Roxby

Smithy, Fields and the Fox

The smithy at Turton Cottages has a doorway shaped like a horseshoe. It was built in 1858, and above two round-headed stable doors it carries a plaque reading TURTON - 1858 - COTTAGES, with the Turton arms set over it. This is the upper part of Roxby. The village splits in two: Turton Cottages at the top of the bank, and a lower cluster of sandstone houses around the church, most of them roofed in slate or pantile, with dry-stone walls and hedges running between working farms.

It is a small, scattered place near Staithes. Rolling fields, winding lanes and open gaps between the buildings give it a farming character.

The Fox Inn sits at 2 Cliff Brow, a free house that leans on country dining. People come for the steaks — 10oz and 12oz ribeyes — along with pork loin in a Stilton sauce, homemade chips, fresh vegetables and homemade desserts to finish. It holds 4.8 out of five across 187 Google reviews; one of them calls it a "Magic find, beautiful views and amazing food."

Provisions and Parish History

The nearest provisions are at R Lyth Butchers, 72 High Street in Hinderwell, about 2.8 miles off, known for pork pies and Barnsley chops.

St Nicholas' Church stands in the lower cluster. It is a 17th-century church on an older site, much altered in 1818 and restored again in the early twentieth century, with a three-stage battlemented west tower and a continuous nave and chancel. Inside are a 13th-century font, a brass to Thomas Boynton, who died in 1523, and a slab to Katherine Ingram, dead in 1666. The dark limestone monument to Sir Matthew Boynton's wife, who died in 1634, was described by Pevsner as "unprovincial."

Hall Ruins and Ironstone

West of the church a single corner of Roxby Hall survives, a wall angle 3.4 metres high and more than a metre thick. The rest was abandoned and demolished by the 17th century, leaving only the corner and the platform and terracing around it. Tradition puts a castle or manor house older than the 13th century on the same ground.

Grinkle mine opened in 1875 and sent its ore by narrow-gauge railway and rope haulage down to Port Mulgrave, from where it was shipped to Palmer's works at Jarrow. It was electrified around 1921 and abandoned in 1934. The Sirocco fan house still stands.

Walking and Getting Here

Two nine-mile circuits pass through Roxby, each about five hours. One runs from Staithes over the village to Easington and Boulby Cliff, crossing deep wooded valleys and climbing for wide coast views before it joins the Cleveland Way. The other links Runswick Bay, Roxby and Staithes on field paths that turn muddy in the valleys, following Roxby Beck past the abandoned railway tunnel of the old Grinkle mine. From the higher fields the sea shows north towards Huntcliff and south towards Kettleness. For something shorter, the 4.6km loop around Scaling Dam Reservoir takes an hour and a half or so and has a bird hide near the sailing club.

Getting here means minor lanes. The nearest station is Lealholm on the Esk Valley line, about 4.9 miles away, though the road route is indirect enough that it is worth checking taxi arrangements in advance. Arriva's X93 and X94 stop at Roxby Lane End on the A171, not in the village itself.

A Staithes Outing and the Final Climb

A nearby outing is Staithes, reached on foot by either circuit: a harbour village with pubs, cafés and a museum of more than 4,000 objects, including a life-size reconstruction of the shop where Captain Cook worked before he went to sea.

At the end of a walk it is a quarter-mile of steep lane from the church up to the Fox Inn.