Nidderdale
moors and mines
13th May 2025
8.0 miles / 12.8 km
396 m ascent
Moderate
9.9 Naismith miles
Nidderdale
Step by Step | OS Map | Downloads | Gallery | Fly through
Nidderdale is a dale, and it’s in Yorkshire – so it must be in the Yorkshire Dales, right?
No. Nidderdale is one of the 46 National Landscapes, which until recently were simply called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). Legally the designation AONB still applies, but the name National Landscape is being applied across all of them to highlight the national importance of these special places.
Whatever name we use, Nidderdale is well worth visiting, and offers some great walking. This route combines England’s highest artwork, with jaw dropping views into a vast working quarry, an industrial heritage trail with two lead mines, deer, bluebells, and if you are really lucky, red kites.
Step-by-Step
We start at the carpark at The Coldstones Cut. This is on the B6265 between Grassington and Pateley Bridge. It’s well signposted and is 500m to the east of Greenhow. If you are using Satnav to get there try HG3 5JQ as a postcode. If your device accepts What-3-Words tags, then the rather ironic paces.introduce.legwork pinpoints the carpark. For those using paper maps, the OS Grid reference is SE12906441. Please note that there is an honesty box for parking donations – it is fairly well hidden, near the information boards at the top end of the car park.
So, what is The Coldstones Cut? It’s a piece of public art on a monumental scale. The sculpture, which opened in 2010, features a series of platforms and pathways that allow visitors to explore its impressive structure. Standing 1,375 feet above sea level, it is the highest public artwork in the UK. From the viewing gallery, or either of the two spiral ramps at the top, it is possible to see into the huge Coldstones Quarry. This is still an active quarry operated by Heidelberg Materials, (previously Hanson UK) so expect to see quarrying operations, including the blasting, extraction and crushing of rock. You can also see the geological strata which make up the quarry and which provide the raw material for its products. Click here for a panoramic video
The artwork was commissioned by Nidderdale Visual Arts and designed by Andrew Sabin, it is open to the public at all times and in 2011 was awarded the Bruntwood Award for Arts and Business and the Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture. It is accessible via a 500m uphill walk from the car park, which on the way to the viewing points at the top, pass a number of sculptures and community sourced artworks. Be aware before you set out though that the site is rather exposed, and that the central approach and the spiral ramps are heavily shaded – so it can be cold even in summer – the clue might well be in the name.
The artwork is a diversion from the walking route – so it is possible to do the walk without engaging in such high culture. Given that the site is so interesting and the views at the top are so impressive though, we recommend the full experience – and we recommend doing it at the start rather than at the end: This is a longish walk and the last bit is remorselessly uphill, so there would be a temptation to leave the cut until another time, and as we know those intentions tend to slip.
Also worth seeing just to the left of the carpark as we set off is the industrial heritage trail around the remains of the Toft Gate lime kilns. Lime kilns are a common feature of the landscape in Yorkshire, and we see one or more on many of our walks. They are generally quite small, so when we meet one of this stature it’s worth taking a moment to explore.
There are interpretation boards to explain the function of the kiln, and the flue above which travels along the ground before feeding the chimney – the base of which is the first structure visible from the car park.
Having enjoyed these two diversions, we now need to get on with the walk, so we set off southeast along the minor road that runs between the car park and The Coldstones cut. We are walking away from the main road and slightly downhill at this point, passing the pond that once supplied water to the lime slaking process. On a clear day, we have views of the radomes (“golf balls”) at RAF Menwith Hill, the world’s largest electronic monitoring station.
We press on for 600m heading toward a wooded area to the left of the road and then take a waymarked path (the industrial heritage trail) onto a green lane heading east toward Bewerley and Pateley Bridge.
The path from here is simple to navigate staying on an eastward trajectory as we walk through four fields toward a farm at Bay Croft Hill. You might notice along here that there are several rather tight squeeze stiles in the drystone walls, but these are often obscured, and as the walls have mostly fallen into disrepair, you may find alternate routes easier. It is also worth mentioning that although walking here was easy on the lovely dry day we enjoyed, past experience suggests that it can be a bit boggy in winter.
We continue until we get to Bay Croft Fold, where we are joined by a track coming up from the road, and we then look for a path to the right of this which heads steeply downhill with views over to a rather lovely farmhouse – where you may well notice alpacas enjoying the pasture. After completing the steps down, the path levels off and contours round to a stile where we again find ourselves in wide open fields. We are heading now to the next farm – Gillbeck, and we get there by following the contours of the valley side. Worth looking out for on the right on this section are the obvious spoil heaps, reminding us that although we now regard Nidderdale as a tranquil place, it does have a rich industrial heritage – of which more later.
Once we get to Gillbeck, we take the clear and well-marked path around the left of the farm, to arrive at a gate where we meet a path crossing ours – we go right here and down to the track which services the farmhouse. We then take that track to the left and away from Gillbeck, passing Moor View Farm which operates as a luxury kennel and cattery, Haver Garth, and finally White Wood Farm. It is here that we need to look for a path on the left heading through a metal gate at the side of the farm buildings – this is easy to miss so take care, and note that if the track enters dense woodland, you have gone too far and need to correct.
Once through the gate we head diagonally right to approach the drystone wall on the far side of the field – and once we reach the crest we start to have great views of Pateley Bridge. We follow the drystone wall to the left, and just as we are starting to believe that we have walked ourselves in a dead end we notice the small squeeze stile into the woodland to our right. This is Fishpond Wood and is privately owned. Unlike some of the privately owned land that we walk using public rights of way, this is a very welcoming area, that encourages visitors. The site has belonged to Dr Peter Brambleby, a semi-retired public health doctor, since December 2012. He lives nearby in Bewerley village with his wife Michelle, a teacher. Together, their mission is the restoration of the woodland to greater biodiversity and accessibility, and a place for promoting human wellbeing. Their website refers to this as the “Natural Health Service”. Fishpond Wood is also known as “Whitewoods”. Strictly, this is the name of part of the woodland, to the west of the track, and it probably references silver birch trees. The wider parcel of land, including the pond, covers about 25 acres.
