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On Wednesday the 3rd August 2021, I left the Skipsea Sands Holiday Park to drive to Goathland for a walk.
On the way I passed a Landrover with a black and white Collie Sheepdog running alongside. I thought it was the farmer driving down to the next field with his dog. I looked in my rear view mirror and see the farmer get out of his Landrover and the dog running off. I immediately saw that he was in fact trying to catch his dog. So I stopped my car diagonally across the road and tried to catch the dog, but he got pass. Again we both drove down the road and did the same manoeuvre several more times before, I managed to stop the dog. "Grab him by the scruff of the neck" yelled the farmer. He ran up and slipping a rope lead around his neck, he thanked me and walked the dog back to his car.
I drove on and soon driving over the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors.
I park up on the grass verge just pass the Mallyan Spout Hotel for free.
After donning my walking boots and starting up my Garmin GPS, I walk off up the road with amazing views across the Moors.
To my left is Two Howes Rigg and to my right is the valley below Scar Wood.
After some road walking with amazing views I reach the bridge below over the River West Beck. Here I take a footpath before the bridge and down alongside the river.
Nice to be away from the road and alongside the babbling river.
Care is needed on this section of the walk, the path is eroded in places with a drop next to the path and rocks are slippery under foot. At times there were deep oozy mud too.
West Beck is the common name given to the upper section of the old River Hull, as it rises in the foothills of the Yorkshire Wolds. After reaching Frodingham Beck at Emmotland, it becomes called the River Hull. It is noteworthy for being the most northerly chalk stream in England. It provides fly fishing for wild brown trout and grayling.
Along the river there were loads of mini waterfalls adding sound to the air as I walk on. Along this section I didn't see a single soul.
Scar Wood towers above the Beck.
I have no idea in why or what the idea is of people hammering coins into logs is.
The route takes me across the Beck via a bridge and then almost immediately straight back across another.
I now reach Mallyan Spout waterfall where I meet the first other walkers of the day, as there is a footpath that leads down from the road. Hence a shorter route than I took but probably not as nice. But a good alternative if you don't fancy the eroded path.
Long before Heartbeat and TV fame, the tumbling waterfall of Mallyan Spout helped put Goathland on the map as a tourist village in the nineteenth century.
The water cascading from Mallyan Spout rises from springs in the moorland above Goathland. It finds the easiest route downhill until it meets New Wath Scar. This deep ravine was cut by the flowing water of West Beck, which over thousands of years has eroded a path through the sandstone. At Mallyan Spout the sides of the ravine are 70 feet high and almost vertical. Water draining from the moors has no option but to tumble over the edge – forming a towering waterfall.
I walk on carefully along the rough rock lined path.
The path emerges out into sunshine and alongside some fields.
The path heads back downhill near the river before climbing back out to Beck Hole.
Beck Hole is located at approximately 70 m (230 ft) above sea level in the North York Moors, in the valley of the Murk Esk River, a tributary of the River Esk. The village is approximately 1.25 miles (2 km) roughly north-west of Goathland and within the same civil parish. It is accessed by a road with very steep gradients on either side of the village. The North Yorkshire Moors Railway passes the village close by to the north.
The majority of the structures in the village are listed, including several 18th century sandstone buildings: the Birch Hall Inn (cottages and with 19th century extension), Fir Tree farmhouse, Brookwood farmhouse (outbuildings to Fir Tree farm, now dwellings), 'The White House', and 'Old Woodbine'. Also listed are the 19th century stone bridge over the Ellerbeck, and the 19th century former public house, the 'Lord Nelson'.
Sadly the pub hasn't opened since the Covid Lockdown, hopefully it will again soon!
After crossing the bridge over the river I take a footpath that leads uphill and alongside the railway tracks of The North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
As I climbed I could hear the puffing of a Steam train, but it had long gone by the time I reached the tracks.
I sat by the tracks to have a bite to eat and a drink, hoping another steam train would pass.
Instead of a steam train, I was graced by a BR Class 37 No. 37264 diesel Locomotive.
The British Railways Modernisation Plan of the 1950s identified a need for a powerful 1,500-2,000hp diesel, designated Type 3. The English Electric company’s design was commissioned and the first examples built in 1959. Later renumbered as the Class 37, the type became a jack-of-all-trades, seen hauling everything from heavy freight to express passenger services and over 300 were built. Nicknamed “tractors” for their noisy engines, a few are still in service on the British railway network despite their age, though most have now retired.
37264 (originally numbered D6964) was built at Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows in 1965 and served in South Yorkshire and East Anglia before transferring to Cardiff in 1988 and finishing her nearly 35-year career there in 1999
No. 37264 arrived at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in 2010 and has been in regular use since. She is currently painted in the 1980s "Large Logo" version of the BR rail blue livery.
