Sinnington.

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.