Distance Covered: 5.5 miles Time to complete walk: 3 hours
Safety Tips: Take a walking stick as the route can get very muddy.
Bulls may be in the field you are walking in- there are signs to make you aware. The way back is on a minor road which doesn't get busy, but be aware of traffic.
Starting at the village of Boltby beside a stream and then a detour to Gormire Lake, this walk then returns to Boltby via a quiet country road.
The Boltby Walk
Getting There
From Middlesbrough join the A19 southbound and look for a left turn off before Thirsk which is Moor Road then shortly after turn right and follow the narrow road. Turn left onto Whinmoor Hill Lane and then right onto Knowle Lane then left onto Wandhill Lane then left into Boltby. Parking is on the roadside and free.
Map of the Boltby Walk
The Walk
Look for a small humpback bridge in the village- this is the start of the walk.
Humpback Bridge
Start the walk to the right of the bridge by following the track to the first gate.
Head towards the gate
Walk beside the stream for a while through three more gates and over a footbridge.
Follow the stream
Go over the footbridge
Go over a stile and then over a gated footbridge.
Go over gated footbridge
Head over another stile and through a gate.
Although now without a public house, it had four during the building of a reservoir and water supply to Thirsk. The last of these, The Johnstone Arms, is now a farm and riding stables. Fewer than five new houses have been built in the village in the 20th century, giving a total of 43 in 2005.
One oddity of the village is a deed giving free water 'in perpetuity' to the buildings in the area. This dates from the late 19th century when the new reservoir was built and water piped through the land of Ravensthorp manor.
The eastern part of the village was badly affected by the flooding in 2005 when the Gurtof Beck overflowed and damaged or destroyed several buildings. The local reports were of water levels between 2-3m deep.
According to the 1881 UK Census, the population was 317. The 2001 UK Census recorded the population as 149, of which 124 were over the age of sixteen with 81 in employment. There are 70 dwellings of which 52 are detached.The population at the 2011 Census had reduced slightly to 143.
The low level geology of the area is of Devensian clay on beds of lower Jurassic lias.
The village lies 1.4 miles (2.3 km) west of the Cleveland Way National Trails. It is also 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south-east of Boltby Reservoir, which was built in 1882. The reservoir is 14.1 metres (46 ft) deep and covers an area of 3.1 hectares (7.7 acres) from a catchment are of 3.41 square kilometres (1.32 sq mi)
The village is located 1.3 miles (2.1 km) south-east of Kirby Knowle; 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north-east of Felixkirk; 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of Thirlby and 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west of Cold Kirby which are the nearest settlements.
There is one church in the village, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The modern building was rebuilt around 1856 on the site of the earlier churches, re-built around 1409 and 1802 respectively. Parish registers date from around 1600.
Gormire Lake is a natural lowland lake that lies at the foot of Whitestone Cliff, a western escapment of the Hambleton Hills in the North York Moors National Park. The lake is 1.2 miles (2 km) east of the village of Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe in North Yorkshire, England. Gormire has no inflow or major outflow of water. It is thought to be fed by an underground spring and drained by a limestone channel so the water finds a way out through the base of the cliff face to the east of the lake. The lake is also known as the White Mere,Lake Gormire, or more simply, Gormire. The name Gormire translates as filthy swamp.
The lake was formed over 20,000 years ago by glacial erosion. When an ice sheet pushed its way between the Pennines and the North York Moors, it bulldozed the soft earth away and carved the cliffs at Whitestone and in turn the mud leftover stopped the water's egress and formed the glacial lake.Gormire Lake was a result of this process and is fourth largest of the natural lakes in Yorkshire (the other three being Hornsea Mere, Malham Tarn and Semerwater).The lake was first designated as an SSSI in 1954; however, in 1985 the area surrounding the lake was incorporated into the SSSI status with the new area being 133.5 acres (54.03 ha). The new designation incorporates the broadleaf woodlands of Garbutt Wood which encroach right up to the water's edge.
The lake is the setting of several myths; one being of a knight known as Sir Harry Scriven who conned the Abbot of Rievaulx Abbey into letting him ride his horse (a white mare, the so called derivation of White Mare Cliff (another name for Whitestonecliff)). The knight and the abbot rode on from an inn and as they did so, it turned into a race. The abbot then changed into the devil, which caused such panic in the knight that he couldn't stop the horse and himself plunging into Gormire Lake from the clifftop. The 'devil' was then seen to jump into the lake after them and the boiling effect of the devil in the water is what is said to have caused the darkness of the lake to this day.
Other myths are that the lake is bottomless, that the bottom of the lake is the entrance to hell, there is submerged village underneath the water and that a goose once disappeared in the lake to emerge in a well at Kirkbymoorside stripped of all its feathers.
Gormire Lake is popular with wild swimmers as it has no streams feeding it so there is very little current and the waters are described as being 'warm'. Swimmers have reported that it is seething with leeches.
Go over the stile
Go through the gate
Go over the other side of the stream where the stream passes through a pipe tunnel.
Cross over to the other side of the stream
Keep following the waymarks through gates and a double gated stile.
