Skinningrove ~ Medium Walk

 

Distance Covered: 6.5 miles Time to Complete Walk 3.5 hours

Suitable for dog walking: No

Skinningrove is a little coastal village a short drive from Saltburn, but less busy. This walk starts with an immediate climb up on the Cleveland Way for amazing views and spectacular cliff edge views. Not for those with vertigo! The amazing views continue to Boulby and then the return is on a quiet road. Park at the intriguely named Way of St Hild car park which is free of charge.

General Safety Tips: Take a walking stick for the cliff side walk on the Cleveland Way. Be mindful of traffic on the road back to Skinningrove.

The Skinningrove Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough head towards Saltburn and then down Saltburn bank. Continue passing The Ship Inn and follow the road into Brotton. Turn left into Brotton and follow this road to Loftus Bank. Skinningrove is a sharp left turn half way up Loftus Bank. Parking is free of charge at the Way Of St Hild carpark next to the beach and harbour.

Sat Nav- post code is TS13 4BJ

Maps of the Skinningrove Walk

The Walk

From the car park head towards the row of terrraced houses and follow the path to the left.

Head towards the bridge and turn left signed as the Cleveland Way walking over the bridge.

Follow the road as it curves up and head onto the Cleveland Way at the foot of a climb.

Climb to the top with great views at the summit.

Head along the Cleveland Way with amazing views of the cliffs and coastline.

There are ample photo opportunities along the way

When you come to a right turn head right following the Cleveland Way.

Head up the steps and follow the track to the left which remains the Cleveland Way

When you come to a farmhouse with an information plaque head to the top corner right through a gate to continue on the Cleveland Way

Continue along the Cleveland Way

Soon you arrive at the Moss Seat which is a great spot for a pitstop and to take in the spectacular views

Continue on the Cleveland which crosses over a footbridge

Head through a gate and take in the amazing views of the coastline

At a fork in the path head along the right hand fork

The path heads downwards and at a gate which is before some houses before the village of Boulby.

Straight after the houses, turn right and head up a lane

At the top turn right and head along the road. Keep your ears and eyes peeled for traffic.

The road is steep at firs up Boulby bank, however after it is quite level and passes houses

When you arrive at a fork in the road keep to the right.

The road continues to a junction, turn right and then left onto the road.

Head down this road back into Skinningrove.

Retrace your steps back to the car park

Skinningrove

Skinningrove is a village in the civil parish of Loftus, in the Redcar and Cleveland district, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. Its name is of Old Norse etymology and is thought to mean skinners' grove or pit.

The village had an agricultural and fishing economy, until the opening of local ironstone workings, in 1848, initiated an industrialisation boom. A railway was built by 1865, and iron smelting began in 1874. A jetty on the coast, built in 1880, allowed seagoing vessels to carry heavy cargoes from the area. Mining continued until 1958, and primary iron production until the 1970s.

Skinningrove was formerly a township in the parish of Brotton. In 1866, it became a separate civil parish

The Land of Iron (formerly the Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum and the Tom Leonard Mining Museum) displays the village's mining heritage. It provides an underground experience and an insight into how 6.2 million tons of ironstone was extracted from Skinningrove mines.

The village has a large natural sandy beach used for recreational fishing and a beck, which occasionally floods, notably in 2000.

The Methodist chapel closed in 2024, due to lack of numbers. It has been converted into two houses. The pipe organ from the chapel, which dates from 1910, was sold to a local museum.

The Cleveland Way National Trail passes through the village.

From 1982 to 2019, Skinningrove hosted a bonfire and fireworks display, which attracted hundreds of people from around North Yorkshire. Each year, the bonfire was based on a different theme. The bonfire was discontinued from 2023, due to safety concerns and local infrastructure being unable to cope with the large crowds.

The Cleveland Way runs through the village.

Photographer Chris Killip created an unpublished photo series about the town's residents in the early 1980s, about which the American filmmaker Michael Almereyda produced a short film. The film won Best Non-Fiction Short at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Ingleby Incline ~ Hard Walk

Distance Covered: 9 miles Time to Complete Walk 4 hours

Suitable for dog walking: No

Climb the Ingleby Incline a steep former railway path which takes you up to the moors for a moors walk and then descend back down to ground level. Great if you love a challenge and like the history connected it. Trains used to transport iron ore and the surrounding area is steeped in its history.

General Safety Tips: 

The steep gradient can take up to 20 minutes to climb - a good level of fitness is needed. The moors path is exposed to the elements- dress appropriately. The descent down is steep and on loose gravel in parts- take a walking stick to navigate the path down.

The Ingleby Incline Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough head towards Great Ayton. Follow the road out of Great Ayton towards the moors on Easby Lane and towards Kildale.  Take a right hand turn and follow the road to Ingleby Greenhow. Head out of the village on Stone Soup Hill and look for a left turn into Battersby Junction and the station. Parking can be found on the roadside before the station. Alternatively take the Esk Valley line train which stops at Battersby Station.

                                       Maps of the Ingleby Incline walk 

The Walk

From the station head out following the road you came on passing the terraced houses.

Turn right at the T Junction and follow the road until you reach the first left hand turn and follow the road to the left.

