Yorkshire Walks

Grinton Lodge

Map based on Ordnance Survey mapping by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright.

Length of walk: 31/2 miles
Start: Grinton Youth Hostel
Terrain: High ground around Sharrow Hill

Grinton Lodge was built as a shooting lodge in the early part of the 19th century. It's castellated walls and tower look somewhat incongruous in the moorland setting high above Grinton village. For the past 50 years the lodge has served as a youth hostel.

Park alongside the road close to the youth hostel, then set off uphill walking on the closely cropped roadside grass. Cross a road bridge and after 10 yards turn right to follow a clear path upwards to Grinton Smelt Mill, a well-preserved site formerly associated with the lead mining industry.

The first building encountered used to be a peat store, with the smelting furnaces in the building further right. The highly toxic lead fumes were dispelled through the flue which originally adjoined the smelting building, and still travels up the hillside to the top of Sharrow Hill (Sharrow means boundary, and the eastern parish boundary of Grinton passes close to the hill top).

Keep left of the buildings following a green track upwards towards the spoil tips. Veer left at a fork, maintaining an uphill course and seeking a well-concealed hairpin left turn.

This important manoeuvre is undertaken after the track curves left, and a pointed cairn appears on the distant skyline. Look for a green swathe running between the heather. This deteriorates within a few yards continuing across the moorland as a faint path to arrive at the top end of the flue, near Sharrow Hill.

From the flue top (formerly there was a chimney here) descend a few yards, then veer right to walk beneath the rocky outcrops of Sharrow Hill, following a green track to the road. Cross the road, go through the gate and commence a wonderful descent to Cogden Hall Farm, a stylish Georgian farmhouse built in 1740.

Pass between the outbuildings, turn left along the access road, seeking a stile on the left. Follow a clear path, uphill, between a woodland setting to arrive at another stile.

As you walk above Cogden Beck, Grinton Lodge comes into view. Keep walking, with a wall on the right, to arrive at a gate (ignore a gated stile along the way). Pass through the gate, swing right to hop over a private water supply, proceeding, with the wall to your right, to reach the road. Turn left to Grinton Lodge.

This walk has been taken from 'Walks Around Richmond'

The information given in this walk has been provided in good faith and is intended only as a general guide. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that details were correct at the time of publication, the author and Country Publications Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for inaccuracies. It is the responsibility of individuals undertaking outdoor activities to approach the activity with caution and, especially if inexperienced, to do so under appropriate supervision. The activity described in this walk is strenuous and individuals should ensure that they are suitably fit before embarking upon it. They should carry the appropriate equipment and maps, be properly clothed and have adequate footwear. They should also take note of weather conditions and forecasts, and leave notice of their intended route and estimated time of return.