Marskeswaledale.com
Coast to Coast highlights: Marske to Richmond
If you are walking the “Coast to coast” walk this page tells you a little about the village of Marske, and what you’ll see on the way to Richmond. The map below may help. For the wider context of the coast-to-coast walk, including Marske’s special place in the history of Wainwright’s travels see here.
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Approaching Marske from the west
Assuming you’re walking from west to east you’ll come over the tops from Reeth and Marrick. Shortly after passing close to Hollins Farm you’ll get your first glimpse down towards Marske village on your right, at about the point where reach the Reeth-Marske road at Hardstiles Top. You’ll see several large farms in the village as well as a cluster of houses. The majority of the Marske’s population today is connected with farming. A minority are commuters, work-from-homers, and retirees. Around 20% of the houses in the area are holiday cottages or second homes.
To your left you’ll see the valley of the hamlet of Clints (above), Marske Beck and the cliffs of Clints scar (below).
Until the 1960s the whole village of Marske (with Clints and Skelton), and almost all of the land you see before you, was part of a large estate. (For more of the general history of the area see here.) The estate had been in the ownership of the Hutton family for 360 years, from when they bought land at Marske in the late 16th century. Around a dozen Huttons ruled the roost from Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of York, in 1597, until John Timothy D’Arcy Hutton (III) in 1957. The Huttons built their home, Marske Hall, at the centre of their estate. As well as the Archbishop of York, the family also produced another Matthew who rose to be Archbishop of Canterbury in 1757.
The estate at its peak was about 50 sq. km in size. It grew especially in the nineteenth century through the acquisition of the neighbouring Clints and Skelton Estates. The hamlet of Clints also had its own large Hall. When the Huttons acquired the Clints and Skelton Estates in 1842 they promptly demolished Clints Hall, purportedly because it detracted from the prominence of Marske Hall! The painting below shows the village in the nineteenth century before Clints Hall was demolished.
The economy of the estate was largely based on arable farming for 360 years. The estate was divided into around 10 farms, which were rented out to tenant farmers providing the Huttons with plentiful income.
The population in the nineteenth century was split between (i) tenant farmers and their labourers, and (ii) those employed to look after the needs of the Hutton family and their residence at Marske Hall as domestic servants, chambermaids, coachmen and gamekeepers. All depended almost entirely on the goodwill of the Huttons for their livelihoods. The tenant farmers for example had no security of tenure, no rights to extract lime for fertiliser or shoot game, and no ability to grind their own flour. Until the 1960s the village water supply was provided by the estate.
The Hutton family however had stopped living in Marske by the end of the nineteenth century and left an Estate Agent (literally) in charge until the 1960s. The Marske estate lost more than half its land between 1920 and 1940 to the expansion of the British Army’s Garrison and Training Area at Catterick.
After John Timothy D’Arcy Hutton (III) died in 1957 the family had no interest in keeping the estate on, and arguably at that time the capital value of the estate would earn more “in the bank”. Hence by the early 1960s almost every building and field you can see was sold. Most of the land and buildings were sold to the existing tenants, perhaps indicating a benign approach by the remaining Huttons to the disposal of their assets here. Many of those families who bought properties in the 1960s still live and farm in the village.
As you walk down the road (“Hardstiles”) into Marske you may get a glimpse of Marske Hall and its Stables Block with an elegant clock tower. These buildings have recently been converted into private apartments and self-catering holiday lets respectively.
The village “centre”
At the bottom of the hill you will come across the sixteenth century bridge over Marske Beck (you’ll see this if you look at the bridge from below). It is here where Alfred Wainwright finished his research for his 1972 book on the Coast-to-Coast, and not as might be expected at Robin Hood’s Bay! (See here for more on the Coast to Coast walk.)
It is worth going via the village church as you continue your walk. For much of the year it is possible to buy snacks and some provisions in the church. Unfortunately there is currently no toilet so please plan ahead for that!
