Pannal Trail
Pannal is another small village, albeit a bigger one than any of the three on the previous walk. It is located south of Harrogate, of which it is effectively a suburb, albeit one that just about remains detached. Originally named Rossett, it was mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086 as Roset and was subsequently located within the now-vanished Forest of Knaresborough, a royal hunting forest that once covered 45 square miles. The village was renamed Pannal (which means “nook of land in the broad, shallow pan-shaped valley”) by at least 1170 and was later a thriving market village. Today, it is a pleasantly sleepy commuter village, more or less contiguous with the neighbouring village of Burn Bridge, a more recent settlement first mentioned in the mid-seventeenth century. This is all to the good of any of the people of Pannal who want to spend an evening at the pub: Pannal doesn’t have one, whereas Burn Bridge does.
Pannal Railway Station opened on the Leeds & Thirsk Railway in 1848 and once boasted a cattle dock siding. The original station buildings have happily survived: no longer used for their original purpose, they were extended and converted into a public house in the early nineteen eighties, before being converted into the current Co-Op in 2014. From the northbound platform, we cross the car park, passing the aforementioned former railway station building on the right and walk to Station Road. Here, turn right and follow the over the bridge over the railway track, then bear right again at a junction (still on Station Road), passing Pannal Village Hall on the left. This was originally Oddfellows Hall and was built in 1888; it was purchased from the Society of Oddfellows in 1920 and became the Pannal Memorial Hall to commemorate those who died in World War One. Walk to the end of Station Road, then climb a sloping footpath to reach Princess Royal Way. Turn right and follow this for a short distance, before taking the first left turn along Walton Place.
Continue to the end of Walton Place, then bear right to follow a waymarked public footpath diagonally across two fields. This section of the walk has a decidedly rural feel, as it passes through what is mostly farmland. At the end of the second field, pass through a gap in the hedge and continue along the edge of a third field with a hedgerow on the left. Halfway up the field, turn right and follow a path across the middle of the field to the edge of a copse of trees, climb over a wooden stile, and then bear right to follow another footpath along the edge of a field, eventually reaching another wooden stile. Cross this and follow the path as it runs clockwise around the perimeter of Walton Head Farm, which has been now converted into housing. The path ends at another stile; climb over this to reach Princess Royal Way and turn right.
Turn left after a few yards to follow a signed public footpath funning between a gorse hedge on the left and a stone wall on the right. Pass through a gate and continue along the edge of another field, then cross a pedestrian crossing over the railway. Follow the path along the edge of another two fields, eventually reaching a junction of paths as we arrive at the village of Burn Bridge next to Pannal Cricket Club on the left. At a junction of paths, turn right and then left between houses to cross a bridge over Crimple Beck and reach Malthouse Lane. Also known as the River Crimple, this is a waterway that we will encounter twice more on this walk and will meet again on the next one. Turn left and follow Malthouse Lane until it ends at Burn Bridge Road, where the Black Swan public house can be seen on the opposite side of the road. As noted, at the time of writing this is the only pub in the two villages and is known locally as the “Mucky Duck”. A hostelry has stood on the site since c.1650.
The Black Swan.
From the pub, we turn left and follow the road over a bridge across Crimple Beck, then shortly turn right to follow a signed public footpath to Brackenthwaite Lane. The walk now becomes rural again, once more returning the farmland surrounding the villages. Cross the lane, bear slightly left, and then continue straight ahead along another footpath, which runs along the edge of fields before running to the left of a wood called the Warren. At the edge of the wood, turn right again and follow the path along the edge of a field next to the Warren. At the end of the field, the path bears right and runs downhill, following a path through the privately owned woodland that has fences on either side to discourage wandering off into the trees. At the end of the wood, the path crosses a bridge over Horn Beck and then shortly ends back at Brackenthwaite Lane. Turn right and then almost immediately left along another signed public footpath that runs gently uphill along the edge of fields and through a small copse of trees, eventually ending at Hill Foot Lane.
Turn right and then left along another signed public footpath, this one running across six fields, before eventually ending at Yew Tree Lane. Turn left and follow this, then take the next right turn along Rossett Green Lane, which runs through the edge of the Harrogate suburb Rossett Green. This was originally a hamlet, but now forms part of a continuous urban area that includes Harrogate, although it is pleasantly leafy suburb. On reaching a staggered crossroads, turn right and follow Church Lane downhill until a cluster of former farm buildings appears on the left. Turn left along a drive, continuing at the end along a footpath that runs between hedgerows and eventually descends uneven stone steps to end at a path running alongside Stone Rings Beck. Turn right and follow this to a junction, close to where the Stone Rings Beck runs into Crimple Beck, then turn right.
Follow a well-marked footpath across three long, narrow fields, with Crimple Beck a short distance away on the left. Eventually, at the end of the third field, bear left and enter the churchyard of the Church of St. Robert.
The Church of St. Robert.
The Grade II*-listed church is the only one in the United Kingdom dedicated to Robert of Knaresborough, and dates from the fourteenth century, although a wooden church stood on the site from the thirteenth century. Follow the path across the churchyard, exiting close to the front of the church on Main Street, right in the centre of the village. Just to the right, the village stocks can be seen. Turn left along Main Street, passing Pannal Hall on the right. The hall was original built in the sixteenth century by the Tancred family, and was later rebuilt between 1853 and 1860. Finally, continue along Main Street as it becomes Station Road to return to the railway station.
From Pannal, our next stop is but minutes away down the railway line as we head further towards the centre of Harrogate for a walk that includes a couple more of its suburbs, but still has its fair share of rural walking, as we head to Hornbeam Park.
Comments