4.66mi Kirkham Priory Loop Walk

Feb 3, 2023

4 min read

Updated: Oct 23

Kirkham Priory stands beside the River Derwent in North Yorkshire, where the ruined buildings of a medieval monastery occupy a remarkably peaceful stretch of valley. Our 4.66-mile Kirkham Priory Loop Walk follows the original Komoot GPS recording immediately beneath the mileage-first title.

Walk at a Glance

Distance: 4.66 miles, as recorded on the original Komoot tour.

Route: Circular walk in the Kirkham Priory and Derwent valley area of North Yorkshire.

Start and finish: The exact recorded points are shown on the Komoot map above.

Place: Kirkham Priory, Kirkham Lane, Whitwell on the Hill, near Malton, North Yorkshire, YO60 7JS.

Access to the monument: English Heritage currently describes the priory as free to enter during reasonable daylight hours, with free parking outside the gate not managed by English Heritage. Those visitor details concern the priory itself; they are not a verified parking arrangement for every point on the circular GPS track.

The Founding of Kirkham Priory

Kirkham was founded around 1122 by Walter Espec, an influential lord with estates in northern England. The exact foundation date is uncertain, but English Heritage records that Archbishop Thurstan of York helped establish the religious community. A group of Augustinian canons moved into an existing parish church, and their first prior was William, Walter Espec's uncle.

Augustinian canons were ordained priests who lived together under the Rule of St Augustine. Alongside prayer and learning, many worked as clergy in surrounding parishes. The community at Kirkham grew wealthy through gifts of land, including sheep pasture, fields, mills, fisheries and woodland.

Espec also founded Rievaulx Abbey in 1132, this time for Cistercian monks. For a few years there were attempts to turn Kirkham into a Cistercian house as well. English Heritage explains that the plan met resistance and ultimately failed: Kirkham remained an Augustinian priory.

The Remarkable Gatehouse

The best-known surviving part of Kirkham is its gatehouse, built around 1300. Its carvings are unusually rich, with heraldic shields of the de Roos family and other northern aristocrats, along with religious scenes. Figures include St George and the dragon and David defeating Goliath.

The decoration had a purpose beyond appearance. According to English Heritage, the entrance was intended to suggest a defence against evil and a symbolic entrance to the kingdom of heaven. The gatehouse also advertised the status and influence of those who supported the priory.

Historic England lists the priory at Grade I. Surviving features include sections of its church, cloister and monastic buildings. The church's medieval stonework and the gateway reveal very different aspects of life here: religious worship on the one hand and the priory's role in a wealthy medieval society on the other.

Monastic Life and Its Troubles

The monastery was not always as quiet or orderly as the ruins might suggest. In 1280 Archbishop Wickwane of York criticised some of the canons' behaviour, including their socialising, the admission of entertainers into the refectory and their leaving the priory without permission.

The early fourteenth century brought more serious problems. Fighting between England and Scotland damaged the priory's northern estates and income. By 1357 Kirkham owed a substantial sum and some canons had to be sent to other religious houses while its finances recovered.

The priory remained important to local people, who used its nave as their parish church for much of the Middle Ages. English Heritage records burials, baptisms, marriages and even a school within the church. Eventually a separate chapel near the gate was provided for the parishioners.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries

Kirkham Priory survived the first wave of Henry VIII's suppression of smaller religious houses in 1536, but closed three years later. On 8 December 1539, the prior and seventeen canons formally surrendered the monastery. They received pensions, while the buildings passed into private ownership and were gradually stripped of valuable materials.

The ruins became a subject of antiquarian interest in later centuries. Excavations and restoration work helped expose the layout of the medieval complex, and its custody eventually passed to the state after the First World War. English Heritage cares for the site today.

Kirkham Priory and the D-Day Landings

The priory has a surprising twentieth-century chapter. During the Second World War, its grounds were used to test equipment for the Allied landings in Normandy. English Heritage records that waterproofed tanks were driven into a test pool and soldiers practised using scrambling nets hung from the ruined walls.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill and King George VI visited the secret training site before D-Day in 1944. It is an unusual connection between a twelfth-century religious foundation and one of the most important military operations of the twentieth century.

That wartime role belongs to the history of the priory itself, not to every path used by our 4.66-mile circular route. The original Komoot GPS recording above remains the guide to the walk rather than a promise of access to specific structures.