Around Crosby Ravensworth
Walk date – 25th June 2025
Distance – 6.5 miles
Weather – Dull and cloudy, no sun, mild, breezy
The summer seems to have gone somewhere else for the time being as the weather up here has been, for the most part, very cloudy, very showery and very windy. The forecast for today differed only in the fact that the east of the county might be more likely to be the recipient of any sunny spells which happened to come along than the rest of Cumbria. With only a 30% chance of cloud free fells we decided to take a local countryside walk around Crosby Ravensworth instead. We had one very brief moment today when the sun appeared through a small gap in the cloud cover and that was it. For anyone needing to drive through Shap for the next few weeks please be aware that the road through the village was closed from 23rd June and the work is scheduled to last for three weeks. That’s how long it will take apparently but may take longer depending on circumstances, and diversions are in place. One of the diversions leads over to Crosby Ravensworth so we had no difficulty in driving to our destination.
Route
Crosby Ravensworth – Crake Trees – Wickerslack – Spring Wood – Reagill Grange – Beech Tree Farm – Morland Bank wood – Howebeck Bridge – Meaburn Hall – Maulds Meaburn – The Flass – Crosby Ravensworth
When we arrived in the village the parking area opposite the village hall was empty which pleased J no end as he was able to park without any difficulty. The village hall was built in 1927 according to the plaque above the entrance, on either side of which are memorials to the local men who fought and died in World Wars 1 & 2. The one carrying the list of names for WW1 can be seen to the left of the entrance and has a long list of names. The one for WW2 has fewer names and cannot be seen in the above shot as it is obscured by the entrance porch. When we ready to go we walked from the parking area down to …..
….. the ford and and crossed the beck via the stepping stones to the path opposite where we turned left and disappeared into the shrubbery until we came to a wooden gate which we passed through and back out into the open again.
Crossing the field where we came across this pony. As you know J loves horses and gathered a handful of grass to give to it but it didn’t want to have anything to do with us and walked away. J said that he thought it looked a bit glum so perhaps it was lonely being stuck in a field all by itself. We often see a pony in a field together with a donkey, which provides company for both of them, but this one was entirely alone.
We left the pony to its own devices and proceeded to head for the path curving up to the top of the field …..
….. and some distance further up we came to a metal gate which we passed througt and were confronted with a field full of long grasses which were swaying to and fro in the light breeze…..
….. here’s J up to his knees in it as we ploughed our way through it. At least we had the North Pennines to look at while we did so. The heavy cloud above us threw spits and spots of rain on us from time to time but it was very half-hearted and never amounted to anything which could even be called a shower.
Two stiles in close proximity at the field corner, enter via the right hand one and exit via the left hand one …..
….. and then immediately drop down to this third stile which also had a dog gate attached to it. How a dog would manage to get through the tangle of nettles plus a variety of prickly vegetation I couldn’t imagine but I expect they do eventually. I was wearing 3/4 length trousers so with the exposed skin between trouser bottoms and tops of socks being vulnerable to being stung we bashed down most of the nettles before I stepped down into the field.
The field turned out to be a wild flower meadow and was full of buttercups, daisies, clover in addition to other flowers which I didn’t know the names of. The owner of the building in the shot above, Crake Trees Manor, had mown a path through the meadow which was a joy to walk over after the slog through the long grasses. We were accompanied by the scent of the clover flowers all the way across, it was the perfect accompaniment to a walk through the meadow.
Situated close to the manor house was this ancient building known as The Tower House. Its a Grade ll listed building dating from the 14th century and was originally the residence of the Lancaster family. You can read more about the building here – https://ancientmonuments.uk/105822-crake-trees-tower-house-crosby-ravensworth
Nearby was this information board courtesy of Eden Rivers Trust which explained their work in creating wetlands and drainage in the area but didn’t provide any information about the Tower House. The red spot indicates the ‘You are here’ information.
Just a short distance up the hill from the Tower House was this break in the wall which we stepped through and which brought us into …..
….. yet another wild flower meadow where the scent of the clover flowers was just as strong as the one we had already walked through. As we walked through it and brushed against the flowers the perfume they released was pleasant and relaxing. I took a look back as we crossed the meadow and the remains of the Tower House and its flagpole can be seen in the shot.
A look back towards the meadow as we walked up the slope of the next field we crossed. This wasn’t a wild flower meadow but was full of long grass, although not the same type of long grass that we had walked through previously. This seemed to have a more cultivated nature as opposed to the knee high and swaying wild grasses in the field we’d crossed previously. The map indicated a path across it but there was no sign of one on the ground so we just battled our way through. The V shape on the North Pennine skyline is High Cup Nick.
When we reached the top of the hill we eventually found an old quad bike track which, although somewhat overgrown, was more than welcome after our struggle uphill through very long grass, The hamlet of Wickerslack is ahead of us.
