Yorkshire Walks

Rievaulx Abbey and Caydale from Murton

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

Start: Murton Grange
Grid Ref: 536 880
Distance: 8.5 miles (14km), climbing 500 feet (150m)
OS Maps: Outdoor Leisure 26 or Landranger 100
Walking Time: 5 hours

Rievaulx Abbey was described in 186l as 'the awe-inspiring wreck of an abbey, quiet, tender and piteous - so exquisitely graceful, so humble, silent and death-like - the very image of a bygone age '. The serenity of Rievaulx, with its choice dales, makes this a special route of mine. Allow an extra couple of hours for a full exploration of the abbey, owned and maintained by English Heritage; a charge is made for this privilege. Murton Grange is three miles (2km) from the Laskill turn-off from the B1257 Stokesley/Helmsley road. Access from the A19 is via Boltby village up Sneck Yate Bank. Cars can be parked off the roadside. Please note that the pay car park in Rievaulx village is only available for visitors to the abbey.

In was in the twelfth century that the township of Murton was given by Hugh Malebisse to Byland Abbey. An entrance was constructed by the lay brothers, which were basically well-run farms, together with a small chapel for the spiritual needs of the inhabitants. This area was once an import ant sheep-holding for the monks of Byland, and a twelfth-century charter mentions 'the Abbot and all his men and cattle at Morton'. Murton Grange stands at an altitude of 810 feet (247m) and thus water has to be pumped up from a spring in Dale Town.

Following the road a short distance behind Murton Grange, the route turns left into Ox Pasture Lane and continues to the head of Deep Gill Wood. Few hedgerow shrubs look more distinct at different times of the year than the blackthorn. The flowers appear before the leaves, so that in the early part of the year we see one mass of pure white blossom; by autumn the ground beneath these bushes is sometimes empurpled from the fallen fruit known as sloes. Unlike like many climbers, the field convolvulus does not support itself by tendrils, but the whole plant twists round the object that supports it. Its blossoms, veined with delicate pink, are very sensitive to sunlight.

As you approach the woodlands hereabout, the harsh squalling of a jay may signal its presence. It is a shy and wary bird, but you may get near enough to see the striking plumage - beautiful blue wing patch, reddish-brown back with a large white patch on the rump, and black tail. Sprightly brown hares are often seen bounding away on these high pastures. They are larger than rabbits, with longer black-tipped ears, and run with a loping gait.

A gradual descent alongside the wood into the Rye Valley reveals a bird's-eye view of hillside and hillfoot, with Barnclose Farm below. A metalled farm road climbs beyond Tylas Farm, which the monks from Old Byland built as a grange and tile-house, hence its modern name. Proceed along the metalled road until level with the small ravine of Oxen Dale on the right. Here a streamlet running beneath the road indicates a change of route, scrambling left into the adjacent field to track the River Rye downstream. Keep an eye open hereabouts for the lively dipper. This bird darts along the riverbed hunting for water insects, and only when 'bobbing' on a stone can the dark brown plumage and white waistcoat be appreciated.

A short distance downstream, the Rye is crossed by Bow Bridge, originally built in wood by the Cistercian monks of Rievaulx. In the great flood of 1754 the ancient structure was Œdriven down', together with Rievaulx Bridge further downstream. Both of these bridges are thought to have been rebuilt within a couple of years of their destruction.

Beyond the bridge the route passes by Penny Piece Quarry to the left, so named because the quarrymen were supposedly paid a penny a day. It was here in the twelfth century that the grey limestone was first chiselled by the lay brothers of Rievaulx. A dam was constructed across the Rye to divert the water into a canal excavated by the monks, along which the quarried stone was transported in barges to the abbey site.

Some wild hops can be found growing along the old canal - possibly a monkish legacy. From a thick branching rootstock, the plant twines clockwise round the nearest tree or shrub. The little nuts formed as fruit are used to give bitterness to ale.

A renovated watermill a little further along the canal was originally a single-story building before another floor was added about I870.

Who could not be moved by the majestic splendour of Rievaulx Abbey, unfolding beyond a corridor of trees when approached from Bow Bridge? Rievaulx is undoubtedly a place to walk to rather than walk from. Arriving here during a July afternoon in 1802, Dorothy Wordsworth described how she 'could have stayed in this solemn, quiet spot all evening without a thought of moving, but William was waiting for me¹.

It was Walter L'Espec, Lord of Helmsley, who granted to the monks from Clairvaux this magnificent natural amphitheatre by the River Rye for their Cistercian Abbey. Building in the later Norman style began in 1132; costly alterations and additions were undertaken near the end of the twelfth century. Due to the abbey¹s site between a steep hill and the River Rye, the church most unusually faces north-south instead of east-west. Thirty-five years after the abbey's founding, there were 140 monks and at least 500 lay brothers here, 'so that the church swarmed with them like a hive with bees¹. About 1230, the church and abbey were rebuilt and adapted in the superb Gothic style of the period. Then, after 400 years of religious activity, the unostentatious life of the monks was suppressed in 1538, when the gross income of the monastery amounted to £351 14s 6d.

Cross the lovely stone-arched Rievaulx Bridge and follow the road to Ashberry Farm, behind which an unobtrusive path steals around the base of Ashberry Hill. Rising among the undergrowth in spring time is a profusion of ramsons or wild garlic. It is a 'devil's posy' in country lore, for the white clusters have a most distasteful odour. Growing in harmony with it is the pale, purple-flowering dog violet, so called because it has no scent, 'dog' here being used contemptuously.

The hillside path offers a stunning view of the monastic ruins. Above the abbey - set among trees along a curved terrace - can be seen the Ionic and Tuscan temples which local squire Thomas Duncombe had built about 1758. The temples and terrace - accessible from the B1257 Helmsley road - are open to the public. Continue along the path, leaving it at the lane from Tylas Farm used earlier in the walk. This time, however, bear left at the stile and climb a stony footpath along the edge of Lambert Hagg Wood, arriving at a junction with a metalled road. Turn right here to follow the Tylas Farm road back up the Rye Valley.

Before reaching Tylas Farm, abandon the road and bear left through a field gate to follow a muddy track for nearly a mile (0.6km) through Birk Bank Wood. On emerging from the woodland, the view is of Caydale, which A J Brown described in the early 1930s as 'one of those secret little dales that reward a walker who keeps off the beaten track'. The route back to Murton Grange follows the metalled road beyond a ford through woodland, with enticing views of upper Caydale.

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.