The church originates from the 12th century. Its site is said to have been one place (of many) where St Cuthbert’s bones had rested on a peregrination around the north of England to thwart the Vikings capturing them. Vikings had sacked the abbey at Lindisfarne in 743 AD. Cuthbert had been an early saint in the Celtic tradition, and a cult developed centred on his bones.
The church has at times had failing fortunes as a building. In 1633 the “Metropolitan Visitation” on behalf of the Archbishop of York condemned the church wardens for their neglect of the church fabric, ill-discipline and disorder! The church’s seats were unfit, the perimeter wall insecure (letting farm animals in), and lacking religious books. Despite their connections to Archbishops this cannot have reflected well on the Huttons, and it galvanised them into making a series of investments over the next 50 years. These included the two windows in the south aisle, dedicated to John Hutton Squire in 1683. A nineteenth century commentator felt that everything done to the church in the 1600s “created injury”, and felt that this window was so rudely done that it must have been put up by a “village mason”. Pevsner, the prominent twentieth century architectural historian described it as “the oddest interpretation” of early English window design. You can be the judge!
The box pews in the church date from the early nineteenth century, and whilst not fine woodwork, are unusual – only one other church in North Yorkshire has them (in Whitby). The larger box pew to the left of the altar was reserved for the Hutton family. The vicar in about 1900 wanted to modernise the look of the church and replace all of these pews, but got into a row with John Timothy D’Arcy Hutton (II) during which he was cast as a “venomous” vicar/rector. He caved in to the Lord of the Manor.
A lunch spot
If it is not raining a good place to eat lunch is on the bench at the top of the village, by the still-functioning telephone box. As you sit here you’ll see in front of you a stubby stone set away from the wall opposite. This was a stone where carts could be “held” whilst their drivers went into the building behind you for a drink. You’ll have passed through areas of lead mining as you walked through Swaledale before getting to Reeth; there was relatively little mining around Marske. However Marske was on the main routes by which lead was taken by mule from mines and smelters further up the dale to ports such as Stockton, or after 1846 to the railway in Richmond. At its peak perhaps 100-200 mules a day could have come through Marske. Their thirsty drivers would often have stopped in the pub in the building behind you.
The village folklore records that in the late nineteenth century a drunken row so offended Mrs Hutton that she insisted the pub was closed for good. The building was converted to the Temperance Hotel. The Temperance movement was strongly supported by Methodists, who had a strong foothold in Swaledale at the time. The farm here to this day is still called Temperance Farm.
The lane to your right as you sit on the bench leads to Clints. Marske’s third Archbishop, this time a catholic Archbishop of Westminster, was born there.
Onwards towards Richmond
The original Wainwright coast to coast route to Richmond leaves the village on the Richmond road until it crosses into the fields on the right (see map below). The first thing to notice is the medieval lynchett strips on the hillside to the left – these were strips of land farmed by peasants, and potentially held by either the Lord of the Manor or by the church. It has been speculated that these strips in Marske may date from Anglian times (around 500AD).
Once you leave the road the first 2 or 3 fields you cross were historically “glebe”. Glebe land belonged to the church. The rector was one of the few people in the village who was notionally independent of the Lord of the Manor. The rector of the church had an income generated independently, firstly through his glebe by growing crops (or grazing for livestock), and secondly through levying tithes on each farm in the parish. However any independence might have been limited in practice – the rector was always appointed by the Lord of the Manor.
The fields you cross are underlain by blue clay. One if them used to be called “Potters Field”. Clay was dug from here and fired to make pipes which were used as land drains. Around 1820-30 land drains were buried at least 1m beneath the surface of many fields so as to help drain marshy areas and make them more productive. Many of those drains still serve that purpose today – including almost certainly draining the fields you will walk across as you leave the village.
You will be able to see ahead of you the Swale Valley towards Richmond. Unusually the valley narrows as it approaches Richmond.
