Bolton Abbey, Stepping Stones

Rory Calland

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Bolton Abbey, Stepping Stones

Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 6EX
01756718000
National Trust, Visit Cumbria, Bolton Abbey
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Bolton Abbey is one of the most fulsomely preserved English monasteries and sits as Wordsworth wrote “along the banks of crystal Wharf”. The western half of the nave has never stopped being used as a church by the parish. Colourful spectacles inside such as the Pugin windows and the altar’s painted backdrop are in particularly good shape.

Less than a hundred yards from the priory are 60 stepping stones, marking a precarious route across the breadth of the river Wharf. These slippery steps once represented the Augustine lay workers commute, as it were. Now they’ve become a little challenge for visitors and are synonymous with Bolton Abbey itself.

This corner of Wharfdale, immortalised by JMW Turner, is a fantastic day out. After you’ve investigated the priory and seen what fascinating relics lie in store there, the grassy area around the stepping stones is perfect picnic territory. The stones themselves offer a challenge, but a touch northwards is a shallow beach, which is a wonderful spot for families to play and take a dip.

It’s amusing to picture monks bouncing expertly from one step to the next, but some of the gaps are not laughing matters. So do make peace with the possibility of getting wet. Once you are in though, there aren’t many better rivers across our Northern landscape for swimming than the Wharf. It’s a key artery of the Yorkshire Dales and wends its way through some very magical landscapes.

Be very cautious if you make your way northwards along the Wharf from here, as around two miles along the river narrows into a harmless looking stretch of water known as The Strid. The Strid is perhaps the most lethal river passage in the world to fall into, so be sure you know its whereabouts.

What's on near Bolton Abbey, Stepping Stones

Saltaire Brewery - 58
Until
TourSaltaire
Saltaire Brewery Tour

The guided tour offers a behind-the-scenes look at the brewhouse and state-of-the-art packaging plant, giving visitors a full sense of what “real Yorkshire beer” means today.

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In a large industrial space filled with dobby looms hangs a blood red textile piece infront of a sheer white backdrop.
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Loops at Sunny Bank Mills

‘Loops’ is a new collaborative exhibition of textiles at Sunny Bank Mills, connecting artists from across the Netherlands and Yorkshire.

Free entry

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