Follow the road until you come to Bank Foot farm.

At a signpost for a cycle route before the farm turn right and head on the path.

Head along this path for some time until you come to a fork in the path at the foot of Ingleby Incline and an information board about its history.

Climb the Incline which should take 20 minutes or so and there is incredible views all around. 

Head through the gate for another short steep climb to the moors at the top.

At the top look out for a minature sculpture of the old railway and then head out on the path on the moors.

The moorland path is a clear path and follow it until and keep ahead when a path curves in from the right.

Soon you come to a junction and the Cleveland Way comes in from the right. Do a sharp turn to the left to join the Cleveland Way.

This moorland path goes on for quite some time with some lovely views around and is a very peaceful walk.

When you come to a signpost head straight ahead which will take you on a path that descends back down from the moors with Roseberry Topping in the distance.

Follow the path down carefully as it can be rough in places until you arrive at a gate.

Follow this path as it makes its way down until you come to another gate.

Go through the gate and head toward Bank Foot farm and keep ahead to follow the road back to Battersby station.

Ingleby Incline

The Rosedale Railway was a 19+1⁄2-mile (31.4 km) goods-only railway line running from Battersby Junction via Ingleby Incline, across the heights of the North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England to reach iron ore deposits in the remote hills of the Rosedale valley. It opened to traffic as a narrow gauge railway to Ingleby Incline top in 1858, converted to standard gauge and opened to Rosedale West in 1861, and closed completely in 1929. Apart from Ingleby Incline, no major engineering works were constructed, and as such, particularly the east branch, the railway followed the contours of the surrounding hillside. The former trackbeds of the railway are in use by walkers and cyclists.

The first construction of a recognisable railway along this route was in 1858 when The Ingleby Ironstone & Freestone Mining Company constructed a narrow gauge line to link existing mining operations with the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Railway at Battersby (then known as Ingleby Junction). An Act of Parliament in 1859 (that covered the amalgamation into the NER of the line to Kildale and the Rosedale Railway),meant that the NER became responsible for the lines in the area in August 1859, when the branch was still 18 months from completion. Because of the difference in height between the junction at Battersby railway station and the moorland location of the workings, a steep 1 in 5 (20%) incline was located at Ingleby, where trucks would be hauled up the slope to a height of 1,200 feet (370 m) above sea level using the weight of descending full wagons. The wagons descended at an average speed of 20 mph (32 km/h) which resulted in a journey time of 3 minutes from top to bottom

When the NY&CR had been absorbed into the NER, the NER decided to convert the line to standard gauge operations and extend the track 10 miles (16 km) from the top of the incline to mine workings at Rosedale run by the Rosedale Ironstone Mining Company, whom the NER had interests in.This line opened to the west side of Rosedale on 27 March 1861, costing £24,500  Within a few years mining also began on the east side of the valley, and an additional branch line was run from Blakey Junction around the head of the valley to reach the new workings. This was initially started by the railway company, but was completed by the NER and opened to traffic in August 1865. The branch to the east mines ran northwards from Blakey Junction for 1.2 miles (2 km) before curving eastwards and southwards, following the contours of the hillside. It dropped with a consistent gradient of 1-in-50 all the way from Blakey to Rosedale East  The mines at Rosedale East, Rosedale West and Blakey, were connected to the standard gauge line by tramways or narrow gauge railways. Only Sheriff Pit, which had a downshaft (the others being drift mines), had sidings directly onto the main running line.

The workings reached a peak production of over 560,000 long tons (569,000 tonnes) in 1873. Wagons containing ore were weighed at the weigh bridge located at Ingleby Incline foot, with all associated paperwork being dealt with at Battersby. Whilst there was a small goods station at Rosedale East, apart from come coal traded from that goods depot with the village of Rosedale Abbey, the branch was focussed on the iron ore trade. Passenger carrying was strictly limited to the families of the railwaymen and miners who worked in Rosedale. Trains would convey them to either Middlesbrough or Stockton and on the return, they would be carried up Ingleby Incline on the buffer beams of wagons, so that they need not walk up with their shopping.

The railway had two engine sheds; one was at the Rosedale West end of the line and consisted of two roads. A second shed was provided at Battersby Junction and had three roads in the shed, with two on the outside, one with a water tank and the other with a turntable. Engines working the line consisted of NER 1001 Class locomotives, which were eventually replaced with NER Class P, with just three examples latterly working the section of the line from the Incline top to Rosedale. Hoole and Huby (see Sources, below) reported that there was no signalling on the line but documentary evidence and the Ordnance Survey maps indicate that this was not the case. The line was divided into three single-line "Staff and Ticket" sections; Incline top to Blakey Junction, Blakey Junction to Rosedale West and Blakey Junction to Rosedale East. Each section had a metal token (the "staff" - actually metal rings with one, two or three links) that needed to be in the possession of the engine driver to allow them to work the line.

Just south of the incline top was Bloworth Crossing (also known variously as Blowoth, Blawith, Blowith) which had a permanently staffed crossing over an ancient trackway. Bloworth Crossing is still marked on mapping today and forms part of the Cleveland Way, the Coast to Coast, and the Lyke Wake Walk.