During the last glaciation, about 20000 years ago, Swaledale and Wensleydale (the valley to the south) had their own local self-contained ice sheet. (See here for more on glaciation and Swaledale/Marske.) At the same time a larger regional ice sheet from the Lake District and the Eden Valley (around Kirkby Stephen) flowed eastwards over the low pass across the Pennines north of Swaledale and that now carries the A66 road (“The Stainmore Gap”). This regional ice sheet was then forced to turn south into the gap between the edge of the Pennines at Richmond and the North York Moors at Osmotherley (this is known because the ice carried distinctive pebbles of red granite from the Shap area.) The Swale ice sheet was blocked in the valley ahead of you at Richmond. When the ice in the Vale of Mowbray (i.e. between Richmond and Osmotherley) began to melt it is likely the Swaledale ice forced its way through the gap at Richmond making the gorge you can see ahead.
Beyond Richmond both the local Swaledale ice, and the regional “Lake District” ice, both flowed into the Vale of Mowbray east and south of Richmond. There they deposited large quantities of sand and gravel there. As you walk beyond Richmond to Danby Wiske on your way to Robin Hood’s Bay you will come across a number of man-made lakes where this sand and gravel has been extracted.
The classic Wainwright route follows the contour towards Whitcliffe Wood and then descends into Richmond. But Wainwright never imagined people would follow his route slavishly. So if you have a bit of time in hand here are two alternative ways to Richmond. These descriptions assume you have a 1:25000 map and will stick to marked public rights of way.
Alternative 1: The Willance (of Clints) route.
The story of Willance’s Leap is famous (in Richmond at least). Robert Willance had been Lord of the Manor at Clints in the early seventeenth century. A memorial to him is to be found along the north side of the escarpment between here and Richmond. Robert Willance had been a prosperous Richmond draper, and invested in Swaledale lead mines. He is famed locally for a hunting accident on Whitcliffe Scar, near Richmond in 1606, where his horse bolted over the cliff (now known as Willance’s Leap). Willance survived but lost his leg in the incident; the horse didn’t fare so well.
To reach the memorial turn north (left) off the standard route and go up Deepdale to a road at the point on the 1:25000 map called “Deepdale Tree” (this is the 302m spot height on the map above). The side valleys to the north of the Swale, including Marske Beck, are deeply incised into the landscape and steep-sided. It has been proposed that these landscapes were formed by high volumes of meltwater flowing from the north underneath the ice sheet that filled the Swaledale. Deepdale is possibly another glacial meltwater channel.
Once you’ve ascended Deepdale to the road, turn sharply southwards again and gain the edge of the high ground overlooking the Swale valley towards Richmond. After 1km you’ll come to Willance’s memorial. He lost both his horse and his leg on the cliffs below you. From here continue eastwards until the footpath turns downhill to High Leases Farm. Take the bridleway from here that eventually joins the street of Westfields on the edge of Richmond. There is much to see in Richmond. St Mary’s Church has an extravagant memorial to Timothy Hutton who died in 1629. It also features the grave where Willance and his leg are reunited.
Alternative 2: The River and Ice Age alternative
This is an alternative for those interested in geomorphology, and take you past an incised river meander, and the small Richmond “gorge”. These features formed at about the time of the last ice age (see here for more on Swaledale and glaciation).
Just before you reach Low Applegarth Farm turn right down the hill on a footpath that reaches picturesque meadows along the Swale.
After passing a curious memorial to a dog, and Lownethwaite Farm, cross over the main road to reach a footbridge over the Swale. Cross the footbridge to reach the south bank of the river Swale. Here you will pass Round Howe, an incised river meander of Grand Canyon style (albeit on a much reduced scale!). The meander was then abandoned by the river when the Richmond gorge formed (see below) at the end of the last ice age. The Google Earth view shows this feature at its best.
Further on you’ll enter into a section of river with steeply cut cliffs on the south side. It has been proposed that the Swale was initially blocked in this area by ice as glaciers retreated, and that after the blockage was overcome, waters rushed through to create a mini-gorge. The schematic map below illustrates this hypothesis.
Once past the small gorge you’ll then soon reach the Green Bridge in Richmond. From here walk up the steep hill into Richmond Market Square. It has been proposed that the River Swale flowed at the height of this market square before the “gorge” was cut.
