🚶 WEST TANFIELD WALK: MARMION TOWER AND RIVER URE CIRCULAR ROUTE
🏞️ This West Tanfield walk is a rewarding circular route of just over eight miles through the quiet countryside north of Ripon, following the River Ure for much of the way. It links three villages, takes in a medieval tower, three village churches and a riverside caravan park with an old working mill, and finishes back where it began beside the river. With gentle terrain and a good deal of history along the way, it makes for a full and satisfying day out on foot.
🧭 The walk starts at West Tanfield Memorial Hall car park and heads over Tanfield Bridge to join the Ripon Rowel Walk beside the River Ure, passing a weir and Sleningford Water Mill on the way. It continues through North Stainley with its ponds and cricket pitch, then on past Lightwater Quarries and Newfield Farm before reaching the village of Mickley. From there the route rejoins the river, passing through Piccadilly Wood, and returns to West Tanfield to finish at St Nicholas's Church and Marmion Tower.
📋 The full circuit measures about eight and a quarter miles, or thirteen and a quarter kilometres, with roughly 413 feet of ascent, and takes in the region of three and a half hours at a steady pace. It is a circular walk, so you finish back at the start, with parking by honesty box at West Tanfield Memorial Hall. Two short sections along the way can become a little overgrown, so shorts are not the best choice, and the route can be viewed, printed and downloaded through both the OS Maps and Outdooractive websites.
🏰 West Tanfield sits on the north bank of a large meander in the River Ure, about six miles north of Ripon, and appears in the Domesday Book as Tanefeld. Its manor passed through some notable hands over the centuries, from the Marmion family to the Fitz Hughs and later the Parrs, one of whom was the brother of Catherine Parr, Queen consort to Henry VIII. The finest survival of that long history is Marmion Tower, a 15th-century gatehouse cared for by English Heritage and known for the oriel window at first-floor level, while the village today has two pubs, a village store and a cricket club founded in 1907.
📸 There is a great deal to enjoy along the way, from the barley fields and weir on the opening riverside stretch to the ponds and old waterwheel at North Stainley. The three churches each have their own story, from St Mary the Virgin and St John the Evangelist to St Nicholas's with its remarkable Marmion tombs, including the alabaster effigies of Sir John and Lady Elizabeth Marmion beneath a rare wrought-iron candle hearse. The walk saves its finest moments for the end, with the shaded path through Piccadilly Wood and the climb up Marmion Tower for a last view over the village, the church, the bridge and the river.
🌿 If you are looking for a walk that combines easy riverside miles with quiet villages and a real sense of history, this West Tanfield walk is well worth adding to your list. You can read the full route directions, along with the maps, statistics and all my photographs from the day, on the website.
Follow the West Tanfield walk beside the River Ure, through quiet villages and open countryside, with the historic Marmion Tower to end.