21 February 2004
Chop Gate, Tripsdale & the Ship Stone, Bilsdale Mast, Cock Howe.
Map:OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors Western area at 1:25000

Bilsdale from the path above William Beck Farm

This morning was bright and sunny with a cold wind - just right for a good walk on the moors. My son was staying for the weekend and I had a particular reason for visiting Tripsdale. A few weeks ago I received an email via this web site from a lady in California who's family came from Bilsdale. Apparently her great great grandfather was Mr Johnathan Hart of Bilsdale and a family story told of him carving an inscription in the mid eighteen hundreds on a large boulder called the Ship Rock somewhere in Bilsdale. I'm ashamed to say that I had never heard of the Ship Rock but in fact it is quite famous. I eventually found a reference to it in "A Walkers' Guide to the Cleveland Hills" by Tom Scott Burns where it is called the Ship Stone. So to-day my son and I set off to find the Ship Stone and photograph the inscription to send to Johnathan Hart's great great grand daughter in California. Isn't the Internet just wonderful for this kind of thing. At the risk of sounding a bit pompous it's for this kind of interaction that I keep this site going as a free resource for walkers - it's what the Internet does best allowing people to get together in a way that wouldn't be possible otherwise. Anyway enough sounding off, let's get on with the walk. We drove to the village hall car park in Chop Gate and arrived there at about 10am. We crossed the main road and climbed up past William Beck Farm (It's always so neat and tidy!!) and onto the moorland track at map ref.SE 559993. We crossed the track and continued along the path into Tripsdale to the ford at map ref. SE 582988. At least it used to be a pretty ford with a stone slab bottom but it's been piped in and filled with gravel to make an easy crossing for the grouse shooting parties. From here we scrambled up the bank to the boulder field below the Key Nest crags and made our way along towards the location of the Ship Stone shown on a sketch map in Tom Scott Burn's book. We spotted two double-decker-bus sized boulders and made a careful inspection but there was no inscription. Then just beyond the second boulder I came over a little rise and below me was another large boulder and I could see straight away that there was an inscription neatly carved on its side. We couldn't believe our luck, but there it was. The inscription reads:-

"DEI PLENA SUNT OMNIA.
JOANNES CERVUS, BILSVALLENSIS.
ANNO MDCCCXLIX."

Which, according to Tom Scott Burn's book translates as:-

ALL THINGS ARE FULL OF THE CREATOR
JOHN HART, A MAN OF BILSDALE,
1849

We sat on top of the rock in the sunshine with our backs to the wind for a sandwich and a drink. I took some photos and we set off again down the valley. It was fairly rough going and very boggy just before we rejoined the footpath at map ref. SE 581979. Then I realised I had forgotten to take a map reference with my GPS gadget when we were at the rock. Oh well! I'll just have to make do with an old fashioned one from the map. My best estimate is that the Ship Stone is at map ref. SE 582986. We crossed Tripsdale Beck at map ref. SE 580978. The sream was deep and fast flowing and there was no proper crossing point so we walked upstream about 30m and crossed where there were some rocks to balance on with our walking sticks (oop! sorry they're treking poles). We followed the path round the hill to map ref. SE 570975 where we turned down the hill to cross the road in the valley and continue towards Crookleith Farms. At map ref. SE 559976 we turned up the hill towards the Bilsdale TV mast near Flat Howe. As we plodded up the steep climb the views along Bilsdale just got better and better - it's a wonderful place. We stopped at the top of the steep part of the climb for another break before continuing across the moor to the track along the ridge. There is no defined path across the moor and even in clear weather it's best to check a compass bearing and the time to make sure you are on the right track. The wind on the ridge was very cold. We paused at Cock Howe (map ref. SE542983) to look at the view and then followed the path down to our starting point at Chop Gate. The whloe route was 13.5km and took us about five hours including two stops and our exploration of the boulders below Key Nest crags. The route includes about 400m of climbing

The head of Bilsdale from the path above William Beck Farm

Looking across Bilsdale from the moorland track above William Beck Farm

Looking up Tripsdale from the rocks below Key Nest crags

Tripsdale Beck just below the old ford at map ref. SE 582988

Looking back to Tripsdale from the path at map ref. SE 579975

Hasty Bank in the distance from the moor below Flat Howe

Stone pillar at Cock Howe

Tripsdale Beck