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Beverley Area Walks

The table below contains information on all walks centred in the beverley area. Click on any walk's name or reference code to see more details on the walk, including photos and a route map.

 

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Beverley to Cherry Burton Station Stroll
Summary
Walk Name
Beverley to Cherry Burton Station Stroll
Ref
C2
Identify wild flowers and trees as you walk along a section of the disused Beverley to Market Weighton railway line, now known as the 'Hudson Way'.
Details
Circular Walk
No
Grade
Easy
Walk Type
  • Easy Walks
Ordnance Survey Explorer Map
293
Car Parking Facility
Roadside parking in Molescroft and at Cherry Burton Station
Refreshments
Pubs and shops in Beverley
Public Conveniences
Various sites in Beverley
Distance
Distance (Miles)
4
Distance (Kilometres)
6.5
  • The start of your walk is at Pighill Car park, Molescroft, which is approximately 1½ miles from Beverley town centre.  The area is intensively farmed, mainly for winter wheat and barley, but the bright yellow flowers of oil seed rape will occasionally add a splash of colour to the landscape in early summer.
  • The banks of the former railway line have regenerated with wild flowers, shrubs and trees.  Look out for primroses, violets, celandines and bluebells in spring.  The most common trees and saplings are ash and hawthorn, interspersed with oak.
  • Simply walk in a straight line, using the map as your guide.
Map(s)
Can't view the map(s)? Click here to download Adobe reader
Location
Start Point
Pighill Crossing in Molescroft
End Point
Cherry Burton Station
Towns & Villages
Beverley, Cherry Burton, Etton and Leconfield
ParishMolescroft
Start Easting
502,813.00
Start Northing
441,388.00
End Easting
499,266.00
End Northing
442,716.00
Features of Interest
- To the north of the start point you will see the former R.A.F. Leconfield, which was one of many airfields built in the mid-1930s. The first aeroplanes to use the base were Heyford biplanes in 1937, but with the start of WWII war various squadrons of Spitfires and Hurricanes were stationed there. Towards the end of the war bomber squadrons of Blenheims and Halifaxs arrived. At the end of the war the station became the Central Gunnery School which, after 10 years, developed into the Fighter Weapons School with Meteor F8s. In 1957, it again became a front line fighter station with Hunters and Javelins from 1957 and Lightnings from 1961. These were eventually phased out and the base passed to the Army on 1st January, 1977, and was renamed Normandy Barracks.

- Today the base is home to the 202 Search and Rescue Helicopter Squadron; bright yellow choppers can often be seen rising from the base. Normandy Barracks is now the home of the Army School of Mechanical Transport.

- To the north is the site of Leconfield Castle which, in the 14th and 15th centuries, was the principal Yorkshire seat of the Percy family, Earls of Northumberland. In the reign of James I, the castle was dismantled and materials taken from it to build the fortified manor house at Wressle. All that remains today at Leconfield is the overgrown earthworks and a moat ½ mile in circumference.

- Besides the castle at Leconfield there was another at Etton. Evidence of Anglo-Saxon occupation - an iron-age cemetery - was found at nearby Scorborough together with numerous Roman and Prehistoric finds. Medieval villages existed in the area and the remains of one can be found at Raventhorpe. Between the 14th and 16th centuries villages became deserted as sheep farming was more profitable than arable farming, and soil exhaustion or the plague provided the opportunity for conversion to pasture. In this case, the extension of Leconfield Park or the abandonment of the castle by the Percy family contributed to the village's decline. From the air, the outlines of 15 scattered houses have been identified. To the south of the line, at Park House Farm, are two moated enclosures.
Accessibility Information
This route:-

- is relatively flat.

- does not contain barriers.
Additional Information
- When you reach the end of the route, turn around and retrace your steps back to the start.