The Farndale Rim
A look down into Farndale to take in
its scale and landscape, from the place where a Roman Purse was dropped two
thousand years ago
If you have time, a hike to Middle
Head, the Lord of the Rings land of Midelhovet, where Edmund the Hermit
once dwelled
If you have an opportunity to visit
Farndale, then I suggest you start by driving along the moorland ridge to look
down into Farndale, before driving through Farndale itself. This page is intended to
accompany the History of Farndale to 1500, which I suggest you read first.
Directions
If you are
approaching from the Vale of York, then you should take the road north from the
east end of Kirkbymoorside which passes Keldholme and Hutton-le-Hole. From
Hutton-le-Hole, don’t take the road down into Farndale at this stage, but
continue along the Blakey Ridge.
If you are
approaching from north of the North York Moors you should find the main north
to south moorland road through Castleton and follow Castleton Ridge southwards.
Blakey
Howe
Whichever
way you approach, you should head for the
Lion Inn which sits dramatically, windswept by the moors. You might need
permission from the Lion Inn to park in the car park, or there is a car park
slightly to the south of the Inn, at the junction with the steep road which descends down into Farndale.
North of the
Inn you will find Blakey Howe, a funerary monument dating from the Bronze Age.
Here you can take in the place above the dales where a community once buried or
commemorated their dead some two thousand years Before the Common Era. The
barrow is difficult to see now, but the site is marked by an eighteenth
century boundary stone, which might have reused a prehistoric standing
stone. Here too, a Bronze Age chieftain was interred in a boatlike
oak coffin, armed, clothed and equipped for his voyage, with a smaller dugout
placed alongside.
Blakey Howe
was also the site of the Chapel of the Crouched Friars, the Brethren
of Charity, who were given land here in 1345. The chapel might have been on the
site where the Inn was subsequently built. It was not uncommon for Friary Inns
to be built.
From the car
park south of The Lion Inn, you will find the road down into Farndale. A short
distance from the junction you will see a well made
path, which is the start of the Esk Valley Walk. This
route follows the old line of the Victorian Goods Railway which once carried
iron ore from Rosedale to Battersby Junction.
It
was probably somewhere here that a Roman Soldier dropped the arm purse now displayed in
the British Museum, at the site of a prehistoric monument in the second or
third century BCE.
As you look
down on the dale, imagine it filled with the trees of a thick forest. This
place was probably heavily wooded and impenetrable until small clearing started
to be made by the monks of Rievaulx
from the twelfth century and a campaign of more deliberate slashing and burning for
agriculture began in the thirteenth century. Until then, this was a place
inhabited only by forest animals, a place
vel bestiae commorari vel hommines
bestialiter vivere conserverant,
‘fit only for wild beasts, and men who live like wild beasts’.
Farndale
Head and Middle Head
If you are a
walker, and have about four hours to spare, you could follow the Esk Valley Walk through High Blakey Moor to the head of
Farndale, ending at Middle Head. The distance to Middle Head is 7.7 km and will
take about two hours and then of course you will need to retrace your steps.
If you make it
to Middle Head, this is the place recorded
in the Chartulary of Rievaulx Abbey in 1154 as Midelhovet, in the
reference which is the first record of the name Farndale. It is the place where
Edmund the Hermit used to dwell in the early twelfth century. Middle Head is
now a disused railway embankment, but was once the
craggy region at the northern boundary of the dale, where a hermit used to
wander at the dawn of human interaction with this valley.
From the car
park near the Lion Inn, you could drive straight down into Farndale following
the very steep descent. If you do that, make sure you have a good set of
brakes.
Lowna
However I
suggest that instead, you retrace your steps to the south end of the dale, to
fully appreciate the dale from above, before you descend into the valley
itself. Drive back towards Hutton-le-Hole. About 500 metres before village of
Hutton-le-Hole, there is sharp right turn towards Lowna.
Follow the Lowna Road to the Lowna
Bridge. Here you can indulge in some Yorkshire folklore and read the story of Sarkless
Kitty. But don’t linger long, lest she appears, with her grim omens. If you
enjoy stories, you might also enjoy the yarn of the Farndale Hob.
Southern
entrance to Farndale
A short way
beyond Lowna Bridge there is a T junction. Turn north
towards Farndale. As you follow the road on the approach to the dale, you will
see several places where you can stop and take in some lovely views over the
dale.
Continue on
the road to Low Mill, where you can pick up the Drive Through Farndale.
or
Go Straight to Chapter 1 –
the Family Cradle