Farmstone and railway history
Battersby
A sandstone farming hamlet by a ford, with a separate brick railway junction and the old ironstone incline above.
- Best for
- Railway history and industrial archaeology
- Give it
- OS Explorer OL26 for the longer walk
- Don't miss
- The 1907 water column at Battersby station
The Fox verdict
Small in scale, rich in contrasts
Come for two adjoining stories: Battersby's sandstone farm core and the railway-and-ironstone landscape at Battersby Junction.
Battersby's ford, farm buildings and Edward VII letterbox reward close attention. The station and old incline add an industrial thread, while nearby Ingleby Greenhow offers a Grade I church, a circular walk and a long-established coaching inn.
Where to go
Places in Battersby
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesIngleby Greenhow Circular Walk
A moderate 7.5-mile circuit with about 160 metres of ascent, using forestry roads, farmland and bridleways beneath Battersby Moor.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 3 hours 30 minutes
- Locality
- starting near the Dudley Arms, Ingleby Greenhow
- Access
- Forestry tracks can be muddy and field paths in the second half can be harder to follow; take OS Explorer OL26.
The Dudley Arms
A family-run coaching inn with two bars, a restaurant and Café 1756; steaks butchered in-house are a speciality.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Ingleby Greenhow
Fletcher's Farm
A five-generation family farm combining a farm shop, coffee shop, livestock and a children's play park.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Little Ayton
Food & drink
1 placeD. Petch Butchers
An independent butcher at 121 High Street in Great Ayton, known for its award-winning pies.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Great Ayton
Walks & outdoors
1 placeLow Green
One of Great Ayton's two village greens, Low Green lies beside the River Leven and is a popular summer picnic spot.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Great Ayton
History & heritage
3 placesBattersby Station
An Esk Valley line station where the surviving 1907 North Eastern Railway water column recalls the junction's steam-era role.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Battersby Junction
- Access
- The station is unstaffed and its approach is unmade, uneven and often muddy.
Ingleby Incline
The former ironstone incline is now a public right of way, with track bed and surviving fragments marking a railway that worked an average gradient of 1:5.5.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 90 minutes
- Locality
- above Battersby Junction
- Access
- The remains are fragile; stay on the public right of way and leave stone, brick, timber and metalwork undisturbed.
Church of St Andrew
A Grade I church with Norman work, carved heads and animals on the arcade capitals, medieval fragments and the effigy of priest Willimus Wrelton.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Ingleby Greenhow
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Three ways to explore Battersby
Signature outings
The junction's railway story
Look for traces of the former third platform and the railway cottages that grew around Battersby Junction.
Ironstone underfoot
Pause at the installed interpretation, then take in views across the Cleveland plain towards Teesside.
Font and effigies
Look for the 12th-century tub font and two recumbent effigies, including one probably depicting a 15th-century knight.
The village story
The Ford, the Junction and the Ironstone Incline
Five glimpses of a tiny farming hamlet, its separate railway settlement and the neighbouring places that make a visit work.
Farmstone, Letterbox and Ford
Begin with the red letterbox set into the byre beside Holme Farmhouse, still carrying the cipher of Edward VII. The farmhouse itself is early-to-mid-eighteenth-century, later heightened, built of coursed herringbone-tooled stone under red pantiles, with sash windows and a separate roadside cart lodge. A short way off, High Farmhouse repeats the same herringbone stonework and has a braced king-post roof truss and a chamfered cross-beam in its cart lodge. Both are listed. Between them runs the beck, and the ford across it is the hamlet's central feature.
The Junction and the Railway
Battersby Junction is a brick railway settlement down the road from Battersby's sandstone farming hamlet. There was no development at the junction in 1850. Its station opened in 1858 as Ingleby Junction, became Battersby Junction in 1878 and plain Battersby in 1893. A North Eastern Railway water column from 1907 still stands where it once swung out to fill steam locomotives. The station is on the Esk Valley line between Middlesbrough and Whitby. It is unstaffed and has a shelter; the approach road is unmade, uneven and often muddy. Crowds gathered here in March 2016 when the Flying Scotsman came through.
Ironstone on the Incline
Above Battersby Junction, the old Rosedale Railway incline carried ironstone downhill at an average gradient of 1:5.5 between 1861 and 1929. Runaway wagons caused fatal accidents. During the Second World War, the Royal Engineers destroyed structures at the top to stop them guiding enemy aircraft towards the works at Teesside. The surviving track bed and fragments of stone, brick, timber and metal make this a fragile piece of industrial archaeology. The Ingleby Greenhow circular follows forestry tracks and farmland beneath Battersby Moor for seven and a half miles, with about 160 metres of ascent. Take OS Explorer OL26; field paths in the second half can be hard to follow.
Food in the Neighbouring Villages
The neighbouring villages offer several food stops. The Dudley Arms at Ingleby Greenhow is a family-run 17th-century coaching inn, bought by Craig and Betty Staples in 1969 and still run by the family. Its kitchen butchers steaks in-house and serves oysters, game and a flowering onion; Café 1756 offers breakfasts and sweet treats. Seasonal Salads, based at Battersby Junction, supplies fortnightly vegetable boxes. At Little Ayton, Fletcher's Farm combines its own meat with a coffee shop and children's play park. Petch's on Great Ayton High Street is known for its award-winning pies.
St Andrew's and Domesday
The parish church stands at Ingleby Greenhow: Grade I St Andrew's has a Norman core, arcade capitals carved into heads and animals, and the effigy of priest Willimus Wrelton, who held the living around 1300. In 1086 Battersby belonged to Langbaurgh hundred, with no households recorded in Domesday.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Battersby Station — northernrailway.co.uk other published source
- Ingleby Incline — northyorkmoors.org.uk other published source record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Ingleby Greenhow Circular Walk — inglebygreenhow-pc.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- The Dudley Arms — dudleyarms.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Church of St Andrew — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Fletcher's Farm — fletchers-farm.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- D. Petch Butchers — visitgreatayton.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Low Green — greatayton-pc.gov.uk statutory register or public authority