Time for another exploration of a Ryedale village. Once upon a time, there was a large Lake which covered the Vale of Pickering. On its shores lived Neolithic man. As the lake dried up, little communities grew and grew into the villages and towns we can visit today. Sinnington certainly dates back to Saxon times. How do we know any of this? In nearby fields ancient burial sites and flint tools have been found, and if you visit the Norman Church in Sinnington, the walls reuse stone work from an earlier Saxon church. The Normans came to England in 1066, The Romans were here until around 200 AD, then came the Saxons. We are talking a long time ago.
Right let’s go.
A little lane takes you up a slight hill to the outskirts of the village. To the Church.
All Saints Church has an idyllic setting. See the large stone to the left of the footpath.
That’s a rather unusual war memorial to the poor chaps who died in the trenches during the First World War. Behind the stone to the right , and you can see this better in the previous picture, is a blocked in doorway.
Re-using carved stones from a much earlier building.
This fragment has been used to repair a window frame inside the church.
This cross on the South side outside.
Back inside you can see the font and behind that the filled in doorway. There used to be a Minstrels Gallery above the door where musicians would sit to accompany the congregation in worship.
Outside I sat a while on the bench and thought Big Things, well actually I just enjoyed the sunshine and thought about weddings, skirts and zips, which amounts to Big Things at the moment. How lucky am I that these are the Big Things!
It was great to go to Greece last month but it did mean that some of the ideas I had for 30 Days Wild went by the wayside. One of them was to visit a Churchyard and enjoy a wild area.
Hurrah look at these, positively buzzing with bees. On with the stroll..
Past this bench on the roadside. A father and two sons who were all Church wardens here.
Up the lane,
where my eye was caught by this building. You can’t see it so well from this picture but it struck me as most unusual. Research has since told me this was tithe barn ( now a listed building) , used to store the produce which was rent for fields to the powers that be ( ie the church probably). Before that it might have been an earlier chapel to St Michael. Clearly something quite big was going on here back in the day, but records that exist apparently don’t throw much light, the Doomsday Book and the dissolution of the monasteries records do not show any religions community here. A mystery for someone to solve still.
Onward round the bend… haha! To the front of the Tythe Barn
That’s the house I’d have in this village. Look at their view.
Maybe you would prefer the Hall?
Time to head back to the village.
The Village Hall where the preschool meets. The Maypole with a fox on top round which the school children dance on May-day, and a bridge over what exactly? No-one knows but it is thought to be a pack bridge over which pack horses would go. Possibly a river once upon a time? There was once a market held weekly in the village on a Monday, long since gone, just over 200 inhabitants now.
The river as you can see is nowhere near this bridge but on the far side of the road.
That’s the current bridge over the river.
The river floods from time to time. The villagers recently cleaned out the beck/river to help prevent this.
I loved these pigs guarding a door and
these two planters, but where are the plants?
Right time for some work. My favourite place to go fruit picking.
Strawberry Fields. Sadly the strawberries were wrecked by rain and none to be had till the end of the month. But lots of lovely
Raspberries.
Hot and bothered now, time for some refreshment? Pub anyone?
I hope you enjoyed today’s walk round another Ryedale village. Look forward to taking you another one soon. Meantime I hope you have chance to enjoy some fresh air in an equally lovely place this weekend.
Just before I go here’s what another blogger Mrs Betimus wrote about her recent visit to Pickering.
Comments on: "Sinnington." (39)
That was a lovely walk, I’ll have half a pint of draught Guiness, what are you having?
G&T please. Cheers.
What a gorgeous place, thanks for the tour! And thank you for the kindly link xxx
You are very welcome.
What a nice tour of a charming town! My favorite part (other than the pub, obviously!) is the church–how amazing to have such ancient history all around. Those old carved stones look Celtic–would that make sense?
I am not certain about the celtic/saxon influence, in the UK the indeginous population have celtic roots, mixed up with Saxons and Vikings!
If only walls could talk! Those stones must have been witness to so much history. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could unlock all that they’ve seen and heard. A pretty village.
I like the idea that what those stones saw was the lives of ordinary people going about their daily lives.
Love all the history of places like this. Thank you for taking us along.
We are lucky to have so much physical evidence of our historyabout us everywhere.
Thank you for another wander around one of your lovely villages. My tow favourites were the pigs and the bridge with no river 🙂
I know, aren’t those pigs just lovely. And a bridge with no river, just shows how much rivers move.
Saxon carved stones…WOW! You live in such an amazing place. If I ever get across the pond, will you be my tour guide? You visit the coolest places!
With the greatest of pleasure, glad you enjoyed this one.
What a delightful meander! Hopefully the musings weren’t adding worries. Weddings, and skirts, and zips, Oh My!
Mostly I just sat!
I really enjoyed seeing this village—all the layers of time, including the re-used stones!
The pig door keepers are so dear!
Maybe you could go back undercover and fill in the empty planters. 🙂
(Guerrilla gardening!)
Now if only I were brave enough!
I do love those sweet old towns and buildings. Great photos.
Thank you, I love that there is such continuity about the buildings.People living and working here for ever it seems.
I enjoyed this walk a lot, and it is always nice to end up at a pub!
Maybe the owners of the empty planter can get some cuttings from Strawberry Fields – it looks like they have plenty to share!
Now that would be good, their plants are for sale, I have bought some in the past. Pleased you enjoyed the visit.
thanks for taking us on another rural visit Cathy! I love those stone pigs!!!!
So do I, nearly as much as my lion.
Lovely place! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Pleased you enjoyed it.
Really enjoyed going with you on the walk. Shame the raspberries were only a photograph though I do have some for the greengrocers for after lunch today!
They were very nice raspberries too, we had them for pudding twice and two more lots in the freezer for a Winter treat.
Thank you for that lovely ramble round Sinnington – I particular loved the bit about the church and those reused stones from the old church. Love history like that. And a very nice looking pub – now, that’s the sort of village I rate highly! 🙂
It’s a good pub too, very nice food. Yes it’s a good village I think.
How exquisite it all looks. I particularly love the little bridge over ‘nothing’. Been reading about the Roman Empire lately, fascinating to see what they left behind. I used to know parts of Saddleworth quite well, bits of road and wall are still evident 🙂
Saddleworth is always quite spooky to me, thanks to you know who. I love the farm in the middle of the motorway! I have never explored the moors there though.
They’re both dead now, I think?
A wonderful history and architecture tour Cathy. I would love to get into that archaeology that seems to lurk around every corner of Britain.
Thanks Denis, you don’t have to walk far to see something of interest round here!
only stumbled on your blog very recently, really enjoy it and look forward to each new instalment! Thankyou very much.
Joyce, welcome, so lovely to hear from you and so very happy you enjoyed this post
Looks idyllic!
It is a very pretty place. I should have said there is a tea graden at Strawberry Fields.