12. THE DRUID'S TEMPLE
This short but pleasant walk features moors, conifers, fine views and the mysterious standing stones of Yorkshire's own 'Stonehenge':- a 19th century folly which some people confuse with the real thing! Stroll, picnic, sacrifice the kids.... Its all in a pleasant afternoon's walk!
Getting there: Not easy!! The Druid's Temple is well off the 'beaten track'. From Ripon follow the A 6108 to Masham via Lightwater Valley and West Tanfield. From Masham a minor road (signed) leads past Swinton Park, heading S.W. to Ilton. Beyond Ilton, continue onwards towards Healey. The road first descends to the Sole Beck via a series of bends,then runs straight uphill for a short distance. On the left a 'No Through Road' sign marks the end of Knowle Lane. Following the signs, proceed along Knowle Lane (avoiding local fauna!) to the carpark and picnic area in the Druid's Plantation.
Distance: 3 Miles. Easy! Make sure you take the kids... they'll love it!!
Map Ref.: SE175 787 Landranger 99
Rating: Walk * Folly ***
As a walk 'The Druid's Temple' is a bit of a disappointment, but as a folly it must not be missed! The countryside around Ilton is attractive enough, being a slice of that rather obscure and unspectacular (but quite unspoilt) landscape which lies between the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the fertile Vale of Mowbray. It is characterised by upland pastures, sleepy little villages, coniferous forestry and gently rolling shooting moors. Here are the 'fringe' 'Dales', undramatic but also untouristified. Forestry, farming, gamekeeping and drinking water are the preoccupations of most folks hereabouts. The only snag is that in consequence of these activities the would-be- rambler finds his scope severely curtailed. On the hills around Ilton we are in the land of 'Private- Keep Out'.
The Druid's Temple is public enough. The fine car park and picnic area positively invites the visitor to come and explore, but there is also the feeling that this is a concession, born out of the realisation that if you were to erect a gate and a 'Keep Out' notice, people would flock to this marvellous monument anyway, so you might as well indulge this whim so that you can get away with being restrictive about the rest of the landscape!
The route walked in this book is not the walk I planned, but rather the walk I had to settle for. Inviting looking 'goodies'- possibilities like Arnagill Crags and Tower, and a footpath across to Brandrith Howe via Ilton Reservoir, were scotched by the ever mounting tide of restrictive notices which seemed to confront me at every turn. In the end I had to settle for much the same walk as that produced by other writers.. for much the same reasons!
From the Picnic site/carpark ignore obvious routes leading into the plantation and instead proceed back down Knowle Lane (The access road). At the T junction, turn left, and when the road turns right towards Healey, turn left again, following the signed access road to Broadmires Farm.
Passing Broadmires Farm on the right, continue onwards,following a track through a succession of gates. Beyond the fifth gate, by a plantation (on right) the track leads left up the hillside to another gate, then winds up the hill, passing gate and track leading to Low Knowle Farm on the left. Continue onwards to gate leading into Druid's Plantation.
Some years ago myxomatosis decimated our wild rabbit population. I am old enough (just!) to recall the vast numbers of them that used to frolic in the fields alongside our holiday route to the East Coast before the introduction of this horrendous man-made pestilence. Almost overnight they disappeared, and only now, over 30 years later, are they starting to make a comeback.
Here, at Ilton they have arrived! On any summer's evening you will find hundreds of them, frolicking by the roadside! Unfortunately the 'population control' we inflicted on the rabbit population back in the '50's was not applied to the British motoring public, and today the cars outnumber the rabbits! The steady tramp down Knowle Lane is on a virtual carpet of small furry flattened corpses. And the rabbits are not alone.... the whole area teems with wildlife...hedgehogs, squirrels, pheasants, curlews, all abound in the countryside around Ilton.
Ascending the hillside near Low Knowle Farm there are fine views across the Vale of Mowbray to the Cleveland and Hambleton Hills before we finally enter the all-obscuring conifers of Druids Wood. In the forest, ignore path leading off right, along the forest boundary and continue onwards 100yds or so to a fork in the track. Turn right, and follow track round to left to reach an imitation dolmen at a crossing of routes. This is the Viewpoint, where a gap has been left in forest to offer views over Leighton Reservoir
(which supplies Leeds), along with views of Colsterdale and Great Haw. From here another left turn leads unerringly to the centrepiece of our walk- the Druid's Temple.
The Druid's Temple is a place to let your imagination (and the kids!) run riot! Here is Yorkshire's own 'Stonehenge', hidden deep in the conifers. Strangely enough, it is not a circle, being oval in shape- but its purpose is obvious - the sacrifice of small children, especially naughty small children! Some people have been fooled by the monument, believing it to be 'the real thing' but no-one with any knowledge of genuine megalithic sites would be taken in. An attached plan and notice by the entrance reveals all:-
'PLAN OF DRUID'S TEMPLE'
A replica built about 1820 to a design by Mr. Danby.
based on an original plan by P.T. Runton Esq.
'Mr Danby' was William Danby (1752-1833), the eccentric squire of Swinton Hall. Danby who, when not crenellating his home into a 'castle', fancied himself as a bit of a philosopher, writing such tracts as Travelling Thoughts and Thoughts on Various Subjects which were published a year before his death. Perhaps his philosophy was the inspiration behind the opening of his parklands 'for public inspection' and his efforts to relieve unemployment in the area. The Temple was built as a result of one such effort, and one marvels at what the unemployed labourers who toiled to create this chaotic confusion of bogus dolmens, menhirs and phallic standing stones must have thought of their task,which, considering the size of some of the 'sarsens' which had to be transported to this remote site, was no mean acheivement! Even if versed in the terminology of megalithic antiquity they would have found the project bizarre, but lacking any such knowledge they must have thought that 'T'owd squire' had gone soft in the head! As he was paying the wages and providing welcome employment however, they would no doubt have gone along with the idea and spun out the job for as long as possible.
Stone circles are places of mystery and legend, and even bogus ones are no exception. One local guidebook (no doubt seeking increased sales!) claims that Danby offered to provide food, and a subsequent annuity to anyone who was prepared to live as a hermit in the temple for seven years. The would-be-hermit was to speak to no-one and to allow his beard and hair to grow. One man reputedly eked out this arduous existence for 4 years before giving in to the bleak Pennine climate. The story, (despite continuing reports of disappearing picnic hampers in the Masham district!) is almost certainly apocryphal.
From the Druid's Temple an obvious route leads within a few hundred yards back to the Carpark/Picnic Site, where we can sit and relax awhile, after a short but most interesting perambulation.
The Swinton Estate did not remain in the hands of the Danbys. After the death of the old squire at the age of 81 (which was much lamented as Danby had been a benevolent and considerate landlord), Swinton Castle and its parklands were aquired by wool magnate Samuel Cunliffe Lister, the first Lord Masham. Lord Masham set out to complete the work of the Danbys by enlarging the park, but he was no folly builder and never managed to surpass the ingenuity and imagination of his predecessor. Squire Danby may sleep in a quite forgotten grave, but here, his most striking monument, surrounded by a 'sacred grove' of gloomy Forestry Commission conifers, will ensure that his memory remains (like the trees) quite evergreen.......
