Walks from Horton in Ribblesdale

Climb Pen y Ghent

About Horton in Ribblesdale

Horton in Ribblesdale (meaning settlement on muddy ground) can be found on the B6479 which points due North from Settle where it divides from the A65. Horton has suffered over the years for 2 main reasons; the first being that, unlike the prettier and quieter villages of  Langcliffe, Austwick, Clapham and Stainforth  it was never bypassed and secondly because it has had it too easy. Horton is famous as the start and finish points of the well publicised 3 Peaks challenge (climbing Pen y Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough all within 12 hours – 22 miles and 5,000+feet of climbing) and as a consequence does not have to work for its visitors. The visitors come and the visitors stay; they all visit the famous 3 peaks cafe, they drink in the 2 pubs and stay in the very good bunk house. However this all leaves Horton really looking a little drab, grey and frankly a little uninteresting.

This is a shame because Horton has an interesting history. Recognized as early as the 12th century as a Parish Town the town and church were run by the monastic orders from Fountains and Jumeaux Abbeys. St Oswalds Church was established after the Norman Conquest and is reasonably well preserved with the Norman Nave still clearly presented with an excellent outlook over Pen y Ghent. History returned to visit Horton in the 16th century during the Dissolution of the Monasteries when the parish was ‘sold’ (Tudor parlance for given) to the nearby laird earning him a nice annual income of £32 and 5 shillings. From here on Horton followed a fairly established pattern for villages in the Dales except that John Armistead did leave an endowment to start a grammar school here in 1725 and possibly the biggest mystery was much more recent when a woman’s body was discovered under the slopes of Pen y Ghent in 2004. Despite a nationwide appeal nothing was ever found out about her identity and the case remains a total mystery.

Today Horton in Ribblesdale stretches for over 1/2 a mile along the B6479 with a pub at either end of the village. The Crown stands to the North, tucked away behind the packhorse bridge, serves bar snacks and evening meals whilst the Golden Lion offers a wide range of accommodation from a bunk room to more expensive options. However the beer is excellent here and as much as the cafe has built itself on the back of the 3 Peaks challenge. The 3 Peaks cafe does what it says on the tin and is fine and functional as a result with a clock machine to ensure your timing of the challenge is accurate. Aside from the 3 Peaks challenge Horton can be used as centre point for exploring the western dales with the caves and scery round Ingleborough offering an added attraction to the hill walking

Useful Links

Coming soon…