We have much to see today, so regrettably, we only cross the corner of Fishpond Woods to take a kissing gate and then a set of steps alongside a steep drystone wall, still heading toward Pateley Bridge. We stay with the wall until we get to a stile into a wide field, then continue downhill toward a minor road – be aware that the bottom end of this field can also be a little damp in winter. Once at the road we go left and up to the B6265, but if you are feeling energetic, and want to add a small diversion, Bewerley is just 250m to the right, and the ancient Chapel is well worth seeing.
Once at the main road, we cross with care and continue opposite on an access road that is part of the Nidderdale Way. We follow this for the next 800m – it is worth looking through the well-tended woodland to the left along here to see the occasional deer. We pass Eagle Hall on our right and continue until we see sheep pens to the right hand side of the track – we go right here, and again this would be easy to miss, so if you find yourself at Riggs House, you have gone to far and need to come back by 100m or so.
At the sheep pens, we cross a series of gates then follow the wall downhill to a wooden gate where we meet a rather lovely woodland – carpeted in bluebells during our visit. We walk around the outside of this, so that we are now heading Northwest.
The path remains clear, and we soon find ourselves within a track heading downhill toward a farmhouse at Mosscar Bottom, where we find a wooden footbridge over a beck. We cross and then head right to walk within a broad walled track for a further 100m heading slightly uphill. At the end of this section there is a T junction – we go right and downhill to cross another stream (Foster Beck) at a concrete bridge – we are now within a caravan park and have the access road for the site in front of us.
We go left and stay on the access road for a while now. Navigation is easy – just walk up the road for the next mile or so until the Nidderdale Way leaves the track on the left and runs down to a wooden bridge over the beck at the Prosperous lead smelting mill. The only potential navigational error along this long section is a fork in the access road just 250m after we join it – make sure you keep left so that we are never more than 50m from the beck.
Once we have the smelt mill and the extensive spoil heaps above it within in our sight, we head down to cross the bridge (the beck is called Ashfold Side Beck at this point) to explore the remains of the mill.
The optimistically named Prosperous is an extensive late 18th and 19th century lead mining and processing complex and was one of a number of mines in the area exploiting the rich geology of Upper Nidderdale. The atmospheric remains of the spoil heaps and the remaining walls of the smelt mill provide a link to an industry that was so influential in this part of Upper Nidderdale. The remains are nationally important and so are designated as a Scheduled Monument. It is often difficult to be certain about the history of industrial sites, but what is known about Prosperous is as follows:
- 1781: Earliest recorded lease of mine.
- 1785 (or possibly 1814): Building of smelt mill serving Prosperous as well as Providence and Stoney Grooves mines to the west.
- 1786: Woods and Co. worked the mine.
- 1789–1793: Profitability of mine in decline.
- 1816/1817: Leases passed to John Honer who sunk a shaft near to the smelt mill to access the Wonderful Level, 27m below ground.
- 1830s: Downturn in the price of lead. Mine fell into disrepair.
- 1860s: Nidderdale Lead Mining Company took over the mine.
- 1873: Mine’s plant sold and reused at Stoney Grooves and Merryfield mines.
- 1889: Mine abandoned.
Untangling how the site worked is also difficult – because earlier uses and structures were not preserved – they were not perceived to have future interest – and so were (it is thought) buried within spoil heaps from later works.
There are myriad paths through the site, and it is well worth just wandering around looking for clues as to what works took place here – there are also a number of interpretation boards that help explain the potentially confusing site.
Whatever route you take through the site, the rest of the walk requires us to walk uphill and away from the beck to pick up the Nidderdale way again – we now follow this south along a track that eventually leads to Pateley Bridge. We do not stay on the track for long though – we soon have a gate on our right that takes us along a track that snakes around to another abandoned mine.
We are now at Greenhow lead mine, where Galena, or Lead Sulphide was mined. As at Prosperous, all we can see now are the spoil heaps and a few remnants of the infrastructure.
It is thought that some of the galena from here was processed at Prosperous – although the presence of a chimney suggests that some processing also took place locally.
Our path crosses Brandstone Beck at a ford and then climbs the steep valley side opposite – the only navigational error you could make here is to take a track through the mine spoils following the beck upstream – there is much of interest to be found that way, but it’s not our route for today.
We stay on the track for about 600m, having a good chance of seeing red kites soaring above us, until we arrive at a gate that marks the end of a minor road that connects with the B6265. We head up that road, but not for long, and after 150m we see a track to a farm at Coldstones Fold on our left. We take that for the next 150m, until we see a stile on the right.
The stile takes us into a field – where we continue in much the same direction – now following a drystone wall. You will notice signage alerting us to the potential for bulls to be in this field. We noted no issues, but if you find that problematic and need an alternative, stay on the minor road to the B6265, then cross to pick up a path heading left and back to the car park.
The remainder of the route is simple – we just follow the wall uphill until we get to the main road, where we cross a stile – the car park is now opposite.
Bentham Footpath group walks are classified according to the length and change in elevation. This route is “moderate”.
Users should be aware that there are places where the ground can be boggy during wet weather, and particular care is neede when using the ford at the Greenhow mines: When the beck is in spate it may be impassible on foot, so if in doubt, it may be worth doing the walk in the opposite direction – finding an need to turn round right at the end can be a bit dispiriting.