I walk down the steep path back down to the river via the footpath.
Here I meet the Thomason Foss Waterfall.
Here is a 20m plunge pool and I just had to have a swim. luckily it was just me here at that time.
The waterfall, a single drop of about 15 feet at the end of a wooded ravine, tips into a natural, rocky amphitheatre.
I get in, I expected my feet to touch bottom but not realising how deep it was , I plunge in and it was freezing. Even by my standards this was cold and I swam out and I could feel my toes going numb. After a minute and a half I get out to warm up before one more quick dip before deciding that's enough. But it was really pretty swim and worthwhile!
I follow the path back up the way I came, as I did a crowd of about 8 people were making their way down the path. Good bit of timing on my side.
Just as I reached the tracks another piece of good timing was on my side as a SR S15 class No. 825 was chugging up the tracks.
Originally designed for the London & South Western Railway in 1920 by Robert Urie, the S15 was designed as a heavy freight locomotive to operate between London and the south coast ports. The class proved so useful that further batches were built by the Southern Railway in 1927 and 1936 with some modifications by their chief engineer Richard Maunsell.
S15s served on the Southern Railway and into British Railways days before retiring as part of the Modernisation Plan – the last journey a farewell tour in January 1966.
825 was built in April 1927 at Eastleigh works near Southampton and along with most of the class was allocated to Feltham. By the time of nationalisation she was based at Exeter Junction before moving to Salisbury in 1951 and remaining there until withdrawn in January 1964.
No. 825 is one of three S15 locomotives owned by the Essex Locomotive Society, all of which are stabled at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. She was a regular on the line until her boiler ticket expired in 2013. The boiler is currently being overhauled in Scarborough while the tender and frames are worked on at Grosmont with a combination of ELS resources and NYMR help as required. It is hoped that 825 will return to steam within the next few years.
The other two S15s – 830 and 841 “Greene King” are also stored at Grosmont, and both have acted as parts donors to keep 825 running. At present restoration of these two locomotives is a much longer-term project and there are insufficient resources available to make any plans for their restoration.
I walk on down the path and re-join the road in Beck Hole and walk on up the steep hill ahead that climbs up and over the tracks.
I cross the bridge and turn right into Hill Farm.
I follow the track beneath a blazing sun across Lins Farm.
I walk up as far as the bridge below and then thankfully a check on my GPS confirms I need a path just before the bridge.
I track back and find the path I needed, but this path was almost vertical. A steep climb up through shoulder high bracken in blazing sun made for very hard work.
Once up top however the views were spectacular!
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| Harebells blooming up on top of the hill. |
Through a gate and I make my way down Sheep Bield.
I come out onto a road crossing a ford next to stepping stones that were proud of the river, but suspect come into their own in very wet weather once the river has swollen.
A little further up I take a path on my right and over a bridge back over the river.
Now a steep climb up Mill Scar. I am tired and my legs just didn't want the climb, I was using the fence posts to help haul my way up the steps.
Now I descend down into Goathland Station.
A must-see is the celebrity station which became Hogsmeade Station in the first Harry Potter film and featured as Aidensfield in the ITV programme Heartbeat.
J27 65894 (NER P3 2392)
The first P3 was built by Darlington works in April 1906 and the initial batch comprised of 20 engines. This was followed by a further 10 between June and November 1908. By this time, delivery of another 20 engines had also commenced from the North British Locomotive Company at a cost £3500 each and a further 20 engines from Beyer Peacock where delivered in July 1908 at £3550 each. Another 10 then came from Robert Stephenson and Company between April and September 1909 at a cost of £3537 each, Kitson’s tender for £4100 each was not accepted. Sir Vincent Raven then brought the design up to date by fitting superheated boilers and piston valves to a further 25 built in 1921/2, a following 10 where also built in 1923 of which No. 2392 was the last, out shopped from Darlington North Road Works on 19th September 1923.
The P3s where the largest N.E.R. 0-6-0's. They were powerful hard working engines which, like the T2 0-8-0s, lasted until the end of steam in the North East of England. When new, 2392 was allocated to Bank Top shed, Darlington, then to Ferryhill to cover Durham coalfield workings until re-allocated in 1930 to York, mainly seeing use on local goods trains to Scarborough. In 1926 under the LNER’s reclassification scheme the P3s where reclassified as J27s, therefore the engine became class J27 No.2392. In 1946, under the LNER’s renumbering scheme, No.2392 became No.5894. After nationalisation in 1948, the engine was renumbered again and became class J27 No.65894. The engine carried this identification until the end of its BR career in 1967.
