When the Beck Runs Dry: Hob Hole’s Ancient Ford Revealed

The word was that Baysdale Beck at Hob Hole Wath had dropped so low the old ford surface was showing. Thank you, Stephen. I could not resist.

Hob Hole has drawn picnickers since the Edwardian age. The name alone — ‘hob’, likely from ‘hobgoblin’ — conjures something hidden and tricky, a haunt of creatures best avoided by tired travellers. The ford itself, where the Kildale to Westerdale road crosses the beck, lies at the bottom of a sharp descent and demands a punishing climb on the far side. It is probably ancient. The road is known historically as Ernaldsti, a medieval route heading south from Guisborough. It likely echoes something older still — a path trodden first by Mesolithic hunters trailing deer across the moors.

Over the high moors, the route from north to south is easy to trace. What is not clear is how it tackled Baysdale itself. The natural thought is that it crossed where the modern road now meets the beck, at Hob Hole. The name gives a clue: ‘wath’ comes from Old Norse ‘vath’, meaning a ford. In flood, it would have been impassable (and still is) to all but the foolhardy.

Yet just upstream, the story becomes murkier. Two ancient gateposts still stand¹NYMNP HER No: 5503 Two gateposts north of Baysdale Beck. Nearby are the remains of a buttress, once part of a packhorse bridge. From this spot, paths worn deep into the hillside rise toward Gin Garth, an old farmstead once tied to the smuggling trade. These tracks suggest movement, trade, perhaps evasion. On the northern side, though, the trail fades. Kempswithen Moor offers no clear way.

So, did the Ernaldsti cross Baysdale at Hob Hole, or did it take the higher route past Gin Garth? Was the lower crossing only made easier later, drawing traffic down from the moor and turning the isolated farmstead into a useful hideout for contraband? The exposed stones of the ford whisper their own story, but not loudly enough.

• 1
  NYMNP HER No: 5503 Two gateposts north of Baysdale Beck