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Richmond and Easby Abbey, North Yorkshire

Difficulty Moderate

Walking time 4 hours 30 minutes

Length 14.7km / 9.2mi

Route developer: Roger Carpenter

Route checker: Paul Shepherd

Start location St Agatha's Church, Skeeby
Route Summary A delightful walk through countryside and along the River Swale, passing through the interesting town of Richmond, Aske Hall and the historical Easby Abbey.
*move mouse over graph to see points on route
Getting there

By bus: Arriva services X26 or X27 between Darlington and RIchmond pass through Skeeby every 20mins during daytime Monday to Saturday or hourly on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

By car: Skeeby is on the A6108 between Scotch Corner (A1/A66 junction) and Richmond.  There is a small public car park, courtesy of Skeeby Parish Council, about 150m from the Church towards the Richmond (west) end of the village.

Description

[1] From St Agatha's church on the main road in Skeeby (A), cross the road and go straight ahead for approximately 500m down the track opposite that becomes a footpath after about 250m.  After crossing a stile into a grassy field, continue straight ahead downhill until the access track to Gascoigne Farm (on the right) is reached. Turn sharp right and follow the track through a gate into the farmyard.  Bear left and exit on a track following it to reach Gilling Beck.

[2] Turn left just before the beck and follow it upstream crossing a footbridge over a side stream.  After passing the sewage works, bear left across 2 fields to a play area. Continue past this and along Mill Gate into Gilling West (B).

[3] Turn left along the main road through the village and 200m after passing the last house as the road bends left turn right onto a track with a public footpath sign.  After the first field follow the track as it bears left, then go straight ahead uphill on a track which becomes a footpath, crossing five stiles, until it reaches an estate road.

[4] Continue straight ahead passing the Aske Hall estate buildings (D) on your right.  At the T junction, turn left and follow the estate road around to the right along the frontage of Aske Hall (E).  Where the road turns left, bear slightly right across the parkland to reach a gate in a fence at the edge of a wood.

[5] Go through the gate into the wood and descend to the track at the bottom.  Go straight over the track, across a footbridge and follow the path, marked by yellow posts, uphill to exit the wood.  Follow the path around to the right along the edge of the wood, and then bear left up the field edge to a grove of trees on the edge of Richmond golf course.  Turn right through the trees to a stile in the golf course's perimeter fence. Cross the stile and bear slightly right across the golf course (taking care to avoid flying golf balls!) heading towards a building on the skyline.  On reaching this, bear right through trees to the Golf Club car park.  Continue through the car park passing the Club House on your left.  Follow a track as it bears right through trees and then turn left following it with a hedge on your right.  Exit the golf course through a gate and follow the access road to the public highway.

[6] Cross straight over road (care needed) and go through a gap opposite on a signed footpath.  Bear half left and head for a gap in the wall on the horizon ignoring other more well walked paths.  Go through this and follow the footpath through 3 fields going diagonally left. Exit onto a road (care needed) and turn left along the pavement for 100m.  Turn right through the wall and follow a walled footpath downhill, crossing one road (cul de sac) and exiting above some steps.  Cross the road (care needed) and go straight ahead into the centre of Richmond passing 2 roundabouts and a small park on your right.

[7] On reaching Richmond Market Square (F), turn left and go to its foot.  Turn right along Millgate and follow this downhill (narrow or no footpath - care needed) to a car park by the River Swale.  Part way down the hill by some black railings on the right is the start of Castle Walk.  Follow this round to reach some seats overlooking the river.  An excellent place for lunch. Go through the car park to the riverbank, turn sharp left by a signpost to "The Station 800m" and follow this path downstream.  Go under a road bridge, through a gate and follow the now rough riverside path (extra care needed especially if river level high).  On reaching a stone wall in front, turn left to follow a track back away from the river for 80m up to 'T' junction.

[8] Turn right (signpost to Easby Abbey) and follow a track as it rises and then descends in a wood, which falls steeply to the river.  Where the path divides, take the right hand fork, passing large black metal gates on your left, down to the riverbank.  Follow riverside path to a flight of steps.  Climb these, turning right at top and exit into a field via gate.  Turn sharp right alongside the fence to exit the field before a house.  Continue along footpath then track with the house on your left to reach Easby Abbey (G).

[9] Bear left on the access road (care needed - no footpath) to the Abbey car park as it rises to a road junction passing Easby House on right.  Turn left on the road for 50m, then turn right on a gravel track which becomes a grassed path after a gate.  Follow this over a low hill to the Catterick to Richmond road.

[10] Cross straight over (care needed), and follow a wide track through an old quarry.  Continue straight ahead through gate on to a grassed track where the paved track bears right into St Trinian's Farm.  Keep straight on after 2nd gate to reach another estate road and climb the hill ahead. Turn right onto another track when 250m from the major road ahead and follow this to its end.  Go straight ahead downhill through a field gradually bearing right to a stile at the bottom of the field.  Go over this and continue for a short distance with a stone wall on your left  crossing another stile to reach the end of the wall.

[11] Turn left through a metal gate and go along the field edge for 100m with hedge on left.  Turn left through the hedge and cross the next field.  Bear slightly right and uphill in the next field and go through a gate in the corner of a wall. Continue straight ahead on the left hand side of the fields until the road is reached.  Turn right down the road through Skeeby village to your start.

POI information

(A) Skeeby was mentioned in the Domesday Book.  It has been associated with St Oswyth who came from Scythia and this may be how the name was derived.

(B) Gilling West is also an ancient village.  It was a stronghold of the kings of Deira in the 6-7th century and later of the Earls of Mercia in the 9th century.  Their stronghold was on - 

(C) Castle Hill

(D) The stables and other estate buildings of Aske Hall.

(E) Aske Hall started as a pele tower in the 12th century. They were small stone buildings with walls from 3 to 10 feet thick, square or oblong in shape.  Designed to withstand short sieges, they usually consisted of three storeys.  In the 1700s the grounds of Aske Hall were landscaped by Capability Brown.  The estate is now owned by the Marquis of Zetland.

(F) Richmond is a historic town with a Norman castle.  It also has a museum for the Green Howards and a Georgian Theatre.  There are many places to eat and drink and toilet facilities.

(G) Easby Abbey, or the Abbey of St Agatha, is one of the best-preserved examples in the British Isles of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order, known as white cannons, founded in France by St Norbert in 1120.  Superficially, Easby abbey's architecture resembles Cistercian models, as was often the case with Premonstratensian monasteries.  On closer examination though Easby departs from monastic norms of planning in several ways and presents interesting problems of interpretation.  It was dissolved by Henry VIII in the 16th century but the ruins can be visited for free. Legend has it that there is a tunnel from Richmond Castle to Easby Abbey.  A drummer boy was sent along the tunnel and his progress was followed by people listening to his drumming above ground.  However, at this location, his drumming stopped, and he was never seen again!

(H) St Agatha's church at Easby has some marvellous 13th century wall paintings.  The church is generally open in the summer and at weekends in the winter.

Richmond could be used as an alternative start and finish point for this walk affording the opportunity for a more leisurely visit to the town and its attractions.

 

 

Notes No details available.
Acknowledgements No details available.
  • Aske Hall
    Aske Hall
    By - M A Carpenter
  • Richmond
    Richmond
    By - M A Carpenter
  • Easby Abbey
    Easby Abbey
    By - M A Carpenter
  • Wall painting in St Agatha
    Wall painting in St Agatha's church, Easby
    By - M A Carpenter
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