Grosmont Rail Trail ~ Easy Walk

Distance Covered: 4 miles   Time to complete walk: 2 hours

Safety Tips: A very safe walk with no issues

Follow the Grosmont to Goathland Rail Trail on this walk - the walk is suitable for wheelchair access. A real treat for railway enthusiasts, however a sighting of the legendary locomotive The Flying Scotsman is not guaranteed!

 

The Grosmont Rail Trail walk

 

Getting There

 

From Middlesbrough go up Ormesby Bank and take the left turning at the roundabout at the top of the bank. Follow the signs to Whitby on the A171 and then look for a right turning to Grosmont. This passes through Egton and look for a left turning to Grosmont. Parking can be found to the left after you cross the narrow bridge into Grosmont.

 

 

 

Map of the Grosmont Rail Trail walk

 

 

The Walk

 

The walk is a point  to point walk with a small incline at the beginning and is suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs. From the parking area follow the path up and you will soon come to Grosmont railway station. From March throughout the summer steam trains run from Grosmont station to Pickering and it is well worth the fare for the experience. Also when you complete the Rail Trail and arrive at Goathland station, you can get the steam train back to Grosmont.

 

To the right of the station look for the signpost to the railway sheds. Follow this and make a detour to explore the railway sheds and see which locomotives are on the days roster.

 

                                   

 

                                               

 

                                                

 

After visiting the railway sheds look for the sign to the Rail Trail which is above the rail sheds.

 

                                     

 

Follow the track which has a small incline at the beginning and is adjacent to the railway. If youre lucky a train may be passing while you walk. Grab your camera!

 

                                    

 

When you come to a left turning on your path stay straight ahead on the Rail Trail.

 

                                             

 

Keep ahead on the Rail Trail going through several stiles and gates. 

 

 

                                            

 

Eventually you will come to a bridge over the River Esk. Cross the bridge and continue on the rail trail.

 

                                              

 

                                     

 

 

Keep following the sigmposts for Goathland passing through the village of Beck Hole. Once at Goathland look for the train times for the return journey by steam train!.

 

                                     

 

Grosmont

 

Grosmont (GRO-mont; archaically spelt Growmond) is a village and civil parish situated in Eskdale in the North York Moors National Park, within the boundaries of the Scarborough district of the county of North Yorkshire, England.
Grosmont Priory was established in the 12th century and closed during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. The village was established in the 1830s when the Whitby to Pickering Railway was built, and grew as a result of industrial iron ore extraction, and in the 1860s the development of an ironworks led to further growth. Up to at least the 1850s the village was known as Tunnel.
The River Esk at Grosmont, west of the priory was the crossing place of the ancient structure known as Wade's Causeway.
A priory was established in the early 13th century, but no major settlements existed until the industrial revolution (1830s) when the arrival of railways and demand for iron led to the creation of a new village "Tunnel" later named Grosmont, and to the establishment of an iron works.
Before the industrial period there is evidence of iron ore extraction and iron working in the parish: a 15th/16th century ironworking site has been identified on the banks of the Esk close to the priory; and a late or post-medieval iron forge existed in Smithy Holme Wood less than 0.3 miles (0.5 km) south-east of the present village; and a post-medieval pit for ironstone extraction was located less than 1 km east of the village; alum extraction and refining is known to have taken place near to the site of St. Matthews church.
Grosmont is home to the NYMR's engine shed. A number of structures in and near the village are listed, including: the three arch sandstone road bridge over the Esk, dating from around 1700; the early 19th century 'Eskdale Villa' on the eastern outskirts of the village; and in the village the 19th century 'Rose Cottage'.
Several railway related buildings and structures are listed, including the 'Station Tavern' public house and outbuildings (originally "The Tunnel Inn"); the Post Office (c. 1835); and the former horse tramway tunnel, now a pedestrian route; all built for the Whitby and Pickering Railway in the 1830s. Also listed are the Murk Esk railway bridge (1845); 1845 railway tunnel, and the G.T. Andrews designed Grosmont Railway station (1846), all built for the York and North Midland Railway.