Closer to Wickerslack now and the houses and barns become more recognisable.
As we approached the farmyard we could hear the engine of a tractor somewhere behind one of the buildings. It eventually came into view and having noticed what it was carrying I scrabbled to get the camera up and running but by the time I had the farmer had already emptied the load into the Shelbourne muckspreader so I missed it. At least I got a shot of a tractor in action which was better than nothing.
One of the traditional Cumbrian style houses in the Wickerslack hamlet. The small white squares that can be seen in the upper windows are not quite so traditional though. They are polythene bags which flutter in the breeze and are meant to dissuade house martins from building their nests. A method we have also used on our roof joists in the past which seemed to work.
Along the lane leading out of the hamlet now where we came across this little pony which did take a handful of grass from J although the pair of them had a bit of difficulty doing so thanks to the restrictions created by the fence between the pair of them. This pony had several other ponies for company unlike the first one we saw.
Another traditional style residence further down the lane, both the house and the garden were in well kept condition but the garden particularly so.
A look along the lane as we left Wickerslack and headed for Reagill Grange. The track eventually turned away towards the west so we had to follow a grassy track for a short distance before dropping down to an established track by some modern looking barns.
We joined the established track by the barns but as we walked alongside Spring Wood we noticed a flock of sheep coming towards us. The lead sheep usually stops in its tracks when it sees humans walking towards it with the rest of the flock doing the same. To prevent this happening we moved over to a handy curve in the fence line hoping that we would be out of view to the lead ewe. She spotted us though, stopped and thought about it for a few seconds before she decided to go for it. She moved to the opposite side of the track, broke into a run and scampered past us followed by the rest of the flock who all did the same. The farmer on his quad bike eventually appeared gave us a big smile, a friendly wave and a cheery hello.
We continued on up to Reagill Grange where I took this shot of the house before continuing on our way. Again its a traditional north country farmhouse, steeply angled roofs, thick walls and small windows to keep the weather out and the warmth in.
The track from Reagill Grange led us round to a tarmac lane which would eventually lead on to Reagill village so we kept a lookout for the turning we needed and here it is complete with signpost and BEECH TREE FARM inscribed on a stone in the wall.
Instead of clover our noses were now filled with the scent of wild roses which grew in abundance all the way along the lane. Nothing matches the perfume of sweet scented wild roses during an English summer.
Further along the lane was this pool in an area of wetland where all manner of lush green water loving plants were growing.
All the way along we were greeted by many kinds of hedgerow plants where this clump of thistles caught my eye although it wasn’t the only plant which did.
Down the hill now and about to round a bend in the path where we spotted this pony grazing quietly in the adjacent field. I thought she looked pregnant although J did mention that sometimes mares can still have that same look even when they have given birth.
Another patch of wild flowers in the hedgerow. I think the pink ones are Cranesbill which is a type of geranium, that could also apply to the blue ones or they could be periwinkle flowers, and the white ones are cow parsley although there are many different looking varieties of this plant so its difficult to be specific.
We arrived at Beech Tree farm although it did not appear to be a working farm. There were too many vehicles parked at the front of the house to get a decent shot of it but, as we continued on down the lane going around it I managed to get this side view of the house. There was a gate a little lower down which provided a view of the garden which looked well tended although for the most part I could only see garden peas growing. They were protected by a well installed frame covered with fine netting which hopefully stops the local wild life eating all the produce. Anyone who has ever tried to grow foodstuff in their back garden knows about the lure of free food attracting all manner of creatures, we certainly do!
Further down the lane was an orchard of crab apples but quite why anyone would plant a whole orchard of them was puzzling. They are very bitter, as anyone who has ever bitten into one will testify, and are usually only made into jams, jellies and pies accompanied by a lorry load of sugar. A couple of trees would provide more than enough for the average household so why grow an orchard full of them? Maybe they are sold commercially as a cash crop.
We passed through a gate and continued along the track down to a stone building. Along the way we could see this stone circle which had something resembling a large metal saucer in the centre with the grass inside the circle neatly mown, in sharp contrast to the surrounding grasses which were long and swaying in the breeze. As there is no inidcation of a stone circle or ancient monument on the map we concluded that this was a modern construction and that the metal saucer shape in the centre was there to light a fire in. The whole thing had something of a ‘New Age’ feeling to it, a feeling which was enhanced when a yurt came into view as we approached the stone building. The stone building itself looked as though it had started life as a barn which someone had decided to renovate into a house only to run out of the cash with which to complete the renovation and had simply left it to fend for itself. The weather stained yurt was a prominent feature amongst a variety of different building materials, wood, heaps of stone, old fencing etc. etc. It all felt rather creepy to me and I was happy to leave it all behind. However, leaving it all behind proved to be somewhat on the difficult side as the track ended at the stone building and we were left with once again moving through a jungle of long grass, nettles, thistles and other prickly types of prickly plants. We looked for the footbridge which was indicated on our map but couldn’t find anything remotely resembling a footbridge so we ploughed on towards a tumbled down wall corner which we crossed while carefully avoiding all the usual prickly things. After that there was another patch of prickly stuff but easily avoided and then we dropped down into the bed of a trickle of a beck which eventually dried up. We continued along the dry beck until we came to a walk through open stone passageway which we didn’t know about but which gave access to an open field.
