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Bordley and Mastiles Lane

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Walk directions

From the parking place go through the gate and follow the metalled lane downhill to a crossroad of tracks. Turn right here, onto the track signposted 'Kilnsey'. Follow the track parallel with the dry-stone wall on your right to reach a crossing track at another signpost. This is Mastiles Gate.

Turn left along the lane signed 'Street Gate'. Follow the lane for 1 mile (1.6km), first climbing gently and then descending between walls into a shallow valley. Go through a gate and continue for about 100yds (91m) to a gate on the left from which a rough track heads down to ford a stream. Follow the rough track across the stream, over a slight rise and across rough pasture.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Tracks and field paths, 2 stiles

Landscape - Moorland and farmland

Dog friendliness - On leads – sheep on moorland and livestock in fields

Parking - Roadside parking on Malham Moor Lane, where lane reaches open moor

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in North Yorkshire Dog-friendly walks in North Yorkshire

About the walk

Many places in the Yorkshire Dales can be described as 'remote' – and Bordley must be one of the least accessible. No metalled roads lead to it, and the settlement (really only a hamlet of a couple of farmhouses) is almost invisible from most of the surrounding countryside, lying as it does in a... secluded hollow of the hills. Although the buildings are mostly 18th and 19th century, Bordley has a long, if uneventful, history. It is mentioned in Domesday Book as Borelaie, and its Old English name may mean 'the wood from which the boards were taken' – or perhaps 'the woodland clearing belonging to Brorda'. Whichever it is, the woods have long since gone, and this is now moorland country, some of it enclosed and improved in the 18th century for agriculture. Around Bordley there is evidence of an even older settlement. Mastiles Lane ploughs through the middle of a Roman camp a little way to the west, while to the east, just off the road up from Skirethorns, is evidence of a prehistoric field system. Mastiles and the Monks The early part of the walk takes you to Mastiles Gate, one of the landmarks along Mastiles Lane, a superb green track that for centuries has linked Wharfedale and Malhamdale. Its origins were monastic; the monks of Fountains Abbey near Ripon needed straightforward access to their vast estates in the southern parts of the Yorkshire Dales and in the Lake District. So, like the Romans before them, they constructed long roads directly over the fells. The route over Kilnsey Moor was marked by crosses – the bases of some survive along the route. The monastic route crossed the River Wharfe by a wooden bridge at Kilnsey, and then went on to Ripon along the route of what is now the B6265 via Pateley Bridge. In the 18th and 19th centuries Mastiles Lane was used as a drove road, when great herds of cattle were driven along the lane to market. There was a regular sale at Great Close, near Malham Tarn, where up to 5,000 cattle, most of them from Scotland, were regularly sold. It was at this time that the lane received its walls, to prevent the cattle straying. Tarmac Outcry In the early 1960s plans were put forward to tarmac Mastiles Lane so that traffic would be able to drive from Malham into Wharfedale. A public outcry quickly saw the idea abandoned and the route is still a haven of peace for walkers and riders – though more recently there has been further controversy, this time about the use of such green lanes by four-wheel-drive off-road vehicles, which can cause damage.

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About the area

North Yorkshire, with its two National Parks and two designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is England’s largest county and one of the most rural. This is prime walking country, from the heather-clad heights of the North York Moors to the limestone country that is so typical of the Yorkshire Dales – a place of contrasts and discoveries, of history and legend.

Route details

Difficulty:

Easy

Gradient:

Gentle

Distance:

5 miles (8kms)

Ascent:

673ft (205m)

If you like this walk, you can try more routes in the area.

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Bordley and Mastiles Lane

Recommended by

Walk details

Difficulty:

Easy

Gradient:

Gentle

Distance:

5 miles (8kms)

Ascent:

673ft (205m)

Walk directions

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Eventually it runs between walls, bearing right near a large triangular boulder. Continue down to meet a metalled lane and turn left to Middle Laithe. Walk through the farmyard and over a cattle grid. Follow the farm track, crossing a cattle grid by a National Trust sign for New House farm.

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Continue into a walled lane which leads into the farmyard of New House. Bear right through a gate then bear left down the field to a gate in the bottom left-hand corner. Go through the gate, turn left and follow the line of telegraph poles. Go over a stile and descend across the stream.

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Climb away from the stream and bear right, then contour around the hillside. The path meets and follows a wall on your right. Go through the first gate on your right and follow the wall on your left, bearing right to go through a gap in the crossing wall.

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Turn left to go round the angle of the wall on your left to a stone stile in the crossing wall. Follow the wall on the left up the field, past a tumbled wall, to join a track.

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Turn right along the track and continue to a gate just above Bordley. Drop down right, then double back left to pass to the right of the first stone barn to double gates. Beyond the gates turn right and follow the track past the farmhouse. Climb the metalled lane, which reverts to rough track as it levels out. Descend to the crossroads and turn right to ascend the hill back to the start.

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Location

Starting point

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Tracks and field paths, 2 stiles

Landscape - Moorland and farmland

Dog friendliness - On leads – sheep on moorland and livestock in fields

Parking - Roadside parking on Malham Moor Lane, where lane reaches open moor

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in North Yorkshire Dog-friendly walks in North Yorkshire

About the walk

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

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Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

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Been on this walk?

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About the area

North Yorkshire

Bordley and Mastiles Lane

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Bordley and Mastiles Lane

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