Went Hill and Wayward Wentbridge

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Our view

"One of West Yorkshire’s lowest hills offers one of the most all-encompassing views."

Walk directions

Walk uphill out of the village on the road towards the A1. Turn left, 120yds (110m) after the pavement expires, on a footpath signed to 'Moor Lane via Went Hill' that leads, up a few crumbling steps, into woodland. It ascends gently to follow a field-edge within the woodland boundary, following the ivy-covered remains of a long-toppled stone wall. The path eventually leaves the woodland to flirt with the ridge edge; here, out of the trees, the views begin to open up – Emley Moor television transmitter and the hills of the Peak District line the horizon, beyond a landscape of thousands of ploughed acres. Ignore a fork right, up to a wooden gatepost, and keep walking ahead, past a redundant wooden stile nestling among some shrubs.

A mile (1.6km) after leaving the road, you’ll notice a crumbling concrete block in a field to your right. This is the highest point on the walk and a good point at which to decide on your return route to Wentbridge. Your first option is to continue ahead for 186yds (170m), bear left at two successive forks and then descend steeply, through scrub, switching back left, then right, near the foot of the hill, to reach a wooden step stile into a minor road; turn left along this to return to the village. The other option is to simply retrace your steps along the ridge, this time enjoying the expansive views to the east, which include the power stations at Ferry Bridge, Eggborough and Drax, towards the east coast.

Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Woodland and field-edge paths, quiet lanes; 1 stile

Landscape - Quiet woodland and ridge above arable countryside

Dog friendliness - Dogs should be on lead along roads and near livestock, and under close control elsewhere

Parking - Park considerately in Wentbridge village

Toilets en route - None on route

About the walk

It can be easy to forget that peaceful Went Hill stands just a short distance from the A1, one of our most important traffic arteries. Compared to the hillier regions of West Yorkshire to the west, this is flat, big sky country. Lowly Went Hill rises only 100ft (30m) or so above the vast sea of... cereal crops that surrounds it but gives an uninterrupted view south and west across the landscape that the walks in this book will explore. From the immediately surrounding flatter lands through which the River Went flows, to the far-off hills and moors of the Peak District, and the Yorkshire/Lancashire border, the view is a physical index to what is to come. The charming village of Wentbridge, where the walk begins, has not always been the tranquil place it is today. Centuries ago, before the development of the road network, the area was remote and cut-off from society at large. Nearby Broc-a-Dale – now the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Brockadale Nature Reserve – was regarded as a hive of vagabonds, poachers and misfits, including cave dweller Mary Pannal, who was convicted of witchcraft at York in 1603 and burned at Mary Pannal Hill, Ledsham. Her ghost is said to haunt nearby woodlands. A more famous Wentbridge inhabitant was Robin Hood. One of the very earliest published legends of the outlaw from around 1500, A Gest of Robyn Hood, refers to the village and surrounding area directly. The Great North Road The arrival in Wentbridge of the Great North Road, the important highway between York and Edinburgh, brought it rudely into contact with the outside world and four inns sprang up to cater for the coaching trade. The way out of the village was feared by coachmen: the steep ascent north, of Went Hill – regarded as the second steepest on the entire highway after Alnwick in Northumberland – was tough on their horses. The road was improved in the 1830s, when a great cutting was made through the hill, and the only trace that remains of that feared section of Great North Road today is a crudely surfaced bridleway which parallels the start of this walk as it climbs out of the village. Not long after the cutting was dug, the development of the railway network saw the coaching business go into decline. The A1 superseded the Great North Road in the 1920s, and high-volume traffic was taken away from the village altogether in the 1960s when it was bypassed by the Wentbridge A1 viaduct, built at a cost of £800,000. One of the coaching inns, survives however. The Bluebell Inn, dating back to at least 1603, is believed to be the oldest licensed house on the former great highway. It was substantially rebuilt in 1972 but part of its original 400-year-old inn sign still hangs on a wall inside.