby Castle, although it is also possible that his father built it to provide a home for his new child, or that Elizabeth built it after the death of her husband, to provide herself with a more comfortable home than that provided by the older building at Castleton.
The most famous inhabitant of Danby Castle was Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's final wife, who survived him by one year. John Neville, third Baron Latimer (1493-1543) was her second husband. They married in 1534, two years before the Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion against Henry triggered by his attacks on the Catholic church. This rebellion caused Catherine and her family great problems. Late in 1536 the rebels seized John Neville at his main home of Snape Castle (south of Bedale) and forced him to join them (although Snape was their main residence, Dandy was an important estate centre, and would still have been used by the family). He was not an enthusiastic rebel. The rebels were soon convinced that he was about to betray them to the king, and returned to Snape, where they took Catherine and Neville's two children by an earlier marriage hostage. Neville was able to use his influence with the rebels to get his family released, but by now Henry was convinced that he was a traitor. Ironically, it was Catherine's family's influence with the king that saved Neville, just as his influence with the rebels had saved Catherine! Unsurprisingly, after this experience the family moved south, and Catherine rarely returned to the north. Neville died on 2 March 1543. Four months later, on 12 July, Catherine married Henry VIII.
Although the castle is ruined, quite a bit of it still survives. Three of the four towers still exist in some form - the two northern towers as ruins, the south-eastern as part of the modern farmhouse. The south wing also survives intact and contains the Court and Jury rooms for the Court Leet. This is a rare example of a manor court still in operation. Every October the court meets to administer the common rights on the Danby Estate.