Kilnsey is a small village in

Wharfedale Wharfedale ( ) is the valley of the upper parts of the River Wharfe and one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated within the districts of Craven and Harrogate in North Yorkshire, and the cities of Leeds and Bradford in West Yorkshire. It ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

, England. It lies on the

B6160 road New B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in ...

, between the villages of

Grassington Grassington is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 1,126. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is situated in Wharf ...

and

Kettlewell Kettlewell is a village in Upper Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies north of Grassington, at the point where Wharfedale is joined by a minor road (Cam Gill Road) which leads nort ...

, near Arncliffe and just across the

River Wharfe The River Wharfe ( ) is a river in Yorkshire, England originating within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For much of its middle course it is the county boundary between West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire. Its valley is known as Wharfedale ...

from

Conistone Conistone is a small village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of Grassington, south of Kettlewell and north of Skipton beside the River Wharfe, in Upper Wharfedale. History Conistone is mentioned in the ...

. The village is north of

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the Riv ...

and south of Kettlewell.

History

The village is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as ''Chilsie'' when it was described as waste. Soon after the Domesday Book had been completed, the lands in and around Kilnsey were given to Edulf de Culnese. The derivation of the name is believed to come from ''Kyle'' and ''Ea'', which means ''the chilly stream''. The most notable feature of Kilnsey is a large

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

cliff called ''Kilnsey Crag'', overlooking the road and the

from the west. The crag is around 170 feet high, with an overhang of 40 feet. It was painted by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbul ...

in 1816. The crag contains several of Britain's most extreme

sport climbing Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors t ...

routes, such as ''Northern Lights'' , and ''North Star'' , by

Steve McClure Steve McClure (born 25 July 1970) is a British rock climber and climbing author, who is widely regarded as Britain's leading and most important sport climber for a period that extends for over two decades, starting from the late 1990s. In 2017, h ...

. West from Kilnsey towards Malham Tarn runs the historic

Mastiles Lane Mastiles Lane, near Malham and Kilnsey in North Yorkshire, was a Roman marching road and later an important route for the Cistercian monks leading sheep from Fountains Abbey to summer pasture on higher ground. Also known as the Old Monks' Road, ...

, a Roman marching road, later an important route for monks leading sheep from Fountains Abbey to summer pasture on higher ground. This is now a Dales walking track. The village of Kilnsey is a small collection of stone-built

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills rising from the Vale of York w ...

cottages, many dating back to the 1600s. The Old Hall in the village is believed to have been a medieval administrative site for the monks of Fountains Abbey who farmed flocks of sheep in the area. Most of the present building dates from 1648. Kilnsey Park is a visitor attraction and fishing lake that was established in 1978 by the Roberts family. The park offers attractions including

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

, a nature trail and farm animals. There is also a working fish farm, smokehouse, and cafe. Kilnsey has one pub, the Tennant Arms, named after the Tennant family of Chapel House (on the site of an ancient chapel belonging to Kilnsey Grange, a possession of Fountains Abbey) which owned the Kilnsey Estate from 1572 to 1911. Each autumn the village hosts Kilnsey Show, one of the largest one-day agricultural shows in the country. The show was officially established in 1897 and regularly attracts over 12,000 visitors, though records dating back to the mid-1800s tell of harness racing and the fell race having been run for most of that century. The timing of the show has been linked as possibly tying in with the saint's day for St Mary's Church in nearby

. One of the highlights is the Kilnsey Crag Race, a distance of and a climb of which dashes up and down the side of the crag. On 5 July 2014, the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

Stage 1 from Leeds to Harrogate passed through the village.

Old Nan

Old Nan was allegedly a witch living under Kilnsey Crag and well known locally.Pontefract, E. & Hartley, M. ''Wharfedale'' (Reprint 1943) Dent & Sons She was known as far as

, where she had a stand in the market.

Gallery

Image:Kilnsey Crag.jpg, Kilnsey Crag Image:Old_Hall,_1658,_Kilnsey.jpg, Old Hall Image:Distant_view_of_Kilnsey_from_Dalesway,_NE.jpg, Kilnsey Crag above River Wharfe, across Wharfedale Image:Kilnsey, looking towards the crag and the Tennant Arms pub.jpg, Kilnsey

References

Sources

External links

Mastiles Lane and Malham Tarn WalkKilnsey Old HallTennant ArmsKilnsey Park trout farmKilnsey show Kilnsey show images
* {{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Wharfedale Climbing areas of England