Visit Lealholm Places

Welcome to Visit Lealholm Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Lealholm

  

Lealholm Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Lealholm

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Lealholm history

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The origins of this community stretch back to a period when farming and the movement of stock was almost exclusively the main source of activity. Lealholm was a convenient place for travellers to cross the River Esk. People set up residence here in the hope and expectation of earning a living from such travellers. The etymology of the Lealholm name is uncertain but “lǣl” was the word for a willow twig or withy in the Old English language and holm was a settlement, thus the settlement by or near the willow trees. At the time of the Domesday survey, the site of the current village was heavily wooded, but with five charcoal-hungry iron smelting furnaces operating at the manor by 1274 A.D, the valley floor was cleared quickly of trees enabling drainage, cultivation and settlement of the land. Fulling mills, hostelries and other traders set up bases around this river crossing and thereby formed the nucleus of today’s village centre. Until the middle of the 19th century Lealholm was the main centre of the parish of Glaisdale and many of the parish offices and functions were administered from here. Lealholm was home to at least one mill for centuries, and the earliest records show a water mill located within the village in 1336 belonging to the Lord of the Manor, William le Latimer, 3rd Baron of Danby. As the mill was fed by the small Cow Beck, water could have been in short supply during dry summer months, and by 1709 it was demolished. A Quaker, Thomas Whatson, built a new mill on the old site, constructing a long mill-race from Crunkly Ghyll through the village to join Cow Beck. The mill-race now forms the boundary of the cricket pitch surrounding it on most sides as it passes the mill. The mill owners had the authority to clean and remove any woodland, earth or rubbish within 40 yards (37 m) of the mill-race. Also, “all persons that shall grind corn and grain at the mill” had the right “to sieve and sift on two parcels of ground called Adam Rigg and Ellergates”. Thus, the outcrop of hillside rising towards the station became known as Oatmeal Hill. When the semi-detached houses at 3 and 4 Railway Cottages were purchased 1970, they were combined and the building became known as “Oatmill Cottage”. The village also had a paper mill, which employed up to 20 people in its heyday. The site is now a garden centre, known as “Poet’s Cottage” after John Castillo, who lived in a cottage on the site, now demolished. In more recent times, a mill, owned by the Nelson family, was used as the village hall, and became known as Nelson Hall. In the late 1980s it was sold and converted into a house. The historic Shepherds Hall was built in 1873 and was a meeting place for the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds Friendly Society. It is a unique building housing a tea rooms and riverside tea gardens. The way of life in the village changed little over the centuries as the farming was always the mixed inbyland and open moors system. Village craftsmen such as blacksmiths and joiners provided for the needs of their own farming community and combined their specialist skills with subsistence farming. An 1823 trade directory lists 17 farmers, four shoemakers, three corn millers, two blacksmiths, two butchers, two victuallers (one also a tallow chandler), a tailor, a wheelwright, and a “blue, brown, and shop paper manufacturer” in Lealholm. The Industrial Revolution absorbed some of the local population as the nearby boom town of Middlesbrough expanded its iron and steel industry but essentially, in this remote area, the farming economy survived until after the Second World War and the mechanisation of agriculture. Despite Queen Elizabeth I’s Penal laws, Catholicism flourished across many parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire during the 1600s, thanks to the support of local gentry and priests such as Fr. Nicholas Postgate. Today, Catholic churches are sited at both Lealholm and Egton Bridge along the Esk Valley. On Friday 27 April 1979, an USAF Phantom aircraft from Alconbury was performing low level tactical reconnaissance over the North York Moors when the engine stalled. The aircraft banked left, striking the ground to the west of Lealholmside before cartwheeling in a fireball across fields for almost half a mile below the houses. Pilot Major Donald Lee Schuyler and Navigator Lt Thomas Wheeler were killed in the crash. It is believed that the crew carefully guided the stricken craft away from the village where the local primary school was full of children, who began classes just half an hour before the accident. A memorial stone, erected by villagers, stands on the site of the crash alongside the road between Lealholm and Lealholmside.

Lealholm geography / climate

The main village of Lealholm is situated at the bottom of Crunkly Ghyll (sometimes spelled “Crunkley” and “Gill”), a deep cutting where the river emerges into the flat bottom of a glacial U-shaped valley. This was crucial to its development as a settlement, becoming an important crossing point over the River Esk where the valley flattens out, becoming shallow at end of a sharp bend in the river before slowing to a deeper meandering course.

Climate

As part of the United Kingdom, the North York Moors area has cool summers and relatively mild winters. Weather conditions vary from day to day as well as from season to season. For its latitude this area is mild in winter and cooler in summer due to influence of the Gulf Stream in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

River Esk

The River Esk dog-legs through the village and its tributaries. Floods have been a problem for some of the lower lying houses in the village. Marks carved into the side wall of the chapel show the heights of floods in the past.

Lealholmside

Overlooking the village stands the hamlet of Lealholmside – a row of approximately 25 houses running along the side of the valley. It was a popular location with the photographer Francis Meadow Sutcliffe, who took many pictures in the area, although few of the village itself are in publication.

You can visit Lealholm places with Walkfo Lealholm to hear history at Lealholm’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Lealholm has 4 places to visit in our interactive Lealholm map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Lealholm, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Lealholm places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Lealholm & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 4 audio facts unique to Lealholm places in an interactive Lealholm map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Lealholm Places Map
4 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Lealholm historic spots	Lealholm tourist destinations	Lealholm plaques	Lealholm geographic features
Walkfo Lealholm tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Lealholm

  

Best Lealholm places to visit

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Lealholm has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Lealholm’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Lealholm’s information audio spots:

Visit Lealholm plaques