Pinhaw Beacon
Elslack
3rd July 2025
6.9 miles / 11.0 km
322 m ascent
Easy
8.5 Naismith miles
Pinhaw Beacon
Step by Step | OS Map | Downloads | Gallery | Fly through
Our group typically walks once a week, so presenting fresh new walks to the group is a never ending challenge, and we owe our walk leaders huge respect for the hard work behind all this.
But how do our walk leaders generate a new walk? Some are based on walks in books, some come from websites similar to our own, and some will be re-runs and variations on past walks. This walk showcases an entirely new approach though: Our walk leader looked at the Big Picture page on our website and picked a spot where there appeared to be no existing walks, then created a route from the OS map that filled the gap.
So was this area un-walked because it’s dull and unattractive or was this new approach an act of genius. Read on . . .
Step-by-Step
We start at the car park at the Tempest Arms at Elslack Bridge. This is just off the A56 just 600m south of the junction with the A59 between Skipton and East Marton. Look for the brown tourist sign to The Tempest Arms, and turn into Elslack Lane, then park in the car park to the right of the road, leaving the larger car park free for pub patrons. If you are using Satnav to get there, then the address is Elslack Lane BD23 3AY. If you prefer paper maps, the OS grid reference is SD92614983 which corresponds to the What-3-Words tag loving.headrest.diamond
We called the pub before hand to check whether use of their car park was acceptable, and they were very accommodating. One obvious way to repay this kindness is to have a drink at the pub after the walk.
If there is an event on at the pub, and parking is not available, continue up toward Elslack and find safe roadside parking.
We start by heading up Elslack Lane toward the village – so the pub will be to our left. As we pass, we note a date stone on the wall showing 1786 as the date of construction – this is at odds with the pub’s website which describes it as a 17th century coaching inn. Wikipedia agrees with the 1786 date and adds that it was extended in 1801. Whatever the truth, it’s an attractive building and a very welcoming pub with excellent reviews.
Just beyond the pub, the road crosses Thornton Beck at Elslack Bridge, and we note a footpath sign to the left, following the course of an old railway. That’s not our route today but might be worth exploring another time. The railway clearly played an important part in the development of the area, because the next thing we see is a row of railway cottages to our left, then just 50m further toward Elslack we find the remains of what was once a railway bridge carrying the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway over Elslack Lane and to a station (now demolished). The LBER ran from Shipley through Keighley and Skipton and on to Colne. The Skipton–Colne section closed in 1970, but the remainder of the line is still in use today and once formed part of the Midland Railway’s main line route from London to Glasgow. There is an active campaign to reopen this line, referred to as SELRAP.
The station at Elslack closed somewhat earlier – 1952, and the site has since been developed as a small industrial area – it’s on the left just beyond the remains of the bridge. This photo sourced from the Thornton in Craven Parish Council website (which as an aside, offers some interesting walks) shows the station before demolition.
We continue up Elslack lane and soon enter the village – to our right is a particularly large and rather fine barn – this is the great barn of Elslack Hall Farm – the Hall is behind the barn. There is a date stone on the barn (1672), but the style of the barn, and in particular the blocked low level entrance doorway that sits under the red painted first floor loft access is perhaps a century or more older, so it may be that a smaller and older barn was extended in 1672.
Just beyond the barn, and to the right is the access road to the Hall, which has been subdivided into a farmhouse and cottage. It is thought that the current building replaced a manor house which Godfrey de Altaripa was granted a licence to crenellate in 1318. Remains of a moat are visible around the site, and there are a couple of lancet windows which may have been part of the mediaeval building. The oldest parts of the current house probably date from the 16th century, and it was extensively altered in the 18th century before suffering major damage in a fire in the late 19th century. As a result of that damage, the left rear wing was demolished, and the building façade was rebuilt in a more modern style. Attached to the cross-wing is a garden wall containing two rectangular bee boles with shelves – we recently saw similar structures on our Horsehouse to Carlton in Coverdale walk.
The road now bears left, and we follow it, noting, but not taking, Clogger Lane on the right – this is part of our return route later in the day. We then head right following the sign for Lothersdale and stay on the road for the next 400m.
Our next landmark is a footpath leaving the road on the left at Fenton House, and here we follow the track up to a gate 100m ahead. On that gate we found a rather ominous “Bull in Field” warning, and ahead of us we could indeed see an impressively large bull, sharing the field with cows and calves.
After a short debate, based on the observation that bulls tend to be calmest when sharing a field with cows and calves, we progressed – entirely without incident. If you intend to follow our walk, and wish to take a dog, take great care here.
The path now heads east along the drystone wall to the right hand side of the field – use the large tree at the far side of the field as a landmark and then take the stile into the next field. We cross one more pasture – enjoying good views of the hills around Skipton as we go, and at the end of our third field need to look for a stile in the top left hand corner – on the day the metal gate adjacent to it was open so we used the easier option. This stile is not very prominent – just aim for the field corner to find it.
We continue east, now with the wall to our right crossing small fields until we get to a large gate on our right, which we take to access a track, going left and still heading east.
To our right along this section are old quarry workings, and associated spoil heaps, and to our left is Yellison Wood, a conifer plantation. We noted wildlife camera traps here positioned to monitor birds of prey. The shelter provided by the conifers makes this a good location to take a break.
Pressing on we continue down the track, then 200m after the end of Yellison Wood, and 50m before the next farm (Higher Scarcliff) we look for a path on the right heading up on to the moor. Rather inconveniently this is one of those routes that is clear and easy to see when you are on it, but somewhat obscure at the start.