65894 spent most of its B.R. career at York, frequently to be viewed from main line trains as it stood in the Engineer's yard north of the City. In 1963 during a visit to Darlington works it was fitted with a non-superheated boiler. On 2nd October 1966 the engine was transfer to Sunderland South Dock where it joined the other surviving J27's working coal trains in East Durham. On 9th September 1967 it worked the last diagrammed steam turn from Sunderland shed. Withdrawal along with the four other survivors swiftly followed and 65894 was sent to Tyne Dock for disposal.
The loco was purchased directly from BR by the group on 1st December 1967. There then followed restoration to full working order, initially at Tyne Dock where the loco was stored after withdrawal, then professionally at the then still functioning National Coal Board workshops at Philadelphia County Durham, and then at Thornaby Depot. Final restoration including the fitting of a vacuum brake and steam heating apparatus for working passenger trains was fitting by the group’s volunteers at ICI Billingham.
The locomotive fully restored as NER class P3 No. 2392 was delivered to the embryonic NYMR in October 1971. The locomotive provided the mainstay of services in the period leading up to full re-opening of the line, when it piloted Lambton Tank No. 29 on the Royal Re-opening Special of 1st May 1973. Following its appearance as an exhibit at the Stockton and Darlington 150 celebrations and cavalcade, it was withdrawn for boiler repairs. From 1977 until early 1982 it was on display in the National Railway Museum at York. After a further overhaul, 2392 returned to traffic on the NYMR in the autumn of 1984.
The engine was withdrawn again in 1992 for a general overhaul which included retyreing of the engine and tender as well as several improvements such as fitting of a hopper ashpan and rocking grate. Repainted in B.R. livery as 65894, the loco returned to the NYMR during the summer of 1996 hauling its first train after overhaul on the 6th June 1996.
Since returning to traffic in 1996 the engine has been a regular performer on the NYMR during the early and late season, during the peak summer season the engine has been hired out to less demanding railways. The engine has worked on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway, the North Norfolk Railway, the Nene Valley Railway, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (for 3 summer seasons), The East Lancashire Railway and most recently the Weardale Railway. The loco also had the honour of hauling the official re-open trains on both the NYMR back in 1973 and the Weardale Railway in 2004. The highlight of the last 10 years for the J27 was in 1998 when the engine was certificated to run on the mainline, at the time it was the only engine available to the NYMR that had the a current mainline boiler ticket. The P3 ran 2 return trips between Grosmont and Whitby this proved to be the start of what is now almost a regular service of steam specials run on the Esk Valley line by the NYMR In June 2003 the locomotive was repainted back into its NER livery as P3 No.2392.
As well as the usual running repairs the engine has also had more than its far share of other problems as well, in 2000 it became necessary to lift the engine from its wheels to undertake axlebox repairs. In 2001 during a routine examination a small leak was spotted in a boiler tube, following further investigation this then led to full boiler re-tube. Then in 2003 the RH centre driving wheel axlebox ran hot, the engine then had the centre wheelset removed for repairs to the axlebox. But by far the most serious problem we have had to deal with is the fracture in the cylinder casting. This problem can be traced back to the last overhaul, during which a crack in the cylinder bore was metal stitched and then a cylinder liner fitted. This solved the problem for several years until, in 2001, the crack suddenly spread. This again was metal stitched and again gave no more problems until late November 2004 when part of the stitching started to leak steam. A repair was again made which held for only a few months before again starting to leak. The engine was withdrawn from heavy traffic and spent the final year of its boiler ticket at the National Railway Museum outpost museum "Locomotion" at Shildon; the final few days in steam were on the demonstration track at Darlington Railway Museum. The J27 was then withdrawn from service and went on display in Darlington Railway Museum.
In May 2006 the P3 moved again this time to Darlington to star in the Darlington North Road 40th Anniversary Celebrations held over the spring bank holiday weekend, at the Darlington North Road Railway museum. The celebrations where held to mark the 40th Anniversary since the closure of the towns North Road Locomotive works where the P3 had been built back in 1923. Other locomotives on display included a Standard Class 2 no’ 78019 and class 20 diesel both of which where also built in Darlington.
LMS 5428 was built in 1937 by Armstrong Whitworth at Newcastle, one of an order for 227 such locomotives, the largest order ever placed by a British railway company with a private firm. A further 100 ‘Black Fives’ were also built by the firm.
Leeds Holbeck was one of the nearest depots to the North Fast to which they were allocated, and 45428 was one of that depot’s allocation. As well as working main line trains, Holbeck provided Class 5s for summer specials from the West Riding to Whitby, via York, Malton, Pickering and what is now the NYMR; thus ‘Black Fives’ became a familiar sight through Newtondale and it is possible that 45428 was one of them. The locomotive hauled the last steam worked London bound express from Bradford to Leeds on I October 1967 and was withdrawn a week later when steam traction was abandoned in the Leeds area — and indeed throughout the North East region.
