Winskill

This is another walk I did a lot when I was very young, but I actually didn’t recognise it at all as I was walking – not until I got onto the bit I’ve done a few times in recent years, anyway.

I’m not hundred percent sure how much the name ‘Winskill’ refers to. There’s definitely a Winskill Farm, and a Winskill Stones Nature Reserve, which are both at the top of a little cliff/hill, which I want to call Winskill. There are signposts with just that on them, but I can’t find anything else indicating it’s an official name, and the signs could be pointing to the stuff at the top.

It doesn’t really matter, I just like to get details down where I can. So on that note, while I can’t find much on this Winskill, where the name appears elsewhere it apparently means ‘windswept hut’, which in this case I suppose is referring to the farm.

I started from the village of Stainforth in Ribblesdale – there are two Stainforths in Yorkshire – whose name means ‘stone ford’, as in a river crossing. I parked at the National Trust car park, left by the main entrance, and turned right into the village.

A bit along the road, I reached a junction, where I turned right. The road then took me across a bridge and came out in front of the village pub, the Craven Heifer. I turned left onto a little road opposite the pub, followed it until its end, then went a little to the right before turning left at the direction of the aforementioned signposts.

It directed me through a gate and into a field which was narrow at first, but quickly widened out. I crossed it diagonally, then went into a much longer field, where I came up alongside a wooded area on my left.

After a while, the path went into the woods. It didn’t look like it should do, but it did, and I followed it some old and worn steps. I’m told these are called the Fairy Steps, but again, can find no written source on this name. It’s either a local name for a place that’s obscure enough not to have been documented much, or just something people in my family call them.

The steps are clearly very old. I think they were probably built to be a practical route between the farm and village, rather than for walkers. They took me up through spindly trees and to a stile, which I climbed over.

I was in another long field, which I crossed lengthways. I saw some fragments of limestone pavement up here, and I know there are more scattered about. This is why there’s a nature reserve; apparently people got into the habit of taking limestones from places like this to create rockeries in gardens, so this area was bought by conservation charity Plantfife to protect it.

I think I went over/through another stile or gate before I came into view of the farm. I made my towards it, climbing another stile as I approached, and passed between the farm buildings to come onto the drive, which I walked a bit of the way along before climbing right into another field.

I headed along the bottom, walking alongside a wall which has the remains of an old lane running on the other side. I could take a look at it after I’d left the field I was in by a stone step stile with abnormally high gaps between steps, then turned right. I think I saw more remnants of the lane further down, but here it very clear, going up to the farm.

I was heading downwards now, through a sparsely wooded area, then through a gate to a more open but – though there were still some trees – with a lovely view across seemingly endless fields. As I descended, I could look back and see the shape of the little hill rising behind me.

After a bit, I passed through a gateway and came between two old walls, then the one on my right ended, but I kept alongside the one on my left until I came through a gate into a lane.

This lane leads into the village of Langcliffe. I didn’t walk right into the village, instead going until I came to a spot where a signpost marked for Winskill and Stainforth stood. I climbed over a stile on my right, turned right again and headed across the field I was in.

I was on familiar territory now. I’ve done this route between Langcliffe and Stainforth a few times since I started this blog.

I crossed two more fields after this one, walking above the outskirts of Langcliffe and the railway line. I came alongside that as I got onto a short track leading out of the fields and to a little road, which went under the railway just to my left.

I crossed the road, and went up a path that, again, was by the railway. It brought me into the small business park that has been built on what was once a wasteland, alongside the remnants of Craven Lime Works.

I didn’t go round the Lime Works, but I was going to pass the main attraction, the Hoffman Kiln, and so decided to go through it instead. I’ve written about the Hoffman Kiln before, but to give a brief description, it’s a big, ovalish structure with entrances all around, and inside is like a tunnel. I don’t think I could walk past it without going inside.

At the other end, I headed across a little bridge and up some steps to a stile, then went over to a wooded area, and across two fields. A stream runs through the second of the fields, and at some point this stream was fenced off, so walkers have to go through gates to cross it. I assume this is to prevent sheep getting washed away when the water is high.

So I crossed the stream, then continued along until I came down to the main road between Langcliffe and Stainforth, where I carried on forwards until I reached Stainforth. The carpark is right by the road, so I was done.

Photos from the walk are here. Thank you for visiting my blog.