. . 
Tuesday 20th February 2001
Weather: Fair - cooler on the moor
Today's walk - Rosedale Abbey - Spaunton Moor - Ainhowe Cross
( 8miles )
. .
Today's walk begins
at the picturesque North York Moors village of Rosedale Abbey
- there's free car parking space near the Milburn Arms Hotel
(Grid Ref: 725 960)
Nowadays, the
sleepy village's economy relies mainly on tourism along with the
farms that scatter the surrounding dale
- however, if you look around there's still plenty of evidence to
be seen and found to show us it was a very different picture
in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries
With the discovery
of local ore, Rosedale suddenly became the centre of a boom
industry - ironstone mining
Coal mines were sunk to supply railway engines and steam driven
winches, whilst around the dale's sides,
railway tracks were laid, kilns were built, and small rows of
stone cottages were erected to house the growing workforce
. . 
Visitors to the
village of Rosedale Abbey might be disappointed when they arrive
expecting to see spectacular ruins
such as those in other parts of North Yorkshire at Rievaulx,
Fountains and Whitby
- all that remains here, of a once small priory, is this turret
with its spiral staircase standing near the church
The priory was
founded c1158 as a Cistercian nunnery - the priory chapel
survived the Dissolution of 1538
and remained in use for public worship until 1839 when it was
dismantled and replaced by the present church
Leave the village
in a southerly direction and begin climbing the steep (1 in 3)
Chimney Bank until
turning left to follow a track which runs past the front of the
White Horse Farm Hotel
In the photo above we look back from the 'beer garden' towards the village and beyond it, to North Dale
Follow the wide track in a south-easterly direction past a couple of large sandstone houses . . .
. . . until bearing right and uphill between a pair of ancient gateposts near Hollins Farm
Many years ago, on
the hillside high above this farm, locals began to notice that
during thunderstorms
lightning often struck an outcrop of rock - in fact, it was pure
ironstone and so began an industrial revolution in Rosedale
Follow the path
round with the stone wall on your left and carry on straight
along the contour of the hillside more or less parallel
with the River Seven which flows along the bottom of the dale
down to your left
. . 
A little further on you will reach evidence of an even earlier industry in these parts . . .
. . . as the nearby
plaque tells us, this was the site of an Elizabethan glass
furnace where
"skilled craftworkers produced objects of great beauty"
The surrounding
plants and rocks provided all the ingredients required to make
glass,
and from the local forests came the necessary source to fuel the
furnace
Today, you can see the reconstructed furnace at Ryedale Folk Museum in nearby Hutton-le-Hole
It's pleasant
walking along here as the brown and gold colours of the heather
and last year's dead bracken
contrast sharply with the green fields and leaves of the trees
There are two or
three boggy sections where small springs which run down the
hillside have to be crossed
but with the help of a few stones conveniently laid down and some
good balance, they don't pose too much of a problem
. 
About a mile or so
further on you reach High Askew Farm - about 500 yards further on
at the next gate past the farm
bear right (Grid Ref: 743 908) and follow the stone wall round to
the left and then over a stile and downhill to . . .
. . . this quiet, picturesque beauty spot at Tranmire Beck (Grid Ref: 741 907) - an ideal place for a sit down and a cup of tea
Cross the beck via the small stepping stones - I think you'll get your feet wet when the beck is a bit fuller!
Climb the pleasant grassy track up the other side and follow the direction of the stone wall keeping it on your left . . .
. . 
. . . until arriving here at Grid Ref: 729 909, just north of Lastingham, a beautiful moorland village that's well worth a visit
Unfortunately, today we don't have time so we turn right and head north along a wide, stony track onto Spaunton Moor
In the photo above we look back south towards the smoking chimneys of the cottages of Lastingham village
. . 
For the next two
miles we follow the track as it climbs gradually uphill
- from this small cairn (Grid Ref: 724 933) a narrower path leads
us to a prominent feature ½ a mile away on the horizon . . .
. . . Ainhowe Cross ( Ana Cross on the OS Map - Grid Ref: 724 938 )
At 12 feet, this is
the tallest cross on the moors but it is not the original
version,
the head of which stands propped up against a wall in the crypt
of St Mary's Church, Lastingham
- the estimated height of the original cross is thought to have
been 24ft - the largest known pre-Norman monument in England
From Ainhowe Cross,
follow the track in a north-westerly direction for about ½ a
mile
until you reach the road at the top of Chimney Bank, so called
because of the tall engine-house chimney
which once stood prominently close by - a relic of the ironstone
industry - until it was demolished in July, 1972
Off to the left of
the road and just below the former site of the chimney, but still
high on the hillside,
are the impressive ruins of these large kilns into which iron ore
was once tipped from above
where it was 'roasted' to drive off water and carbonic acid gas,
a process known as calcification
- this greatly reduced the weight of the ore making it more
economic to transport by rail to the steelworks on Teesside
Follow the road
steeply downhill and back to the village of Rosedale Abbey
of which we get a good view from the bends half-way down
Back on
boulder-strewn Spaunton Moor, as the sun goes down, the view west
across to Gillamoor, Fadmoor
and beyond, to the distant Hambleton Hills . . .
. . . and finally, as it has done for hundreds of years, Ainhowe Cross still stands proud at the end of the day
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