Grosmont

North Yorkshire

Front Street, GrosmontNorth Yorkshire Moors Railway station, GrosmontGrosmont is a village in North Yorkshire and was in its former Scarborough district.

Grosmont is in the North York Moors National Park around 11 miles north of Pickering and 5½ miles south-west of Whitby.

The small village stretches from the valley floor up the side of the Esk Valley. The Murk Esk river flows through Grosmont and joins the River Esk at the edge of the village.

Grosmont is a relatively small village considering its industriuous past. It had a long history of mining, including ancient alum workings, excavations for jet and until the mid-19th century it had iron mines and iron works. There were also brick and tile-makers in the village.

Before the industrial growth of a village, Grosmont had a priory, which was established in the 13th century on the banks of the River Esk by monks of the order of Grandmont, whose mother abbey was at Grandmont in Limousin, France. The priory continued until King Henry VIII's supression of the monasteries in the 1530s.

Trains have played an important part in Grosmont village life for nearly 200 years, having arrived through one of Yorkshire's earliest railways. The Whitby and Pickering Railway was planned in 1832. Its route was chosen in preference to a line all the way to Stockton-on-Tees, where the famous Stockton and Darlington Railway in County Durham had started steam-hauled passenger trains in 1825.

A horse-drawn railway to Pickering was to provide a route to and from the once-prosperous harbour town of Whitby. There the sea was still the main access as land routes were made difficult because of the high moors. Reaching Pickering would provide a point to transfer to stagecoaches to York. The line from Whitby was opened to Grosmont in 1835 and through to Pickering the following year. Horse-drawn trains, with a rope-worked incline near Goathland, continued for around a decade until the line along Newtondale was rerouted and made suitable for locomotives by the York and North Midland Railway company which had taken over the line. The company also built tracks beyond Pickering to link to the line between Scarborough and Malton, although these have not survived.

Another line from Grosmont, along the Esk Valley, was opened around 1865 by the North Eastern Railway. Initially trains headed towards Stokesley, but with that section of line now closed, today's trains on the Esk Valley Line now reverse at Battersby on a route to Middlesbrough.

The railway continues to dominate the scene in Grosmont with its landmark level crossing at the foot of the steep hill leading into the village. At one side of the crossing is what is now the station of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway heritage line and just beyond, on the line towards Middlesbrough, can be caught the network train services of Northern. The two lines meet beyond the stations with both the heritage line and Northern trains operating into Whitby station.

At the other side of the level crossing, the railway crosses a bridge over the Murk Esk river and enters a tunnel as it heads towards Pickering. Alongside the railway tunnel is a smaller pedestrian tunnel, once that used by the horse-drawn carriages, and this leads to the heritage line's depot.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway rescued the Pickering to Grosmont section of the railway after it was closed in 1965 by the notorious Beeching cuts to the nationalised British Railways network. A charitable trust was set up in 1967 to run the railway and passenger services were restored in 1973. In 2023 the railway has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of that achievement, which has maintained what is Yorkshire's longest and most-visited heritage railway route.

Village features

Grosmont is in the North York Moors National Park.

The village is on the Murk Esk and where it joins the River Esk.

Grosmont has a pub - The Station Tavern.

The village has shops.

The village has a Post Office.

A choice of cafes can be found in Grosmont.

Places to stay in Grosmont include guest house, cottage, camping accommodation.

There are public toilets in the village.
Locations of toilets and opening times can be found at this North Yorkshire Council - Public toilets web page.

Grosmont has a village hall.

Place of worship: Anglican - St Matthew.

Travel

Grosmont station

Station managed by: NORTHERN. Operator/s: NORTHERN.

NATIONAL RAIL - Departure and station info

External link to National Rail live departure board for services at this station (opens in new tab).

Grosmont

Grosmont has a station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, the longest of Yorkshire's heritage railways. See 'Places to visit' below.

Bus travel

The village has bus services to neighbouring towns and villages, the Yorkshire coast, York and Leeds.

Road travel

Grosmont is reached on minor roads from the A169 .

Places to visit

Heritage coast

A stretch of 36 miles of coastline makes up the North Yorkshire and Cleveland Heritage Coast. This is Yorkshire's Jurassic Coast, where ammonites can easily be found and occasionally bones from marine reptiles and dinosaurs have been discovered. For more see our Heritage Coast page.

