Thirsk ~ Easy Walk

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Distance: 2.5 miles   Time to complete walk: 1.5 hours

Safety Tips: A very safe walk - no issues

A gentle ramble around the market town of Thirsk. Ideal for a pub walk or even a dog walk as long as they are on a lead.
A walk with no climbing and a great walk to introduce yourself to walking.
There is plenty to do in Thirsk and anyone who has watched or read the books by James Herriott will enjoy a visit to the James Herriott museum in Thirsk.

 

The Thirsk Walk

 

 

Getting There

 

 

From Middlesbrough follow the A19 south until you come to the Thirsk turn-off. Follow the road into Thirsk and then as you come out of Thirsk take a sharp left turn into Sowerby. Parking is on the street between the two churches in Sowerby and there are plenty of parking spaces.

 

 

 

 

Map of the Thirsk walk

 



 

The Walk

From Sowerby follow the road down away from Thirsk until you come to the Methodist Church on your left. Look for a street named Blakey Lane to the left and follow this road over the bridge.

 

Methodist Church in Sowerby

 

 

Turn left into Blakey Lane

 



After you cross the bridge, turn left on a public footpath and then follow the path beside a stream through two kissing gates and to a footbridge.

 

 

 

Go through kissing gates

 

Instead of going over the footbridge, continue on the path ahead to the right to a stile and then follow the path going past a development of flats until you come to a main road.

 

 

Go past the flats

 

Cross the main road and immediately follow the path to the left which goes under the bridge and curves to the right and follows the river bank.

 

 

Follow the path along the river bank

 

Follow the path with the green to your right. Shortly you will come to another green to your right, Cross the road and head towards the left away from the road and to the edge of the housing. Follow a path to a metal bridge.

 

Cross the road

 

 

Follow path to a metal bridge

 

Go over the bridge and follow the path with white railings. to a green near a church.

 

 

 

Cross the road to visit the church. 

 

Double back from the church and follow the road signposted as the Marage Road.

  



 

Double back on Marage Road

 



Go past a coach car park. Bear right following signs to the town centre and as the lane bends to the right go down an alley on the right.

 

 

Go down the alley

 

Look for a right turning which goes past a seating area of a café/restaurant. Passing through an entrance to the yard area and then enter the town centre with the clock facing you.

 

 

 

Thirsk town centre

 



Cross the road and head for the pub The Golden Fleece and a few shops down near the Timpsons shop to the left of The Golden Fleece go into an alley between the shops signed as Roses Yard.

 

 

 

The Golden Fleece

 

Roses Yard

 

 



Cross a lane and go down Villa Place. Bear left and and turn right to follow a bend to the back of the swimming pool. Cross the field following the path parallel with the beck. You will soon arrive at the footbridge you passed towards the beginning of the walk. Turn right and follow the path away from the footbridge and back to the road you parked on in Sowerby. I would highly recommend a visit to the James Herriot museum in Thirsk as part of your visit. 

 

 

Go past the swimming pool

 

Follow path back to the footbridge

 

 

 

James Herriot Museum

 

Inside the museum

 

 

Thirsk

 

Thirsk is a small market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is 8 miles (13 km) south-south east of the county town of Northallerton
According to the 2011 UK Census, the population was 4,998. Thirsk is a popular tourist destination close to the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It has a variety of small and medium-sized businesses. It was the home of author James Herriot and birthplace of Thomas Lord, after whom Lord's Cricket Ground is named. Thirsk racecourse is on the western edge of the town.
Local archeological finds indicate there was a settlement here around 500–600 BC.The town is mentioned twice in the Domesday Book as Tresche, in the Yarlestre hundred. At the time of the Norman invasion the manor was split between Orm and Thor, local Saxon landowners. Afterwards the manor was split between Hugh, son of Baldric and the Crown. Most of the land was granted thereafter to Robert de Mowbray, after whom the surrounding vale is named.
By 1145, what is now Old Thirsk was known as a borough, whilst the remaining land in the parish was subject to manorial rights. The manor continued to be in the possession of the Mowbrays, despite several claims, until the death of the 16th Lord Mowbray in 1476. With no direct succession, it passed to the daughter of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, who had married into the Berkeley family. Her son, William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley, then inherited the manor on her death. It remained with this family until 1723 when it was sold to Ralph Bell of Sowerby. It remained in the Bell family into the 20th century.
The name is derived from the Viking (Old Norse) word þresk meaning fen or lake