Here’s the view across the open field after we had gone through the walk through stile. We were making for the open green patch between the trees and for the road which we knew ran alongside it.
Here’s looking down the road leading through Morland Bank Wood and, after a short break, we walked down the road towards Maulds Meaburn. We don’t like road walking but at least we’d have plenty of prior warning about oncoming vehicles. Almost at the end of the level road before it turned sharply and steeply down the hill we saw a hand painted notice which said ‘CAUTION – free range pigs’. Instead of the wild boar we had expected to see we saw …..
….. these four pigs snoozing in their corrugated shelter. The two largest ones were on either side of the shelter, one a Gloucester Old Spot and the other a British Saddleback, with a couple of younger and smaller ones sleeping between them. They were both in deep shade so it was impossible to determine what breed they were.
We left the pigs sleeping peacefully and made our way down the steep curve to the road junction where we turned right and headed for Maulds Meaburn. I took a photo of the junction sign not only to indicate which direction we would take from here but also because every village mentioned on it is so familiar to us. None of them are all very far away from the village in which we live.
The first building we came to after turning right at the road junction was Meaburn Hall. Initially a mediaeval fortified hall house and tower house which was demolished in 1610 and replaced by the present hall house. It had subsequent alterations during the 17th and 18th centuries and is now a Grade ll listed building.
I took the previous photo through the slats in the wooden gate before stepping back for the above shot of the imposing 17th century gateway. Wonder if the wooden gates are as old as that?
From Meaburn Hall we carried on walking down the road until we came to the first bridge where I took the above shot looking along the Lyvennet beck towards Maulds Meaburn. After that we carried on across the bridge and turned right to walk along the little tarmac lane which allows access to the houses on the other side of the beck.
A little further along the tarmac ends and the path continues over the grass. We didn’t cross any of the bridges over the beck but I thought viewers might like to see at least one of them. The bridge in the shot is one of the bigger ones.
Further along we came across a small weir in the beck. I have read that a mill used to be situated somewhere along the beck but there is no trace of it now. There is also a Mill Cottage in the village which is a holiday let but I haven’t been able to determine whether it has anything to do with the former mill.
The route we were following eventually led us away from the beck and the village and on towards the house known as The Flass. I was interested in seeing it since it has some local notoriety attached to it. It was originally built for Wilkinson Dent in 1851. Dent and his brother operated Dent & Co, importers of tea and opium. The reason it has local notoriety is because the ex-husband of a subsequent owner (the pair were divorced by then), along with five other men, was jailed in 2015 with for the cultivation of cannabis. All six men were found guilty and were given jail sentences. Isn’t it interesting that a house created in the 19th century from the wealth accruing from the importing of opium subsequently became a venue for wealth creation from cannabis cultivation in the 21st century. The house was put up for auction in 2019 and the property is now in private hands. Wikipedia has all the details – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flass
The path continues along the side of the wall surrounding the house …..
….. and further along I managed to take this shot of the house showing the original owner’s initials and the date it was built. The wall was very high so this was the best shot I could manage.
The path continued on towards this tunnel and, as there was a large building behind us over on the left and the house is over on the right we thought that the carriages and horses used by Mr Dent and his family would have been stabled in the large building, with the tunnel creating the bridge between the two sides of the property.
The path through the tunnel opened out onto a large field at the far end of which was this open stile leading us back to the Lyvennet beck and on towards Crosby Ravensworth.
The path continues along the banks of the Lyvennet …..
….. where we came across this rope swing dangling from a stout tree branch. Yes, I had to have a swing on it, just like J has to stop and offer grass to a pony.
We’re back in the village now so we cross the bridge over the beck and …..
….. wind our way around Church of St Lawrence where we met two other people out walking the path in the opposite direction, the only walkers we’ve met today. We crossed another bridge back over the beck and …..
….. we’re back on the main road through Crosby Ravensworth. The name plate beside the door attracted my attention so I went over to have a look at it. It read ‘The Sun Hotel’ from which I understood that the building had once been a pub although it is now a private residence. Well folks, that’s our walk for today, not a huge distance, no breathtaking fell scenery, and not great weather either, Nevertheless it was a very interesting walk, we discovered a few ‘new to us’ items and Maulds Meaburn remains as unspoiled and attractive as ever. Long may that continue.