Follow the waymarks
Go through the double gate and stile
Head on towards Tang Hall and turn left onto the farm track. Instead following the farm track over the cattle grid turn right and go through the gate with the waymark on it.
Turn left onto the farm track
Head through the waymarked gate
Head diagonally in the field and through another gate in the direction of the waymarks. Go through the gate and keep to the right of the fence ahead.
Keep to the right of the wire fence
Turn left at another gate and follow the path on the field down
Turn left through the gate
Follow the path on the field down
Look for a waymark and follow this keeping to the right of the hedge.
Keep to the right of the hedge
Keep in the direction of the waymark heading to the path ahead
Head towards a path ahead
Head through the gate and near the gate to Southwoods Hall.
Gate to Southwoods Hall
Continue ahead to another gate and go through this through a wooded area until you come to another gate.
Follow the track through a gate
Go through another gate
For the detour to Gormire Lake turn left and follow the forest track to the lake by taking the lower track to the right.
Head to the left and onto the forest track
Gormire Lake
After stopping at the lake, return back to the gate you turned left on and keep on it ahead to Southwoods Lodge.
Keep on the country road and before you enter the village of Thirlby look for a right turning signed to Felixkirk. Keep on the road and at a junction turn right to Boltby. Keep to the left shortly afterwards and keep on the road for a while until you come to a junction. Turn right which will take you into Boltby.
Boltby
Boltby is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It is on the edge of the North York Moors National Park at 140 m, and about six miles north-east of Thirsk. According to the 2011 census, it had a population of 143.
Boltby is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Boltebi in the Yalestre hundred. After the Norman invasion, the land was owned by Hugh, son of Baldric. He granted Lordship of the local manor to Gerald of Boltby. Previously the Lord of the manor was Sumarlithi, son of Karli.Although now without a public house, it had four during the building of a reservoir and water supply to Thirsk. The last of these, The Johnstone Arms, is now a farm and riding stables. Fewer than five new houses have been built in the village in the 20th century, giving a total of 43 in 2005.
One oddity of the village is a deed giving free water 'in perpetuity' to the buildings in the area. This dates from the late 19th century when the new reservoir was built and water piped through the land of Ravensthorp manor.
The eastern part of the village was badly affected by the flooding in 2005 when the Gurtof Beck overflowed and damaged or destroyed several buildings. The local reports were of water levels between 2-3m deep.
According to the 1881 UK Census, the population was 317. The 2001 UK Census recorded the population as 149, of which 124 were over the age of sixteen with 81 in employment. There are 70 dwellings of which 52 are detached.The population at the 2011 Census had reduced slightly to 143.
The low level geology of the area is of Devensian clay on beds of lower Jurassic lias.
The village lies 1.4 miles (2.3 km) west of the Cleveland Way National Trails. It is also 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south-east of Boltby Reservoir, which was built in 1882. The reservoir is 14.1 metres (46 ft) deep and covers an area of 3.1 hectares (7.7 acres) from a catchment are of 3.41 square kilometres (1.32 sq mi)
The village is located 1.3 miles (2.1 km) south-east of Kirby Knowle; 1.8 miles (2.9 km) north-east of Felixkirk; 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of Thirlby and 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west of Cold Kirby which are the nearest settlements.
There is one church in the village, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The modern building was rebuilt around 1856 on the site of the earlier churches, re-built around 1409 and 1802 respectively. Parish registers date from around 1600.
Gormire Lake
The lake was formed over 20,000 years ago by glacial erosion. When an ice sheet pushed its way between the Pennines and the North York Moors, it bulldozed the soft earth away and carved the cliffs at Whitestone and in turn the mud leftover stopped the water's egress and formed the glacial lake.Gormire Lake was a result of this process and is fourth largest of the natural lakes in Yorkshire (the other three being Hornsea Mere, Malham Tarn and Semerwater).The lake was first designated as an SSSI in 1954; however, in 1985 the area surrounding the lake was incorporated into the SSSI status with the new area being 133.5 acres (54.03 ha). The new designation incorporates the broadleaf woodlands of Garbutt Wood which encroach right up to the water's edge.
The lake is the setting of several myths; one being of a knight known as Sir Harry Scriven who conned the Abbot of Rievaulx Abbey into letting him ride his horse (a white mare, the so called derivation of White Mare Cliff (another name for Whitestonecliff)). The knight and the abbot rode on from an inn and as they did so, it turned into a race. The abbot then changed into the devil, which caused such panic in the knight that he couldn't stop the horse and himself plunging into Gormire Lake from the clifftop. The 'devil' was then seen to jump into the lake after them and the boiling effect of the devil in the water is what is said to have caused the darkness of the lake to this day.
Other myths are that the lake is bottomless, that the bottom of the lake is the entrance to hell, there is submerged village underneath the water and that a goose once disappeared in the lake to emerge in a well at Kirkbymoorside stripped of all its feathers.
Gormire Lake is popular with wild swimmers as it has no streams feeding it so there is very little current and the waters are described as being 'warm'. Swimmers have reported that it is seething with leeches.
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