THE NORTH YORK MOORS - A Northern Coast to Coast Walk: From St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay - page 101

Climb easily for a while to the brow of a hill and a gate on the left, and continue
on a fenced track towards Arncliffe Wood, part of the Forestry Commission's Cleveland
Forest. Go right on entering the wood, and follow an undulating course through the
forest.
The path rises steadily to a T-junction. Here go right and continue to the edge of the
forest at a gate, beyond which a track leads down to Osmotherley. At this point the
Cleveland Way is first encountered.
Note Walkers heading for an overnight stay in Osmotherley should leave
the forest at this point, following the Cleveland Way across fields, through
three kissing gates, past Chapel Wood Farm, until reaching the road lead-
ing into Osmotherley, there turning right into the village.
OSMOTHERLEY
Osmotherley is a small, thriving village at the point where the Cleveland Way, the Lyke
Wake Walk and the Coast to Coast meet. Originally the community developed as an
agricultural market village, but during the 18th and 19th centuries it was also a thriving
industrial centre. Many of the houses date from these days, built in the period 1800-30
to provide accommodation for workers in the alum quarries and jet mines, and con-
structed of traditional Yorkshire sandstone.
The village's name has always been a source of interest. In the Domesday Book it
is recorded as 'Asmundrelac', Asmund being an Old Norse name. Later, under Anglian
influence, this would corrupt to 'Osmund's Ley', a 'ley', like a 'thwaite', being a clearing,
but, as ever, there is a more imaginative tale to be told.
A local princess dreamt her son, Os (or Oswy), would drown on a certain day, and
so on that day ordered a nurse to take him to a safe place. Roseberry Topping, then
known as Odinsberg, the prominent cone-shaped hill near Great Ayton that has been in
view for a while as the Cleveland Hills are approached, seemed safe enough. Certainly,
the nurse found it a safe and comforting haven, for she fell asleep, allowing the baby
prince to wander away. When the nurse awoke it was to find the prince lying face down
in a hillside spring, dead. He was buried at Osmotherley. Later, his mother died of grief
and was buried at his side, so 'Os-by-his-mother-lay'. Chronologically, it doesn't tie up,
of course - perhaps the village should be 'Mother-by-Os-ley'! It is all highly improbable,
but why spoil a good yarn with the trivia of truth.
Continuing from the forest edge, the main route does not leave the forest,
but doubles back - signposted 'Cleveland Way', as are most of the sign-
posts for the next few miles (the Cleveland Way symbol is the national trail
white acorn on a black background). Climb away from the gate on a clear
path through South Wood. At the top of the wood the path escorts a wall
to a radio station, squeezing then between the station and the wall to ap-
proach the summit of Beacon Hill, with the first wide-ranging views of the