Distance Covered: 9 miles Time to complete walk: 4 hours
Suitable for dog walking: No
Total Steps: approx. 20,000
Safety Tips: Be extremely careful on the road crossings of the B6265 and keep to the grass verge facing the traffic. You may come across cattle on the return journey just before Whixley. Look for an alternative route if unsure.
This walk includes two very interesting detours to two beautiful churches at Allerton Mauleverer and Little Ouseburn. Flat farmland and roads with no inclines the walk goes through two pretty villages and cornfields and field paths. Start from the village of Whixley. Parking can be found on the roadside near the church in Whixley and is free.
The Whixley Walk
Getting There
Follow the A19 southbound from Middlesbrough to join the M1 southbound. Leave the motorway at junction 47 signposted to York which is the A59. Look for a left turn to Whixley. Go through to the village and head towards the church at the end of the village on Church Street. Park on the roadside.
Map of the Whixley walk
From the roadside head out of Whixley which is called West Lane until you come to a fork in the road.
Head out of the village on West Lane
Come to a fork in the road
Take the left fork which is a quiet country lane. Follow this for a while until it bends to the right towards a farm. Instead join a muddy track straight ahead with a cornfield to your right.
Follow the lane
Keep ahead onto a muddy track
Follow the track as it bends into thicker trees to the left and then emerges into a clearing
Follow the track to as it bends to the left
Emerge into a clearing
Follow the track to the right and then bending to the right again. Keep ahead on the track
Follow the track as it bends to the right
Keep straight ahead on the track
Soon the track approaches a farm road. Turn left and follow the road to Allerton Mauleverer passing through a farmyard
Turn left onto the farm road
Follow the farm road passing a farmyard
Soon the beautiful intriguing church comes into view at Allerton Mauleverer. The church is historic and has lots to see inside and is open to the public and well worth a visit
The church at Allerton Mauleverer
After your visit retrace your steps on the farm road and head straight ahead on a path near woodland at the junction.
Follow the path ahead near the woodland
Head into the trees and then follow the path along the edge of a field into an open gateway
Head into the trees
Follow the edge of the field to an open gateway
Turn right and follow the path around the field edge corner to a junction of tracks
Follow the edge of the field to the right
Arrive at a junction of paths
Go right and then immediately head left with a fence to your right
Follow the path with the fence to your right
Follow the path with the hedge to your left until you come to a gap to your left. Head to your left and then follow the path with the hedge to your right. Head on the path and down into some woodland and trees.
Head left to the other side of the hedge
Follow the path with the hedge now on your right
Head into the trees
Arrive at a junction with a tractor track heading to a farm to your right. Keep ahead and look for a path to your left with a clear waymark. Head down left to the middle of the field keeping the hedge to your right.
Keep ahead after the tractor track junction
Follow the direction of the waymark to the left
Soon you will come to a gap in the hedge. Follow the path to the right towards the farm road ahead which is Sleeper Field Lane
Follow the track to the right
Follow the farm road
Soon you will come to the very busy B6265. Taking great care, cross over the road and keeping on the grass verge make your way to the road into Little Ouseburn
Cross the B6265 carefully
Turn right into Little Ouseburn
Apples for sale
Cross the road to the right onto Back Lane
Follow Back Lane as it bends to the right passing some farm buildings. As the path bends sharply to the left onto a private road. Instead go through a metal gate stile ahead of you onto a rough field. Follow the clear field track to a stile in the corner.
Head through to metal gate
Follow the path through the field
Go through the stile
Turn left on the path heading to the left of a bridge to another beautiful church with a mausoleum which is the Holy Trinity Church. Again the church is very interesting and has a parish book to read and is great for a short pitstop.
Follow the pavement to the left
Holy Trinity Church
The Mausoleum
Parish book in the church
From the church, turn right and head back down the road, crossing over the road at the stile you went through. Head towards Lodge Gates. At the road junction opposite the gates look for a track heading to the left
Follow the track to the left
Follow the track and at a junction keep ahead with a hedges at both sides
Keep ahead on the track
Follow the track ahead
Cross the road again taking care and then shortly after turn right onto the farm road to Moor Farm. Before the farm take a footpath to the left at a bend. Follow the paths over a stile and gates heading towards the church graveyard at Whixley. Keep the field boundaries. Turn left out of the church back to your car.
Whixley is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is near the A1 road and 10 miles west of York. The ancient village of Whixley lies on Rudgate, the old Roman road along which the Roman “Hispania” Legion would have marched to nearby Isurium (Aldborough).
