Thornton-le-Dale Guide, thorntonledale.org
Red Walk, All Saints Church & Brook Lane
A short walk with a great deal of history in it: All Saints Church and its churchyard above the beck, returning along Brook Lane. The walk to do with someone who tires easily, or when the light is going and you still want to be outside.
- Start and finish
- Village car park, Maltongate, Thornton-le-Dale (satnav YO18 7SD)
- Time
- 20–30 minutes
- Waymarking
- Red discs
- Terrain
- Easy, on made footpaths
- Underfoot after rain
- Not recorded
- Gates and stiles
- Not recorded
- Distance and ascent
- Not published, see the note at the foot
- Access and dogs
- The most step-free of the waymarked routes and the best choice for limited mobility. Dogs fine throughout; on a lead in the churchyard.
Directions
- Leave the car park and walk to the footbridge on Priestman's Lane.
- Turn right at the footbridge. All Saints Church is barely a hundred metres away, its churchyard sloping above the beck.
- In the churchyard, look for the grave of Matthew Grimes, reputedly one of the guards who watched over Napoleon in exile on St Helena. One corner is deliberately let go as a wildlife garden, so expect long grass and insects rather than mown edges.
- From the church, walk back past the Hall to the bridge.
- Follow Brook Lane through to Whitbygate and back into the centre of the village.
Before you set off
- Sturdy shoes or boots after rain.
- Dogs on a lead in the churchyard.
- Close every gate behind you. Several routes cross land with sheep, and a few have chickens and a horse alongside the path.
- Keep dogs under close control everywhere, and on a lead near livestock, in the churchyards and through the village.
- After heavy rain, check that Thornton Beck is not in spate before using the low beckside stretches or paddling.
- Distances, total ascent, gate and stile counts and current path conditions are not published in this guide, so carry OS Explorer map coverage or a mapping app.
The seven routes follow the Thornton-le-Dale Walks leaflet produced by Thornton le Dale Traders Forum and Thornton le Dale Parish Council. The terrain, dog, pushchair and wheelchair notes on this page come from walking the routes ourselves in September 2026.