Preserved in 1967 and named Eric Treacy after the former Bishop of Wakefield, an eminent railway photographer.
After waiting for two coach loads of pensioners to board the train, I could finally make my way down the platform and over the bridge to exit the station into Goathland.
I pass the Goathland Hotel AKA Aidensfield Arms, sadly also closed I was so looking forward to a pint in the Aidensfield Arms!
Scripps, Aidensfield Garage from Heartbeat.
Garage in Aidensfield where many of the scenes in Heartbeat took place. Later on, these often centered around Bernie and Vernon Scripps and David Stockwell. In earlier episodes, it was owned by a man named Malcolm Mostyn until Series Four. Mostyn was usually smartly dressed but as far as we know, he kept himself to himself mostly, rarely being shown, only when the plot lead the police to the garage or if they needed to fill up. From the sign outside we can see that Mostyn runs a Funeral Service but this is never touched upon whilst he is in charge. In Series Four we find out that Mostyn employed a mechanic called Jim Swaiby, but in the same episode, he dies of Rabies.
Bernie Scripps took over in Series Five. This change of hands brings the garage into the plots more often, with Claude Greengrass a regular visitor there. This was usually to get Bernie to fill up his truck with petrol and also rope him into his latest money-making scheme, using the garage as a base for his scams and operations. Often the police would sometimes visit to make enquiries about their investigations.
I walk on up and visit a gift shop to buy some souvenirs and a bottle of Old Rogue Ale with a picture of Green Grass on the label.
The village was the setting of the fictional village of Aidensfield in the Heartbeat television series set in the 1960s. Many landmarks from the series are recognisable, including the stores, garage/funeral directors, the public house and the railway station. The pub is called the Goathland Hotel, but in the series is The Aidensfield Arms. After filming interior shots in the hotel for some years, a replica of it was built in Yorkshire TV's Leeds studio.
There's normally the Police Anglia car parked here, sadly not today!
Goathland village is 500 feet above sea level and has a history extending from Viking times. The name Goathland is probably a corruption of 'good land'. Alternatively, it may come from 'Goda's land', Goda being an Old English personal name. In 1109, King Henry I granted land to Osmund the Priest and the brethren of the hermitage of Goathland, then called Godelandia, for the soul of his mother Queen Matilda, who had died in 1083. This is recorded in a charter held at Whitby Abbey. The village was a spa town in the 19th century. There are many hotels and guest houses in the village. The largest, the Mallyan Spout Hotel, is named after a nearby waterfall. There is a caravan site, reached by driving along the track which is the site of the older railway route, 1835 to 1860.
Much of the surrounding land is owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. The Duchy's tenants have a common right extending for hundreds of years to graze their black faced sheep on the village green and surrounding moorland.
I pass St Marys Church.
There has been a place of worship in Goathland, on the North Yorkshire Moors, for at least eight centuries; and at the site of the present church of St Mary since Elizabethan times.
From the Church web page;
Regular viewers of 'Heartbeat' will know what a dangerous place Aidensfield has turned out to be: we've killed five doctors and three policemen! The first of the policemen was a young chap who only lasted a few months before he was shot. He had a large funeral and a brass band played. We had one very sad funeral of a child when policeman Phil Bellamy and Trish the barmaid had a stillborn baby. When Phil was shot in a later episode he was buried alongside the baby.
In addition to the funerals (and not all in the same episode!) we have had satanic symbols painted on the church door, the church broken into by a circus family, thefts from the church with suspicion falling on the vicarage, a lay preacher hurt in a shooting accident, a suspicious organist and a grave robbed to recover a stuffed sheep! And of course we have had numerous weddings. The picture in church here shows PC Nick Rowan marrying his second wife, primary school teacher Jo. Nick's Best Man is Phil Bellamy. The couple are being 'married' by the then Vicar of St Mary's, Revd Canon Edwin Newlyn. Long-time Heartbeat fans will remember that, on the wedding day, Nick went for a drive on the moors to soothe his nerves, got involved in a domestic dispute, and ended up stranded!
Another episode told about the trouble caused by a local resident who objected to bell-ringing practice. Filming for this was done in the churchyard, tower and bell chamber; but as we have only five fixed bells rung by hammers bell ringing by a team pulling on ropes had to be filmed elsewhere. The team of six ringers managed to ring a peal of eight swinging bells, which surprised some viewers! For some of the extras the most memorable event of the day was when a well-made production assistant became stuck in the trapdoor between the bell chamber and roof of the tower. The extraction, which was not easy, produced great merriment!
I am now back at the car after just under 7 miles, what an amazing walk!