Once on the correct path we head southeast using Raygate Hill which is slightly to our right as a target. We soon pick up a drystone wall, which we follow through bilberry bushes. These delicious and intensely flavoured berries are related to, but not the same as blueberries. Both belong to the same genus, Vaccinium. Bilberries are smaller, have a tangier taste, and much higher levels of healthy antioxidants than blueberries. Bilberries (or whinberries as they are also known) are native to Europe and grow wild, while blueberries are more commonly cultivated and native to North America.
400m or so after leaving the track at Higher Scarcliff, we arrive at a gate onto a road – we go right here and walk on the road for 500m – take care here.
Ahead of us we soon find a crossroads, and on some maps, you will see reference to “Porridge Stoup” here. The stoup is a milestone / direction marker dating back to 1730 (the installation date is carved on top). It is square in section, and each face has a well-cut open hand pointing to key destinations. The southwest face reads “9 miles to Keighle(y)”; southeast reads “3 miles to Skipton”; northeast reads “10 miles to Settle”; northwest reads “8 miles to Coln”.
But where exactly is it? Our eagle eyed walkers scoured the area and found nothing – it turns out that it was hit by a vehicle in January 2025and subsequently North Yorkshire Highways have removed the damaged sections until a repair is arranged. Hopefully this grade II listed structure will be safely re-instated.
[picture courtesy of Historic England] shows the stoup pre-damage]
Just beyond the crossroads we see a cattle grid, and a footpath waymarked to the left heading uphill onto the moors. We take the stile here and follow the drystone wall uphill through more bilberry bushes. We climb steeply for about 300m, and bear slightly right on flatter ground for a further 300m to find a gate in the wall. We go through this and then head southwest on a clear path across the moorland toward the peak of Pinhaw, where there is a trig point and the beacon, where a toposcope installed to commemorate those lost to Covid points out the hills and towns visible from the peak.
We paused for lunch here, and if you do so, you might take a moment to look at the OS map. What jumps out if you do so is a reference to Roberts Wilson’s grave. The path at the top of the beacon which we followed does not directly pass the grave. To see it head back and when the path forks take the broader track, part of the Pennine Way path.
Robert Wilson was the Beacon Guard at Pinhaw Beacon back in the early 19th Century, when there was a general sense of anxiety that Napoleon was likely to invade. The concern reached the extent that in a precursor to the Home Guard, beacons were set up across the country to warn of an imminent attack. Pinhaw Beacon was one such beacon, and was manned by a team of Beacon Guards, headed up by Robert Wilson. In January 1805 in particularly harsh weather conditions, he headed out in the storm to try and get fresh supplies for his men. Sadly, he did not survive the journey and the stone marks where he was discovered – it is not an actual grave.
If you wish to find the marker, go about 200m east of the beacon along the Pennine Way, where a distinct track leads off northeast between two small mounds. About 200m along this track look for a small stone lying in the bracken about 20m to the right.
To start the return leg of the walk, we continue on the Pennine Way path following it downhill until we arrive at the road we left a short while ago. At this point we have Clogger Lane ahead of us, and as we saw early in the day this goes directly to Elslack. Road walking is dull though, so we head slightly to the right, crossing the road to find a well-marked footpath across the moor and down toward Elslack reservoir.
The reservoir we see now was built in the 1930s principally to supply the growing needs of Barnoldswick, although smaller reservoirs probably predated it. Elslack reservoir is situated at the top of a steep sided valley, and through that valley runs a stream fed by a number of springs in the local hillsides. The valley forms three sides of the almost square shaped structure, the fourth created by a large dam wall, part concrete and part earth.
A deep cylindrical shaft gives access to the main valve which was controlled from a tower built on the top of the bank and referred to as the wheelhouse.
Around the side of the reservoir was a concrete run off gulley which was used to prevent one of the main source streams from flowing into the actual water storage reservoir. The reason for this diversion – which inevitably wastes water – was that during storms the water running off Elslack moor would become very cloudy as it carried soil and peat. It was therefore necessary to divert it along the gulley and down a series of concrete steps down to the valley floor below and into the old stream bed to prevent silting of the main reservoir.
Once we arrive at the track above the reservoir, we head left and walk parallel with the southern side. We follow this for 200m or so, and then as the track heads sharp right toward the dam, we continue onward picking up a path which goes west to meet Clogger Lane at Cooper House. Once at Clogger Lane we go right and follow the road down to Elslack, 800m to the north.
The remainder of the walk is a reversal of our outbound journey, but as we go, we see a slightly different perspective, and as we approach the railway cottages (now on our right) we notice that their address is Burwen Castle Road.
So where is the castle? Just over the road as it happens, but not a castle in the sense of Middleham Castle, that we saw on our recent Middleham walk. Burwen Castle was a Roman fort, called Olenacum, originally 345 feet wide with 3 acres within its ramparts. The known remains, including parts that would have been outside the ramparts, and later re-builds and extensions measure 608 feet by 406 feet, just over 5 acres.
Olenacum was built during the rule of the Flavian dynasty in about 80 AD when the area was ruled by the Brigantes. At first it was manned by an infantry garrison then later, in the 2nd century, by an auxiliary cavalry unit of up to 500 men. It was probably originally a small fortlet that was constructed with clay ramparts on top of stone foundations with a double ditch 24 feet in width. In the 2nd century AD the fort was levelled and replaced by a much larger stone-built fort and, then in 340 AD, another stone fortification was built on top of that, and it is the remains of that later structure than we see faint traces of today. Just 30 years later, in 370 AD the site was abandoned and not long after that the Romans withdrew their legions from Britain for good.
There is little for the untrained eye to see today, although if you run the flythrough video on the website you will notice that the square outline of the fort is still clearly visible from the air.
Bentham Footpath Group walks are classified according to distance and elevation change. At less than 12.0 km this is an easy walk, and we noted no specific challenges.
