Pastoral dale, layered history
Harwood Dale
A dispersed North York Moors settlement of rolling fields, old stonework and a long circuit onto open moorland.
- Best for
- Moorland walking, church history and a farm meal
- Give it
- A half day, or longer with the full circuit
- Don't miss
- The roofless old church in its walled hilltop churchyard
The Fox verdict
A quiet dale with more history than its scattered shape suggests
Harwood Dale rewards visitors who join its farm hospitality, two contrasting churches and pastoral landscape into an unhurried visit.
The settlement is dispersed rather than centred on a single street, but its strongest stops tell a coherent story: an Early English Gothic parish church, its roofless 17th-century predecessor and an 8.7-mile circuit that climbs from the dale to open moorland. The Grainary adds a practical meal stop on a working farm, while Scarborough Castle is the clearly sourced nearby extension.
Where to go
Places in Harwood Dale
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Grainary
A restaurant with rooms and holiday cottages on a working farm, run by the Jackson family since 2021.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 75 minutes for a meal
- Locality
- Keasbeck Hill Farm, Harwood Dale
- Access
- Seasonal lambing is promoted only as part of a booked stay; do not assume drop-in farm access.
Old St Margaret's Church
A roofless grey-sandstone church built in 1634 by Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby in memory of Lady Margaret, and now both Grade II listed and a scheduled monument.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 35 minutes
- Locality
- walled hilltop churchyard in Harwood Dale
Scarborough Castle
A headland castle between two bays, with a Great Tower, harbour and coast views, a wildflower meadow and remains spanning Roman and Anglo-Saxon history.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 120 minutes
- Locality
- Scarborough headland
History & heritage
2 placesSt Margaret's Church
The 1862 Early English Gothic church has a rectangular nave, semicircular chancel and small west tower with one bell; its lych-gate names 24 local men who served in the First World War.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 25 minutes
- Locality
- Harwood Dale
K6 Telephone Kiosk
A Grade II-listed red K6 telephone kiosk in the village core, grouped with the former Wesleyan Methodist chapel and post box.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 10 minutes
- Locality
- Harwood Dale village core
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Three ways to explore Harwood Dale
Signature outings
Find the red K6 kiosk
Look for the red K6 telephone kiosk in the village core, where it forms a group with the former Wesleyan Methodist chapel and the old smithy.
Trace the dale's church story
Look for the present church's small west tower, single bell and lych-gate memorial to 24 local servicemen.
Climb Scarborough's headland
Explore the Great Tower, coastal views, wildflower meadow and the headland's Roman and Anglo-Saxon remains.
The village story
Harwood Dale Village Guide
Farm hospitality, scattered stone buildings and centuries of church history in a quiet eastern dale.
Inn and Farm Kitchen
The Mill Inn carries its name along the roof ridge, in letters large enough to read from the road. It stands where a mill once turned beside Jugger Howe Beck, and the buildings alongside ground grain until just after the Second World War. The McGregor family held the property from the 1930s; after Hamish McGregor died it was sold in 2022, the inn going with the former wheelhouse, grassland and woodland. It trades now as a free house, known for its pork pies and Guinness. There is a small south-facing lawn at the front, behind drystone walling.
For a proper meal you go to The Grainary, at Keasbeck Hill Farm — a restaurant with rooms and holiday cottages on a working farm, run by the Jackson family since 2021. The kitchen has sent out beer-battered haddock with a caper-berry dip and a pepper stuffed with giant couscous. In season, guests who book can see the lambing.
Supplies and the Dispersed Dale
For everyday supplies you drive the five and a half miles to Burniston, which has a post office, a garage and pubs of its own.
Harwood Dale does not gather into a single street. It is a dispersed settlement, its farms and clusters of houses set apart by rolling ground so that one is often hidden from the next — sandstone walls, red pantiles, drystone field boundaries and broad grassy verges. "Harwood Dale lies in the peaceful, pastoral landscape of the limestone dales in the eastern part of the National Park," is how the National Park describes it.
Village Details and Two Churches
What passes for a village core groups a former Wesleyan Methodist chapel, the old smithy and a red telephone kiosk of the K6 pattern. The smithy is worth a look for its wide boarded doors; inside were two furnaces with hand bellows, two anvils and two water troughs, installed by an earlier owner's grandfather.
The village has two churches, both named for St Margaret. The present one, Early English Gothic, replaced its predecessor in 1862: a rectangular nave, a semicircular chancel and a small west tower with a single bell, its chancel windows showing Salvator Mundi, St Peter and St Margaret. The older St Margaret's sits roofless on a walled hilltop, a grey-sandstone rectangle built in 1634 by Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby in memory of his wife, Lady Margaret, who had died the year before. Lady Margaret kept a diary between 1599 and 1605 — the earliest known diary written by a woman in English — recording her prayers, her accounts and the running of the estate.
Moorland Walks and Getting Here
Walkers can take the 8.7-mile circuit that starts by St Margaret's, climbing to open moorland and returning through Scar Wood and along Jugger Howe Beck, with distant views to Scarborough Castle and the North Sea. Take an OS map and expect livestock in the fields.
Harwood Dale has no bus stop of its own, so a car is easiest; Scarborough and its station are about nine miles off, Whitby twelve. At the lych-gate of the newer church, a board names the twenty-four local men who went to the First World War.
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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.
- The Grainary — grainary.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- St Margaret's Church — harwood-dale.parish.uk other published source
- Old St Margaret's Church — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Scarborough Castle — english-heritage.org.uk national body or asset manager
- K6 Telephone Kiosk — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access