To the Normans it was Cucheslaga but by the 14th century it was called Quixley after the Lord of the Manor.
For many years Whixley was famous for cherries which were originally cultivated by the friars from the Priory of Knaresborough, and in later times were sold in London at Covent Garden. A great day of celebration was the annual Whixley Cherry Feast held on the first Sunday in August, The word Feast meant “festival” rather than the scoffing of huge amounts of the fruit.
Many of the houses in Whixley are a reminder of these times with Cherry House, Cherry Cottage, Cherry Tree Farm and many others.
In the 17th century the Tancred family replaced the Quixleys and became Lords of the Manor, living at Whixley Hall. The last of the line was Christopher Tancred whose portrait hangs in Christ’s College, Cambridge. A stone plaque on the Park Wall commemorates Christopher first having a paling fence around the Park in 1710 and the Park wall being finished in 1744, the Park to be forever stocked with 40 deer. Christopher was quite a character and there are many stories about him. His sarcophagus can be seen in the Church of the Ascension.
The Tancred estate was bought by the West Riding County Council in 1920 and, amid much controversy, four good farms were split up into 50 acre smallholdings to provide a living for men returning from military service in the First World War. The living of the four evicted farmers does not seem to have been given much consideration.
Today, under North Yorkshire County Council, most of these small farm houses have been sold and the land is being absorbed into larger land-ownerships, as it was 100 years ago.
In 1905 a hospital was opened on the hill-top south of Whixley. It was known as the Inebriates Reformatory but it seems to have rapidly become a dumping ground for orphans, waifs and strays for whom society could find no other place and eventually it became a mental hospital. Apart from being displaced, many of the “patients” had little wrong with them and were allowed out to help on farms at harvest time. They were known locally as the “Nibs”, short for Inebriates. Many of them lie in unmarked and forgotten graves in the churchyard. The hospital closed in 1993 and the site now forms the attractive residential development of Whixley Gate.
The Church of the Ascension has looked over Whixley for over 1,000 years. Recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, the Church was burned and destroyed by marauding “Reivers” from the Scottish borders in the 13th & 14th centuries. The present church was rebuilt in the 14th century. Only the font and one window remain of the earlier Norman church building.
Allerton Mauleverer
Allerton Mauleverer is a village in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Allerton Mauleverer with Hopperton parish. The parish is in the district of Harrogate, and lies just 5 miles east of the town Knaresborough. From 1947 to 1998, Allerton Mauleverer was part of the Claro Registration District, until it was abolished. The A1(M) runs through the area connecting London and Edinburgh.
In the 1870s, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Allerton Mauleverer as
Allerton obtained its distinguishing name from the family of Mauleverer, one of whom, named Richard. Although the family claimed to have come over with William the Conqueror, this is now believed to be based on a forged family tree of 1591. In the 1840s, Allerton Mauleverer was described as "The parish is wholly the property of Lord Stourton; and comprises 2170 acres, of which 1180 are arable, 820 meadow and pasture, and 170 woodland and plantations."
In 1086, King William was the lord of Allerton Mauleverer. At this period of time, the value to the Lord was £0.5 with a taxable value of 1.5 geld units, where in the same year the "Tenant-in-chief was also King William. In about 1105, Richard Mauleverer granted the church and some lands at Allerton to Holy Trinity Church of York.
During the Second World War, Allerton Castle, then home to Lord Mowbray, became the Headquarters of the Sixth Group of RAF Bomber Command which was the Royal Canadian Air Force component of the command.
Little Ouseburn
Little Ouseburn is a small village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated near the A1 road motorway and 6 miles south-east of Boroughbridge. It consists of two roads, Main Street which is the residential area, and Church Lane which contains a Holy Trinity Church that is a grade I listed building. It also has a small brick bridge over a stream which leads to a new road which leads to Great Ouseburn. According to the 2011 census data the total population of Little Ouseburn is 264.
In the 1870s Little Ouseburn was described as:
The path turns right and then bends to the left
Turn right as the track bends
Follow the track as it bends to the left
Follow the track as it heads back onto the B6265 by keeping to the right of the farm fields. Head towards a gate
Head towards the road
Go through the gate onto the road
Cross the road again taking care and then shortly after turn right onto the farm road to Moor Farm. Before the farm take a footpath to the left at a bend. Follow the paths over a stile and gates heading towards the church graveyard at Whixley. Keep the field boundaries. Turn left out of the church back to your car.
