Tripsdale Head — from Monastic Grange to 17th Century Shieling

This morning I had the chance to visit Tripsdale Head in the North York Moors, an area I’ve often admired from afar at Low Cable Stones — visible in the photograph on the skyline. It looked an inviting spot oozing with history amidst its lush pastures.

Tripsdale rises on a gentle slope on the moorland plateau, where sturdy oolite form the underlying bedrock. The nascent dale begins its journey here, a rivulet meandering lazily across the moor. As it encounters the softer lias shales, the landscape transforms, with the beck carving a deep ravine over time. Here Tripsdale’s beauty truly begins to shine, with the babbling beck flowing over smooth rocks, surrounded by picturesque cliffs adorned with twisted birch and oak trees.

It turns out that the lush pasture that caught my attention was actually a medieval grange belonging to either Rievaulx Abbey or Kirkham Priory, likely repurposed as a shieling in the 17th century. The sheep fold appears to be contemporary with this period, built with medieval dressed stone¹NYMNPA HER No: 6706 Grange at Tripsdale
NYMNPA HER No: 8830 Sheep fold north of Tripsdale Beck
NYMNPA HER No: 2098 Cable Stone Dyke between North Gill and Tripsdale Beck
NYMNPA HER No: 2099 Enclosures at Tripsdale Head²North York Moors NMP 2. Aerial Survey Mapping Summary Report. National Mapping Programme. Historic Environment Enabling Programme: Project Number 6445. NRHE Parent Collection: EHC01/222 NRHE Event: 1547939.Report Date: April 2013.

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  NYMNPA HER No: 6706 Grange at Tripsdale
  NYMNPA HER No: 8830 Sheep fold north of Tripsdale Beck
  NYMNPA HER No: 2098 Cable Stone Dyke between North Gill and Tripsdale Beck
  NYMNPA HER No: 2099 Enclosures at Tripsdale Head
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  North York Moors NMP 2. Aerial Survey Mapping Summary Report. National Mapping Programme. Historic Environment Enabling Programme: Project Number 6445. NRHE Parent Collection: EHC01/222 NRHE Event: 1547939.Report Date: April 2013