Weeton Trail
After leaving Horsforth, the train passes through the two-mile long Bramhope Tunnel before making its next stop, and immediately the scenery outside the window becomes strikingly more rural. The first stop is at Weeton Railway Station, which isn’t actually in Weeton at all: it is in neighbouring Huby, a small but ancient village, which lacks a pub, shop or post office, although it did have the last of those until the nineteen nineties. Weeton itself is nearly a mile from the station to which it lends its name, and is also a small village of Weeton with a long but uneventful history, attested in the Domesday Book of 1086 and taking its name from the Old English for “willow farm”. It has long remained an agricultural settlement, although is now a commuter village for people working in Leeds and Bradford; largely untroubled by twentieth and twenty-first century urban sprawl, it also lacks a pub, shop or post office. The walk passes through Weeton and also includes the village of North Rigton, mentioned in the Domesday Book as Riston, and named Rigton until the nineteenth century, when the North prefix was added to distinguish it from East Rigton seven miles away. North Rigton boasts the only public house on the walk.
Weeton Railway Station was opened in 1848 by the Leeds and Thirsk Railway as the terminus of the line from Thirst; the line was extended to Leeds the following year. The station was occasionally referred to in some historical timetables as Weeton for Ormscliff Crags, an older spelling of Almscliffe Crag, which we will visit later on during the walk. It is one of those simple two platform affairs with basic shelters that we have encountered many times thus far. We leave the station from the north-bound platform and walk to Harrogate Road, then turn right, shortly looking out for a Grade II-listed nineteenth century milepost on the left-hand side of the road. On reaching the junction with Crag Lane on the left, look right to the junction with Woodgate Lane to see another roadside marker, this time a boundary stone, also Grade II-listed and dating from the nineteenth century. Turn left along Crag Lane and follow this for a short distance, before turning right to follow a signed public footpath running gently uphill.
The next section of the walk takes us through rural farmland, as we continue straight ahead uphill, soon passing between a house on the left and farm buildings on the right. Here, climb over a stile and continue in the same direction, passing trees on the left and eventually reaching open fields. Follow the path along the edge of a field with a hedgerow immediately on the right, and at the top of the field pass through another hedgerow and then bear diagonally right across the next field. Climb over another stile in a hedgerow, then follow this along the edge of the next field to a gate. Pass through this, again diagonally right across another field, and then follow a short path to reach (a second, different) Crag Lane.
Turn left and follow Crag Lane to Merrybank Lane, then turn right. Turn right again along a signed footpath leading to the previously mentioned Almscliffe Crag, from where there are panoramic views over the surrounding countryside.
Almscliffe Crag.
Almscliffe Crag is a millstone grit outcrop and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, as well as a popular spot for rock climbing, which is no doubt why it was sometimes included Weeton Railway Station’s name. Indeed, it was mentioned in the first published guide to rock climbing in the Peak District National Park in 1913, even though Alsmcliffe Crag isn’t in the Peak District! It has also been used as a filming location on several occasions, and appeared in the opening titles of the soap opera Emmerdale for seven years from 1998. Follow paths around or through the crag, descending on the other side to follow another path across five fields, eventually returning to Crag Lane. Turn left, and when the lane bends right bear slightly left to follow a narrow path with a hedgerow on the right, which soon ends at Brackenwell Road in North Rigton.
Immediately turn left and follow another footpath between houses and fields, until it turns right and eventually ends at Rigton Hill. Turn right again and follow this to a roundabout at the centre of North Rigton, which has all the hallmarks of a traditional English village. On the left is the Square & Compass public house on the left, which as noted is the only pub on the walk. As we turn right at the roundabout, we pass the Grade II-listed village stocks, just past which North Rigton War Memorial can be seen. The stocks possibly date from the seventeenth century and were moved from the old pinfold to their current location on the site of the old smithy in 1930, when they were restored. They were restored again in 1960. Opposite the war memorial is Chapel Hall, a former Methodist Chapel built in 1932 and closed during the nineteen-nineties, which has since been incorporated into the adjoining cottage. Continue along Church Hill as it runs downhill, taking an optional detour into the churchyard of the Church of St. John on the left. This modest church, which is perpendicular in style and has a forty foot tower, was built in 1911.
Leaving North Rigton, we continue to follow Church Hill as it runs downhill, then when it bends left bear right along a footpath running diagonally across a field to Harrogate Road. Here, turn right, cross the road, then turn left along another signed public footpath that cross a bridge over the railway line and follow this for a mile between fields and woods, ignoring any turn offs. This is another rural stretch of the walk, and some of the paths are less well kept than they might be, but are passable with care. Eventually, the path ends at a gate marked No Public Right of Way; just before this, turn left and follow a public footpath across a field and between an allotment and a garden to reach the end of Brook Lane. Follow this until it ends at Main Street, which runs through the length of Weeton, although at this stage we are only briefly passing through the edge of the village. Turn left and follow Main Street, which soon becomes Weeton Lane and leaves the village.
Follow Weeton Lane until a house appears on the right, and just before this turn right along a signed public footpath that runs along the edge of a large field before entering Rougemont Carr. Continue straight ahead through the wood until the path ends at a T-junction, where a green plaque provides information about Rougemont Castle, the site of which is directly behind it, on the bank of the River Wharfe. This is a ruined ringwork castle that was the seat of the de Lisle family until it was abandoned c.1366 when they built Harewood Castle instead. In truth, there is little to see from the path, but it remains an historically interesting sight: only the earthwork features of the castle and its fish ponds have survived, and are a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Turn right at the T-junction and eventually leave the wood, continuing straight ahead along the path, which shortly crosses a stone footbridge over Weeton Beck, which runs into the River Wharfe a short distance to the left, not quite visible from the path. Stay on the path as it joins a track, and continue straight ahead through a large metal gate to follow the track to Gallogate Lane.
We now head back to Weeton village by turning right and walking a short distance along the lane, then turning left over a stile and following a path across the edge of two fields, exiting at the end of the second one via a stile that leads back onto Gallogate Lane. Turn right and follow this, shortly reaching the Church of St. Barnabas on the left.
The Church of St. Barnabas.
The Grade II*-listed church is Weeton’s most significant building, and was built in an Early English Gothic style by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1851-1852. Close by is the Grade II-listed Old Vicarage, now a private residence, also designed by Scott and completed in 1853, with both paid for by the 3rd Earl of Harewood. Continue past the church and follow Gallogate Lane to Wescoe Hill Lane, then turn right. Take the next left turn along Weeton Lane, looking out for the old School House (now a private residence) on the right-hand corner. Finally, we follow Weeton Lane as it bends left and then right twice, before eventually turning left once more and running through a bridge under the railway line. A path in front of the bridge leads back up to the railway station.
From Weeton we next head a short distance up the line to another village as we gradually get closer to Harrogate and its suburbs, this time stopping at Pannal.
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