So yesterday, inspired by the continuation of £2 bus fares and the realisation I've only got a month left of my English Heritage membership, I took a jaunt out to the Howardian Hills. The Coastliner dropped me off at Whitwell Hill, and then it was a pleasant ten to fifteen minute stroll, down country lanes to Kirkham Priory.
Oddly, despite living reasonably nearby for the past 30 years, I've never actually been into the Priory ruins until now. They're ok - quite fragmented of course; clearly been bashed about somewhat over the past 400 years or so, but quite enjoyable to explore. Very good views across the Derwent to the York-Scarborough line, and the picturesque disused station (Kirkham Abbey, last used by passengers 93 years ago).
I've been to Kirkham Abbey station already - about 9 years ago I think, in my first few weeks of pretending to be a blogger, before I realised what a silly impractical task I had set myself, but took some pictures anyway. I do like a classic North Eastern Railway signalbox. I wonder if the brick wall at track level is the last remaining fragment of the Scarborough-bound platform?
But anyway. My choice at this point was to head back up the hill to the bus stop, and get the next Coastliner back to Scabs, or have a further explore. Luckily I'd brought a trusty orange Ordnance Survey map of the area, just in case, so opted for the latter. The next stop towards York, on the Big Tile Map, is/was Barton Hill. The OS shows a footpath along the river bank, but I know from previous experience it can get absolutely disgusting, and my boots are not particularly mud-proof, so I opted for the "inland" route. The river does a big loop here anyway, so going over the top of the hill would be much shorter anyway.
I followed the road back round the back of the signalbox, and then took a signposted footpath off to the left, and headed steeply into the bluebell-carpeted woods. Once at the top of the hill, it was a pleasant stroll along another country lane, to the tiny village of Crambe. It has a church (St Nicholas's) - which was open and contains an excellent selection of secondhand books for sale in the porch - a phonebox (which still has a phone in it, rather than a defibrillator) and a postbox. That's about it. No pub, no shop, not even a roadside stall selling eggs and jam. What is the world coming to?
After passing through this teeming metropolis (maybe it gets more lively on a weekday?), my route took me through a field of sheep, then down a long hill, overlooking the Vale of York. I suspect if the sky had been clearer I could probably have seen the Minster on the horizon, but that's just a guess.
At the bottom of the hill, the lane crossed the railway again, at Barton gatehouse. Apparently if you want to take a herd of cows across the track you have to phone the signalman. There was a poster saying if there's no answer, the signalman might be on strike, so you'd have to wait. There were no cows waiting to cross, so I assume all was well.
Once through the gates, the lane led me to the village of Barton-le-Willows, which although larger than Crambe, was just as quiet. Their phonebox is now a defibrillator, and their church is now a house, but they do have a gin distillery. How times have changed.
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| Barton Hill (1) |
I continued through the village, and out the other side, and reached the old station at Barton Hill. It looks very similar to a lot of other rural stations on the former York & North Midland Railway, and has a surprisingly modern-looking signalbox. I took a crap selfie, standing in the middle of the road, as can be seen here --->
Please excuse my hair - it was windy, and whichever angle I stood I ended up looking dreadful, so this is the best of a bad bunch.
But anyway, back to a rail-related theme, I'm not sure why the signalbox is so out of keeping with the rest of the station. It looks sort of 1930s-ish, which would've been after the station closed. I'll have to investigate - I'm sure I've got a book somewhere which will explain...
After that, I checked my bus timetable, and discovered I was about to miss another bus, but that turned out to be in my favour. While pondering the architectural origins of the aforementioned signalbox, I was tormented by a niggling doubt about the station. I had a vague idea that all was not what it seemed, and on returning home I discovered I was right...
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| Barton Hill (2) |
At some point, and for some reason (possibly connected with road works?) Barton Hill station moved, not far, just a few feet really, but that meant the station building I had posed by wasn't always the station building! For reasons of accuracy (as if that's actually important, and as if anyone even reads this rubbish anyway), I took another picture down by the other station building too. It's on a dead end road, which leads to an out-of-use level crossing, on what was the A64, before it was realigned. I've no idea which building was the station at the time of the Big Tile Map, but for completeness's sake I took another picture, where my hair looks slightly less offensive.
So that was that. Or was it...
On the way back to the bus stop, I caught a glimpse of something mysterious in the undergrowth. On further inspection it turned out to be a disused miniature railway, running through the trees. It looks long-abandoned, but still quite complete. On the bus home - Wifi on a bus! Very modern - I found a reference to it, admittedly from 2014... Apparently it belongs (belonged?) to a guesthouse called "El Paso", and was open to their visitors. No idea if that's still the case... Curious...