 

Bolton Abbey ~ Hard Walk

Distance: 7 miles   Time to complete walk: 3 hours

Safety Tips: Steep walking sections at the beginning and toward the end. Take a full day to do this walk and in the summer. Follow the waymarked stones and if you lose your bearings use your GPS signal. Be especially careful on the path back after you descend Hare Hill. The path can be marshy and ensure you test the ground ahead with your walking stick.

A perfect summers walk which has so many brilliant elements to it a whole day could be devoted to it. Bolton Abbey is the destination and the start of the walk. Its ruins lie next to the River Wharfe, perfect for picnics and riverside walks. Challenging due to its steep parts and length, the walk includes a wooded area, amazing views at the top of a hill, riverside walking and ends at the historic Bolton Abbey and Priory. A walking stick is recommended as part of the walk can become marshy after wet weather.

The Bolton Abbey Walk

 



Getting There

 

From Middlesbrough follow the A66 to Darlington and then follow it to the A1 Scotch Corner. Keep on the A1 south bound and look for Junction 47 which is signposted to Harrogate. Follow the A59 road through Harrogate and follow it out of Harrogate until you come to a roundabout for Bolton Abbey on a right hand turn. Parking is included with the admission fee for the Abbey and it is £8. Bolton Abbey becomes very busy during the summer but additional parking is well catered for.

 

 

 

Map of the Bolton Abbey walk

 



The Walk

 

From the car park leave near the village store and turn right and head for the road. Turn left and follow the road under an archway. Look for s signed track on the left. Go through a gate.

 

 

Go through gate

 







Follow the track and look for a gate on the right signed as a bridleway.

 

 

 

Gate with bridleway sign

 

 

 

Bear left to a signpost under a power line. Follow the signpost right. Go past two pools and through a gate. Head to the right towards the woods and go through a gate into the woods.

 

 

 

Go through gate into the woods

 

 

Follow the track through the wood which is a gradual climb and meanders through the woods. Follow the track until you come to a gate.

 

 

 

Flower in the woods

 



Through the gate you will come onto an open field. The way ahead is now made by looking for stones in the field with blue coloured waymarks on them.

 

 

 

 

Waymarked stone

 



Follow the rocks - you need to head towards a gate to the right. Go through the gate and head diagonally through the next field. If unsure at this point there is a good GPS phone signal here. Basically head for the gate to the right of the field near the wall.

 

 

 

Gate in the top right of the field

 

 

Go through the gate and turn left and follow the track against the wall. The path climbs more steeply onto Hare Hill by following the track and waystones. Climb to the top of the hill for amazing views. It will be worth it!

 

 

 

Follow the waystones up the hill



 

Admire the view before descending the hill to a gate.

 

 

 

Descend to a gate

 



 

Just a few steps ahead take a path to the right which will be a nice downhill route heading to a signpost at the wall near the road. Turn right and parallel to the road for a short time. You will soon come to a signpost signposted as FP to B6160.

 



 



Signpost near road

 

Turn right and follow the track to a stile being careful with the ground you are on, the path can get muddy and waterlogged after wet weather. Your walking stick is handy on this section of the walk. At the stile take the left fork in the track.

 

 

 

Take left fork after stile

 

Follow the track heading for a corner in the wall. Continue to another wall and then turn right at the wall. You should be able to see Hare Hill ahead. Follow the track around to the left to a signpost.

 

 

 

Signpost to stile

 

 

Turn left at the signpost over a stile and follow the wall down to the road below. Go over another stile and turn right on the road. Enter the carpark on the left and head past the Strid Wood Visitor Centre down a path which forks to the left. Follow the path to the rivers edge.

 

 

 

Take left fork in path

 

Follow the river track downstream, this is a nice riverside section of the walk, but this still has steep areas on the path.