North York Moors National Park

The Moors National Park Centre, DanbyStretching inland from the coast between Whitby and Scarborough is the beautiful scenery of the North York Moors National Park, which covers 554 square miles (1,435 square kilometres). Within its area are moorland and coast, historic stateley homes, remains of castles and abbeys and attractive villages including Goathland, famous as the location for TV's Heartbeat, and Grosmont, location of the locomotive sheds of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. The Moors National Park Centre can be found near the village of Danby in the Esk Valley.

More information and links on our North York Moors page.

Goathland

North Yorkshire Moors Railway

GrosmontPickering to Goathland, Grosmont and Whitby
A heritage railway running for 18 miles through the beautiful scenery of the North York Moors National Park. The line runs from Pickering, through Goathland, one of Yorkshire's famous TV and film locations to Grosmont with some journeys extended over the Network Rail Esk Valley line to the picturesque seaside harbour town of Whitby. The 10,000-member charitable Trust behind the railway celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017 and the line is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the restoration of passenger services in 2023. With more than 350,000 passengers a year the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is possibly the most popular heritage railway in the world.

For details see the

North Yorkshire Moors Railway website.

Whitby Abbey

Whitby Abbey illuminated at nightThe hilltop of the East Cliff at Whitby was first settled with a monastery in 657. It is of religious significance as the location of the Synod of Whitby of 664 where Christians in the then Kingdom of Northumbria adopted Roman rather than Ionian traditions as the norm when both had prevously been practised. The abbey church ruins exisiting today date from the 13th century. They are a significant landmark high above Whitby, which can be reached from the town via the flight of 199 steps. For the less energetic there is a bus service and a car park nearby. Though a substantial part of the abbey remains, it has over the years suffered the damage of storms and an attack on Whitby by the German navy in 1914. Fascinating finds are exhibited in the Abbey House, an extension of what was probably the abbot's house after the supression of the monastery. The abbey hosts events for wildlife spotters and for fans of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Whitby Abbey is managed by English Heritage.

More information at the

English Heritage - Whitby abbey website.

Find Whitby Abbey on map

Emergency services

North Yorkshire Police

North Yorkshire Police website.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service website.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust website.

HM Coastguard

Coastguard - Coastal safety webpage.

Local government

Civil parish council

Grosmont Parish Council
Provides some local services in the area.

Unitary authority

North Yorkshire Council

The North Yorkshire Council is a new unitary authority formed from the previous County Council from April 1, 2023. It covers the existing county duties including highways, schools, libraries and transport planning over an area of 3,109 square miles while also taking over the responsibilities of the seven huge district authorities also created in 1974 — Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby — these including local planning, waste collection, street cleaning, parks and car parks, housing and markets serving a population of around 615,500*.

Councillors were elected to the County Council in 2022 and continue as councillors of the new North Yorkshire Council unitary authority. There have been a few by-elections to fill councillor vacancies since then.

Places in North Yorkshire

Link to council website: North Yorkshire Council

^ Area figure from ONS Standard Area Measurements 2022 (converted from hectares).
* Population figure from Census 2021 (combined total of former districts).
Contains public sector information licensed under the

Open Government Licence v3.0.

Political composition:

453CI 1311 NY Ind92 LC421

90 members

CI = Conservative & Independent NY Ind = North Yorkshire Independents group LC = Labour & Cooperative
Composition and groupings - source North Yorkshire Council (February 2024)

Strategic authority

York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority was created in December 2023 combining the unitary authority of York and the unitary authority of North Yorkshire — that created in April 2023 after the abolition of the county authority and its seven district authorities. The combined authority will run some functions under the new mayor elected in May 2024 as part of the government's so-called "Devolution deal" which ties the availablity of funding to the new governance arrangements. As well as having powers over housing development, transport and boosting skills and education across the 3,214 square miles of York and North Yorkshire, the elected mayor also takes on the role and functions of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner across the area.

Elected mayor: ❚ David Skaith Labour & Cooperative

York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority website.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire
Covers the county of North Yorkshire and City of York. This role is being transferred to the new elected mayor of York and North Yorkshire in 2024.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire website.

Parliamentary constituency

Scarborough and Whitby
Elected MP: ❚ Alison Hume Labour

National government region

Yorkshire and the Humber

Ceremonial county

North Yorkshire

Historic

Scarborough district was one of seven large authorities abolished in 2023 as they were merged into a new North Yorkshire unitary authorityBefore 1974: Within the North Riding of Yorkshire.
1974 - 2023: In Scarborough district of new County of North Yorkshire.
2023: Scarborough district and the County of North Yorkshire were abolished as a new unitary authority of North Yorkshire was formed covering the county area and the seven large district authorities within it, including Scarborough district.

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