Cockayne, Yorkshire

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Cockayne
Yorkshire
North Riding
Cockayne hamlet from Bransdale Road.jpg
Cockayne hamlet from Bransdale Road
Location
Grid reference: SE620984
Location: 54°22’41"N, 1°2’42"W
Data
Post town: York
Postcode: YO62
Dialling code: 01751
Local Government
Council: Ryedale
Parliamentary
constituency:
Thirsk and Malton

Cockayne is an isolated hamlet in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It is the largest settlement in Bransdale, on the North York Moors, within the eponymous national park. The nearest towns are Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside, both ten miles away, to the south and south-east respectively.[1]

The Cleveland Way long-distance footpath crosses the northern end of Cockayne Ridge, which rises above the hamlet to the north, reaching a summit of 1,447 feet at Cockayne Head. The settlement, under the southern tip of the ridge, is a mere 738 feet above sea level.

The hamlet stands at the head of Bransdale, a southward facing valley cut into the moors. The hamlet is the furthest north that can be travelled in the dale by vehicle[2] (apart from a track through the plantation north of the hamlet).

Bransdale Lodge (or Cockayne Lodge) is a house built in the mid-19th century[3] and once used by the Earl of Feversham as a shooting lodge.[4]

The small church of St Nicholas, now a Grade II listed building,[5] was built about 1800 as a chapel of ease in the ancient parish of Kirkby Moorside.[5]

The hamlet is, with the exception of the Church and Glebe, entirely owned by the National Trust. The overwhelming part of the 1,925-acre Bransdale estate was transferred to the National Trust through National Land Fund procedures in 1972 and comprises all the farmland and a small amount of woodland in the valley.[6]

Studies carried out on the heather moorland at Cockayne Head and Ridge have shown that repairing the moorland after major fires helps prevent flooding in times of heavy rain. When the moorland is burnt the peat dries out and flakes, but when the peat is allowed to grow back, it acts like a natural sponge to retain water and release it slowly over days and weeks, which helps to prevent flooding further downstream.[7]

Pictures

Outside links

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about Cockayne, Yorkshire)

References

  1. Beadle, Brian (16 January 2013). "Cycle ride from Helmsley to Bransdale" (in en). Gazette & Herald. https://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/leisure/cyclerides/10162622.cycle-ride-from-helmsley-to-bransdale/. Retrieved 12 January 2020. 
  2. "Standing stones". York Press. 20 January 2001. https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/7947856.standing-stones/. Retrieved 12 January 2020. 
  3. National Heritage List 1149075: Bransdale Lodge (Grade @ listing)
  4. A History of the County of York: North Riding - Volume 1 pp @: Parishes:Bransdale (Victoria County History)[1]
  5. 5.0 5.1 National Heritage List 1172749: Church of St Nicholas (Grade II listing)
  6. Burnham, Nigel (25 April 1993). "Derelict house rouses anger" (in en). The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/derelict-house-rouses-anger-1457375.html. Retrieved 12 January 2020. 
  7. "A natural defence against flash floods" (in en). The Yorkshire Post. 3 April 2009. https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/latest-news/a-natural-defence-against-flash-floods-1-2341226. Retrieved 12 January 2020.