Castleton, North York Moors: The village with history seeping through its pores

The approach from north passes under the Esk Valley Railway Line, which runs from Middlesbrough to Whitby, and beside The Eskdale, a restaurant that has attracted the attention of Michelin inspectors in recent years. As such, it’s a destination in itself, with diners travelling from a distance to sample gastronomic plates such as fennel crusted John Dory, asparagus veloute, crushed new potatoes and fennel jam.

After crossing the River Esk, the thoroughfare sweeps past the village playground, football and cricket pitches, the location of which must be appreciated by visiting teams with the steep hillside leading to the village centre as a backdrop. Nearing the top of the hill, on the eastern side of the road, there’s limited remains of the Norman motte and bailey castle that gave the village its name. There’s no reference to Castleton in the Domesday Book of 1086, but three years later Norman Robert de Brus began building it after being was given land by William the Conqueror’s son.

A castle was established by Robert de Brus, who was lord of Cleveland for almost all of Henry I’s reign and was one of the military leaders at the Battle of the Standard near Northallerton, where King David I of Scotland was defeated. The castle’s owners abandoned it in the late 14th century for the newly-built Danby Castle, which later became the home of Catherine Parr marrying Henry VIII. When considered together, experts say the two monuments “offer a relatively rare opportunity to study the development of medieval fortifications over time”.

While there’s relatively little overtly aimed at visitors in the village in the heart of the North York Moors National Park, there’s a wealth of heritage interest on display with a host of tightly-packed and well-kept 18th and 19th century buildings. These are mixed with swatches of public open space beside the scheduled monument and along the High Street, both sides of Station Road, The Howe and Church Street.

The development of the village on the ridge has led to housing on various levels linked by stone stepped paths and raised pavements. There’s a profusion of heritage details, including reused medieval masonry from the castle, date stones, decorated gates, railings, a mounting block and milk stand, drinking troughs, horse tie rings and weather vanes. To the south on Ashfield Road there are ancient stone trods leading to a clapper bridge with herring-bone-tooled sandstone piers and the site of a 13th century water-powered corn mill used by local farms. However, residents living within the conservation area inside the national park are pressing for stringent conservation rules over minor changes to their properties to be relaxed, saying they create a “ludicrous” situation where next-door neighbours have different rights over basic repairs to their properties and access to technology such as satelite dishes.

Street-fronted sandstone stone terraced cottages dominate the Castle Hill area, alongside agricultural buildings, an inn and former chapels. From the mid-18th century thatched cruck-built houses were replaced with two storied, modest, Georgian style house, with stone water tabling and kneelers on the gables and in some cases, dormer windows and weather vanes. The distinctive red pantiles were introduced from about 1740 when they were imported from northern ports into Whitby. As well as once being the site of the village stocks, the grassed area over the public toilets on Primrose Hill features a sun dial commemorating the cheese fair. By the 19th century Castleton had become the main market town in Upper Eskdale and also boasted wool and cattle fairs, as well as a cheese market and a silk mill.

Agricultural produce was grouped and sold set parts of the High Street, but the economy of the village was also given a turbo-boost by the iron mining, smelting, and quarrying which erupted in the surrounding area in the 19th century and even some poor-quality coal, Castleton Coals, which a contemporary said were of a “slatey inferior description”.

For those who didn’t reap a share of the trading, the village poor house was in a Church Street property known as as Ellerstang, while a neighbouring property, The Old Robin Hood, a former inn bearing a date stone from 1671 as well as a ghost sign on the gable. Local legend has it as the final meeting place of Robin Hood and Little John.

Nearby is the church of St Michael and St George, which is hidden from Church Street by mature trees. It was built in memory of soldiers who died in the First World War and its benches, organ screen and panelling on the altar all bear the distinctive signature of a crouching mouse of Robert Thompson, the Mouseman of Kilburn.

Climbing the hill there’s Off the Scale, a village store which focuses on reducing plastic packaging, offering refills and zero waste products, as well as homemade gluten free cakes and savouries baked daily. Higher on the village’s main street there’s also a significant size convenience store, almost opposite the popular Downe Arms pub, some converted chapels and just a school which is still housed in the same building some 151 years after it was built and scored a rating of ‘outstanding’ in all areas during its most recent Ofsted inspection.

Further climbing up HIgh Street leads to Castleton’s Cold War Bunker, which was built in 1959 and Royal Observer Corps to monitor the skies and radiation levels, where a metal ladder leads from a khaki green blast-proof hatch a 13ft by 16ft room created as an outpost fot a potential Soviet attack which was restored by local entusiast Jack Hanlon.