What and where are cup-marked rocks? Why is Dob Park Lodge in ruins? And did a castle ever exist at Haverah Park Top? There are more questions than answers on this varied, interesting and complex walk around the Washburn Valley. Had it been located a few miles to the west the valley would’ve qualified as a dale but it has to make do with being part of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Washburn is little known and some of the places visited on this walk even lesser known still, and all the more appealing as a result. Take the packhorse bridge, for instance. It’s a little gem. Any smaller in fact – it’s the width of three walking boots and you’ll need the handrail – and it would suit a crazy golf course. This is known locally as the fairy bridge and was built as recently as 1967 by members of the Ramblers Association in the memory of Arthur Adamson, perhaps to mirror its big – and much older – brother, Dob Park Bridge downstream. In between the two bridges you pass through a beautiful wood which contains cup-marked rocks. I didn’t quite know what to look for and didn’t find anything that matched the description. You can’t miss the ruins of 17th century Dob Park Lodge which is on the Buildings at Risk Register and with good reason from the look of it. The mullions are still in place but, contrastingly, the roof is long gone. From a distance the ruins look larger and are easily mistaken for a castle. The surrounding landscape demonstrates man’s impact in contrasting ways. Fine views extended to a corner of the reservoir, an aerial on a forested hill and the golf balls of the Menwith Hill RAF station. A much older military base is encountered towards the end of the walk at Haverah Park Top. A wall encloses a circular mound and probably once Jon o’ Gaunt’s Castle. It certainly looks like a place fit for such a building but perhaps that’s because the modern Beaver Dyke Reservoir creates the deceit of a moat. Whatever the history, it’s a lovely secluded spot for a rest. Bank Slack, a Scheduled Ancient Monument that consists of a bank and a ditch, leads the way back. It was probably established as a defence boundary – perhaps linked to the castle – in the fifth or fourth centuries AD. Sadly, what I thought would be the last curiosity on the walk wasn’t.Wakefield Folly is a ruined barn. But I already had plenty to ponder upon while I tacked into my ice cream back on the pine-lined banks of the Swinsty.
DIRECTIONS: Swinsty Reservoir Turn right out of car park, walk on road across reservoir then turn right down a permissive path (that becomes a road) beside the water. After a lodge pass through a gate on the left follow a grassy path ahead that leads down to the riverside. Ignore a bridge on your right but continue for another 150m and cross the river via (easy to miss) stepping stones. Cross the mini-packhorse bridge immediately after. Pass through a gate then proceed for 30 paces in a 10 o’clock direction and up a slope. At the top head towards an oak at the corner of a wall. Walk beside the wall to the left of the oak and follow it around a corner and uphill heading for a tree with a large yellow arrow on it. Follow another arrow on a gatepost just to the left towards Washburn Farm. Pass through the farm then, as the track leads away, turn sharp left and into a yard with cars. Head towards the far right corner and a waymarker. Pass over two ladder stiles towards Carr Farm.
Carr Farm Cross the track leading to the farm and continue ahead. After three stiles enter a field which you should cross heading for the far corner and the end of a wood. Cross a stream then a wall stile into another field. Cross it keeping to the right of an overhead cable and aiming for a wall gap. Pass through the gap, cross a walled track and continue ahead. The path crosses a stream then heads up to Midge Hall Farm. Cross a track and continue ahead over a stile. At the top of an incline and beside a low concrete structure cross a wall to your left via a stile. Proceed with a fence to your right. In the next field, head towards the corner of a wood and large pine. Pass the pine and keep ahead towards a red metal fieldgate. Continue down a walled lane for views of Dob Park Lodge.
Dob Park Lodge Retrace your steps to the pine and, just afterwards, turn right towards a stile into the wood. As you leave the wood cross a culvert then turn left by a white tank. Pass a feeding trough and then beside trees that form a field boundary to the right. Pass over a wall stile then bear right beside a stream and cross a stile into another wood. After the wood pass over a stile, bear right and cross a stream via rocks. Keep the river to your left until you reach Dob Park Bridge.
Dob Park Bridge Cross the bridge and follow a lane (which becomes Jack Hill Lane) uphill. About 150 yards after Scow Hall and at some holly bushes pass through a metal fieldgate on the left. In the field head in at 2 o’clock, cross a stream, pass through a small wooden gate and ahead in the direction of a waymarker on a post beside a wall. Walk to the left of the corner of the wall. Pass over two wall stiles after which the wall is on your left. Pass through two wall gaps then across the next field aiming for a rusty metal gate 100m to the right of Cooperhouse. Pass through the gate then bear right following the direction of the wall (on your left) up to the road accessed by a stone stile. Turn left onto the road then soon right (again on road) beside a phone box at Bland Hill.
Bland Hill After 100m turn left off the road and down a footpath between houses indicated by a fingerpost. Pass over a stone stile and ahead towards the middle of three posts supporting overhead cables. Pass over another stone stile and then pass through two wall gaps and a wooden fieldgate to reach a road. Turn right onto the road for 250m then left onto a path between a fence and a wall. At the corner of the wall turn right over a stone stile and walk with the wall on your left. Go up concrete steps and, at the top, pass through a bent rusty gate and ahead through Brown Bank farm. Pass through a fieldgate towards a Yorkshire Water sign. Follow the wall on your left as it bears left, cross a wall stile and then across a corner of a field towards trees to the left of the wind turbines. Cross a wall stile then a ladder stile to pass East End Manor. Pass through a wall gap on your left and, in the next field, aim for where a wall suddenly ends. Continue down the middle of the field towards a waymarked fence stile.
Beaver Dyke Reservoirs Follow the path along the end of the reservoir and uphill. Pass through a wall gap then left along the Bank Slack ridge. Just before Bank End Farm fork left and down following signs for the Dales Way. Pass through a metal gate and wooden fieldgate then cross a field at 11 o’clock towards a stile. Cross a collapsed wall and heads towards the Bramelane buildings to the left. Go over a stile faced with a metal gate. Beside a bird table turn right along a driveway to pass The Old Farm. Pass through a wall gap leading to The Sun Inn. Turn left onto the road and almost immediately right beside a Yorkshire Water sign. Pass through a metal fieldgate and wall gap and then across the next field at 10 o’clock towards a wooden gate into Swinsty Wood. Follow the woodland path to the reservoir and back to the road. Turn right on the road over the reservoir to reach the car park. Note: Not all stiles and gates are listed in directions.