Strenuous Leader : Carole Distance : 10.5 miles
A varied walk starting from the car park we walk through Sedbergh to Lockbank Farm where we start a steady climb up Winder to the trig point at 473m (1552ft) for hopefully amazing views. Then descending to Howgill Lane and cross country to join the Dales Way at Low Branthwaite. Keeping on Dales Way we follow River Lune, coming off to visit Brigflatts. Rejoining the Dales Way along River Rawthey and back to Sedbergh through Akay Woods.
Moderate Leader: Dave Distance : 8 miles
Not available at this time. See Dave on the day.
Easy Leader: Cynthia Distance: 5 miles
This is a delightful, interesting walk with varied views. We head towards the river from the town of Sedbergh so that we can walk on the river path towards New Bridge. Care will be needed on the river path as it has many exposed tree roots. When we reach New Bridge there is a good picnic area with many tables and benches so we may decide to have an early lunch. We then carry on along the river on a field path to Straight Bridge. From here we walk on a track towards Fairfield Mill. We come out on the main road but only need to walk about 100 yards before we turn down a quiet lane and head on to Akay Wood. We come out of the wood at the Pepperpot and head on to the rugby fields of Sedbergh School. We have good views of the school as we go back to town. Most of the walking is flat. Uphill and downhill walking is not long. There are two stiles and lots of kissing gates.
NOTES ON THE AREA
The market town of Sedbergh is situated just inside the western boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The town was founded by Norsemen who named it ‘Setberg’ or ‘flat topped hill’. The main business of the town has always been textiles, and a thriving woollen industry existed in the mid-19th century. Sedbergh must be one of the best villages that we visit. It is lovely with many buildings of local stone and lots of quaint alleyways off the main street with nice old houses in the ‘yards’. In Weavers Yard there is an old house with a vast chimney, in which Bonnie Prince Charlie hid after the failure of the 1745 rebellion.
In 1251 Sedbergh was granted a charter to hold an annual market and fair, and it is still an important market centre for the surrounding countryside. At one time, the inhabitants of Sedbergh lived by preparing wool, which flourished from the Middle Ages until the 19th century. Whole families were engaged in knitting, while weavers, knitters and merchants used Sedbergh as a centre for the buying and selling of their wares.
Sedbergh is surrounded by lovely countryside and is dominated to the west by Winder Fell, the 1551 ft high spur of the main Howgill range. Although part of the Yorkshire Dales National park, the area of the Howgills is tied geologically, politically, and socially to Cumbria rather than to North Yorkshire. It is a splendid region of great whale-backed hills – smooth, steep sided and grassy with little heather or bracken and crossed only by lovely green tracks, with superb views over both the Dales and into the Lakes.
Cautley Spout, on the eastern flank of the Howgills, overlooking the Rawthey Valley is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the National Park. It is a magnificent cascade of white water hundreds of feet long, with its visual impact heightened by a huge valley of rock and scree.
The church of St Andrews dates from the 13th century. It has a 15th century tower and most of the windows are 15th century or Tudor. Some of the pews are 17th century, and an alms box dates from 1633. In June 1652, from a bench beneath a yew tree in the churchyard, George Fox preached to the crowd gathered in the town for the annual Hiring Fair. From that date Sedbergh has been a centre of the Quaker faith. At Brigflatts, reached off the A684 just over one mile south-west of Sedbergh, stands a Quaker meeting house built in 1675, as an inscription over the porch shows. The simple white walled building still preserves a fragment of the yew tree under which George Fox once preached.
The famous Sedbergh School was founded by a charity in 1528 under Dr Roger Lupton. Supressed by Henry VIII, Sedbergh was re-founded in 1551 under the grammar school legislation of Edward VI. From its early days the school has been closely connected with St John’s College, Cambridge. The oldest part of the building dates from 1716.
For the tourist there are lots of events taking place throughout the year with a good website giving details for the year.