Thursday, April 21, 2011

Kilburn White Horse and Byland Abbey, North Yorkshire

Kilburn White Horse
and sheep - those fuzzy white dots in the pasture below

Both the Kilburn White Horse and Byland Abbey lie in the SW corner of the North York Moors National Park.


Blue dot represents the approximate location of the Kilburn White Horse

I want you to know that I was making every effort to embed a Google Earth image here, so that you would be able to move around the Kilburn White Horse, zooming in and out. Every attempt I made ended with too long a load time. But if you're interested in seeing this on Google Earth,  you can type in the location. It really is pretty cool!

Latitude: 54°13'29.13"N
Longitude:   1°12'45.56"W




The Kilburn White Horse was made by some industrious souls who, in the mid-nineteenth century, scraped off the top soil to expose a huge limestone horse, just dying to get some fresh air.


Approaching the White Horse

Leaving Thirsk, we headed east on the A170.

Directions from mapquest.co.uk: 
"Enter next roundabout and take the 1st exit onto SUTTON ROAD/A170.
Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto MOOR LANE.
MOOR LANE becomes unnamed road." (Those always seem to be interesting)
I had thought that there were M-roads, A-roads, and B-roads. I guess there are all of the above plus lanes and unnamed roads. 
 



View of car park from the top
The white that you see in the foreground is not snow; it is the Kilburn White Horse


Looking NW from the top


Zooming in on the village of Kilburn, south of the Kilburn White Horse


Near the White Horse
more of my favorites: sheep and fences


 Approaching Byland Abbey in the gloaming

Once a great Cistercian monastery, along with Rievaulx and Fountains, 12th century Byland Abbey was among the most impressive churches in England. Contrary to appearances, Byland Abbey was not 'open' when we were there, but we enjoyed walking the perimeter.

Imagine what that large west window must have looked like!





Across the street, the Abbey Inn
snagging the odd PG


Preserved in stone, the Abbey guard dog
 I have a thing about dogs on chains, but I guess I can tolerate this one.

It's always surprising, when driving around Yorkshire, that out in the middle of absolutely nowhere will appear the ruins of a once magnificent castle or abbey. After dark, I would almost expect to see hooded monks moving quietly about the abbey ruins. (See Season One, Episode 6 of All Creatures Great and Small)



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13 comments:

  1. Love the white horses, well love it all really just like you!

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  2. Judy, you did it again...oh, how I long to go back there. Great pictures. Have you been to Jervaulx Abbey? It's on A6108 between Leyburn and Masham, it's fantastic. You have to walk thru a field to get to it.

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  3. I'm always curious to know if these churches just fell to ruin or were damaged during one of the wars. LOVED your pic of the NW look from the top of the.....mountain? Does England have mountains or just very steep hills? ;-)

    Loves these little jaunts you take us on!

    Have a Blessed Easter!
    ~L

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  4. Oh, the unnamed road makes me laugh! Too funny!

    I think the Kilburn White Horse will have to be on my list. Looks intriging. Especially after those directions!

    That All Creatures Great and Small is one of our favorite episodes. Love to quote it. :-)

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  5. I think that most of the damage to the monasteries came after the roofs had been removed and used to cast cannon and shot for Henry VIII's military ventures and the other typically valuable items had been added to Henry's treasure. All this could be 'justified' by him, of course, after Henry broke with the Roman Church because the pope refused to grant him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. Also, the remains and lands the monasteries were sitting on were given to Friends of Henry to ensure political support. Some ruins became easy pickings for building materials for the locals.

    If anyone wants to add to this (or to correct me), please feel free to do so!

    We drove past Jervaulx Abbey, but did not stop. It was the time factor again. So much England, so little time. And I still don't know how to pronounce Jervaulx. Drives me crazy.

    The highest mountain in England is Skarfell Pike at just over 3,000 ft. The highest mountain in the Rocky Mountains is about 14,000 ft. So they're not like mountains we have, but the peaks and dales are enough to make for gorgeous scenery without all the problem of traversing them. Suffice it to say that if the American Pioneers had been crossing the Lake District instead of the Rocky Mountains, there never would have been a Donner Pass. IMHO, of course.

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  6. Lovely again to see your 'take' on Yorkshire. I must confess I've never been to Byland Abbey.

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  7. Oh what I would give to have seen that abbey in it's heyday! Beautiful!

    Lots of yummy love,
    Alex aka Ma What's For Dinner
    www.mawhatsfordinner.com

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  8. This is an amazing post as you have once again proven that you are a true "Yorkshirephile". It doesn't seem possible that you should post this the week after I was taken up Sutton Bank in the car for a walk from Helmsley to Revaulx Abbey. Interestingly enough I was in Jervaulx abbey the previous week checking out an 8 mile walk with a friend on the way to Wakefield.

    My confession is that despite seeing the White horse on numerous occasions from the main London to Edinburgh line, I have never actually walked to the White horse or Byland Abbey either even though the first is on my list of circular walks using the Cleveland Way. I was due to do a Byland Abbey walk in January but the date was changed and I had Bass Guitar duties at the church weekend away in Seaburn.

    Stone dogs in North Yorkshire seem to be all the rage. I caught a shot of a pair with neckerchiefs on outside a house near the Richmond car park.

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  9. Stunning photos, great info! I love learning and traveling along with you~

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  10. Nice photos, Judy! Were you up above the horse somehow?

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  11. I love the way you make me feel like I am there! I've never heard of the Kilburn horse- very interesting. Such beauty!

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  12. The horse is amazing...but the Abby is what I like.. how gorgeous is that???

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  13. Judy, I love your photos! Who would have thought a photo captioned "View of car park from the top" could be a thing of beauty!

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