Category: Danby

  • Danby Castle

    Danby Castle

    A castle was first mentioned on this site in 1242, but the oldest parts of the present structure were built by Lord Latimer in the 14th-century to show off his wealth. It has been much adapted over the years including the addition of a farmhouse. The castle stands in a commanding location on the south…

  • Bell heather, Danby Rigg

    Bell heather, Danby Rigg

    The first of the heathers are out. Bell heather, such a deep rich colour, my favourite. Ling, which will cover the moors by August is much lighter, more of a lilac. The third type of heather found on the moors is Cross-leaved heath with pale pink flowers. The ditch on the right is part of…

  • Little Fryup Dale

    Little Fryup Dale

    High Lane, linking the neat fields of the eastern side of Little Fryup Dale escaped designation as a Public Bridleway. The dry stone walls probably date from the late 18th/early 19th centuries when the fields would have been created under the Parliamentary Enclosure Acts. On the west side of Heads, that separates the dales of…

  • Church Way, Ainthorpe Rigg

    Church Way, Ainthorpe Rigg

    I often find I visit a stretch of moor that I haven’t been to for years then, a short time later, I’m back on that very same moor. So it was today, I found myself back on Ainthorpe Rigg, and on the Old Hell Road, the old corpse road. This would have been the final…

  • The Old Hell Way

    The Old Hell Way

    Danby Rigg, a landscape of human activity since prehistoric times. A promontory of heather moorland separating the valleys of Danby Dale and Little Fryup Dale, cross dykes, field systems, burial mounds, standing stones are strewn about. Two medieval tracks cross the rigg leading from Fairy Cross Plain, the col between the two dales of Friga,…

  • Barn at Castle Houses

    Barn at Castle Houses

    From the Ainthorpe to Little Fryup Dale road, a fine view over Danby and the Esk valley. Open Space Web-Map builder Code