 

 

 

Follow the path downstream

 

Eventually on this pleasant part of the walk you will come to Cavendish Pavillion. Bear left past the café and go over a footbridge.

 

 

 

Cross over the footbridge

 

 

Turn right after footbridge

 

Immediately over the footbridge turn right onto a path which is part of the Dales Way. Go over a stile in a wall and over a stream on a road. 

 

 

 

Pass across stream

 

When the road carries on look for a gate on the right and go through this and continue on the path. Shortly when you come to a fork either take the lower path or the higher one. The higher one has lovely views of the Priory below.

 

 

 

Take low path or higher path

 

 

View of the Priory on higher path.

 

 

Descend to a bridge near some stepping stones. You can now explore the priory and take a well end break. Excellent space for a picnic.. The car park is found by following the path to the left of the priory back to the main road and left to the car park.

 

 

Views of Bolton Priory

 

 

 

Bolton Abbey

 

 

Bolton Abbey is an estate in Wharfedale in North Yorkshire, England, which takes its name from the ruins of the 12th-century Augustinian monastery—now generally known as Bolton Priory. It sits within the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales, adjacent to the village of Bolton Abbey.
The estate is open to visitors, and includes many miles of all-weather walking routes and a variety of attractions for people of all ages. The Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway currently terminates at Bolton Abbey station one and a half miles/2.5 km from Bolton Priory.

The monastery was originally founded at Embsay in 1120. Led by a prior, Bolton Abbey was technically a priory, despite its name. It was founded in 1154 by the Augustinian order, on the banks of the River Wharfe  The land at Bolton, as well as other resources, were given to the order by Lady Alice de Romille of Skipton Castle in 1154.In the early 14th century Scottish raiders caused the temporary abandonment of the site and serious structural damage to the priory.The seal of the priory featured the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child and the phrase sigillum sancte Marie de Bolton.
The nave of the abbey church was in use as a parish church from about 1170 onwards, and survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Building work was still going on at the abbey when the Dissolution of the Monasteries resulted in the termination of the priory in January 1540. The east end remains in ruins. A tower, begun in 1520, was left half-standing, and its base was later given a bell-turret and converted into an entrance porch. Most of the remaining church is in the Gothic style of architecture, but more work was done in the Victorian era, including windows by August Pugin. It is still a working priory today, holding services on Sundays and religious holidays.
Bolton Abbey churchyard contains the war grave of a Royal Flying Corps officer of the First World War.
The Domesday Book lists Bolton Abbey as the caput manor of a multiple estate including 77 carucates of ploughland (9240 acres/3850ha) belonging to Edwin, Earl of Mercia. The estate then comprised Bolton Abbey, Halton East, Embsay, Draughton; Skibeden, Skipton, Low Snaygill, Thorlby; Addingham, Beamsley, Holme, Gargrave; Stainton, Otterburn, Scosthrop, Malham, Anley; Coniston Cold, Hellifield and Hanlith. They were all laid waste in the Harrying of the North and were granted first to The Clamores of Yorkshire until c1090 when transferred to Robert de Romille who moved its centre to Skipton Castle. The Romille line died out around 1310, and Edward II granted the estates to Robert Clifford.^[
In 1748 Baroness Clifford married William Cavendish and Bolton Abbey Estate thereafter belonged to the Dukes of Devonshire, until a trust was set up by the 11th Duke of Devonshire turning it over to the Chatsworth Settlement Trustees to steward.
Today, the 33,000 acre (134 km²) estate contains six areas designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, including Strid Wood, an ancient woodland (mainly oak), which contains the length of the River Wharfe known as The Strid, and a marine fossil quarry. The estate encompasses 8 miles (13 km) of river, 84 farms, 84 buildings of architectural interest, and four Grade I listed buildings; and is currently home to 27 businesses from tearooms to bookshops. Apart from people employed within these businesses, the estate employs about 120 staff to work on the upkeep of the estate.
Bolton Abbey Hall, originally the gatehouse of the priory, was converted into a house by the Cavendish family. The hall is a Grade II* listed building.
As well as Bolton Abbey, the Cavendish family also own the Chatsworth (Derbyshire, England) and Lismore Castle (Waterford, Southern Ireland) estates