Go through stile keeping to the field boundaries
Gate into the church graveyard
Path at church
Whixley
To the Normans it was Cucheslaga but by the 14th century it was called Quixley after the Lord of the Manor.
For many years Whixley was famous for cherries which were originally cultivated by the friars from the Priory of Knaresborough, and in later times were sold in London at Covent Garden. A great day of celebration was the annual Whixley Cherry Feast held on the first Sunday in August, The word Feast meant “festival” rather than the scoffing of huge amounts of the fruit.
Many of the houses in Whixley are a reminder of these times with Cherry House, Cherry Cottage, Cherry Tree Farm and many others.
In the 17th century the Tancred family replaced the Quixleys and became Lords of the Manor, living at Whixley Hall. The last of the line was Christopher Tancred whose portrait hangs in Christ’s College, Cambridge. A stone plaque on the Park Wall commemorates Christopher first having a paling fence around the Park in 1710 and the Park wall being finished in 1744, the Park to be forever stocked with 40 deer. Christopher was quite a character and there are many stories about him. His sarcophagus can be seen in the Church of the Ascension.
The Tancred estate was bought by the West Riding County Council in 1920 and, amid much controversy, four good farms were split up into 50 acre smallholdings to provide a living for men returning from military service in the First World War. The living of the four evicted farmers does not seem to have been given much consideration.
Today, under North Yorkshire County Council, most of these small farm houses have been sold and the land is being absorbed into larger land-ownerships, as it was 100 years ago.
In 1905 a hospital was opened on the hill-top south of Whixley. It was known as the Inebriates Reformatory but it seems to have rapidly become a dumping ground for orphans, waifs and strays for whom society could find no other place and eventually it became a mental hospital. Apart from being displaced, many of the “patients” had little wrong with them and were allowed out to help on farms at harvest time. They were known locally as the “Nibs”, short for Inebriates. Many of them lie in unmarked and forgotten graves in the churchyard. The hospital closed in 1993 and the site now forms the attractive residential development of Whixley Gate.
The Church of the Ascension has looked over Whixley for over 1,000 years. Recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, the Church was burned and destroyed by marauding “Reivers” from the Scottish borders in the 13th & 14th centuries. The present church was rebuilt in the 14th century. Only the font and one window remain of the earlier Norman church building.
Allerton Mauleverer
Allerton Mauleverer is a village in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Allerton Mauleverer with Hopperton parish. The parish is in the district of Harrogate, and lies just 5 miles east of the town Knaresborough. From 1947 to 1998, Allerton Mauleverer was part of the Claro Registration District, until it was abolished. The A1(M) runs through the area connecting London and Edinburgh.
In the 1870s, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Allerton Mauleverer as
- "a township and a parish in Knaresborough district, W. R. Yorkshire. The township includes Hopperton; and lies on an affluent of the Nidd, at the Allerton r. station, 4½ miles ENE of Knaresborough."
Allerton obtained its distinguishing name from the family of Mauleverer, one of whom, named Richard. Although the family claimed to have come over with William the Conqueror, this is now believed to be based on a forged family tree of 1591. In the 1840s, Allerton Mauleverer was described as "The parish is wholly the property of Lord Stourton; and comprises 2170 acres, of which 1180 are arable, 820 meadow and pasture, and 170 woodland and plantations."
In 1086, King William was the lord of Allerton Mauleverer. At this period of time, the value to the Lord was £0.5 with a taxable value of 1.5 geld units, where in the same year the "Tenant-in-chief was also King William. In about 1105, Richard Mauleverer granted the church and some lands at Allerton to Holy Trinity Church of York.
During the Second World War, Allerton Castle, then home to Lord Mowbray, became the Headquarters of the Sixth Group of RAF Bomber Command which was the Royal Canadian Air Force component of the command.
Little Ouseburn
Little Ouseburn is a small village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated near the A1 road motorway and 6 miles south-east of Boroughbridge. It consists of two roads, Main Street which is the residential area, and Church Lane which contains a Holy Trinity Church that is a grade I listed building. It also has a small brick bridge over a stream which leads to a new road which leads to Great Ouseburn. According to the 2011 census data the total population of Little Ouseburn is 264.
In the 1870s Little Ouseburn was described as:
- OUSEBURN (Little), a village, a township, and a parish in Great Ouseburn district, W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands ¾ of a mile S of Great Ouseburn village, and 3¼ N by W of Cattal r. station; and has a post-office under York.
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