Kilnsey

North Yorkshire

Kilnsey is a village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Dales village is around 3 miles north-north-west of Grassington, 3 miles south of Kettlewell and about 11 miles by road north of Skipton.

The most noticable feature of the village is the huge limestone cliff of Kilnsey Crag, towering above the road through the village near to the Tennant Arms Hotel.

The overhanging cliff face is a major attraction for adventurous rock climbers.

Kilnsey is just above the western bank of the River Wharfe and less than half-a-mile away, just across the river bridge, is the neighbouring village of Conistone, where there is the parish church of St Mary. Conistone with Kilnsey Village Hall is situated alongside the B6160 road in Kilnsey close to the junction with the road which leads to the bridge.

The area has a long history as a farming community and there is still evidence of medieval farming in the area in the form of preserved field terraces known as lynchets. Prior to the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII, the land in the Kilnsey area was farmed by monks from Fountains Abbey, near Ripon. Quarrying became a feature of the area in the latter part of the 20th century when the Cool Scar Quarry in Kilnsey was heavy worked.

The Kilnsey Park Estate has a cafe, local produce shop and an activity centre centred around its trout farm with fly fishing and family fun fishing lakes and nature areas. See below for more details.

Since 1897, the Kilnsey Show, one of the foremost agricultural shows in the Yorkshire Dales, has become a regular August event, featuring not only the usual farming, livestock and handicraft classes of such shows, but also a sports event featuring fell races with a challenging circuit up and down Kilnsey Crag. The show is held on Tuesday August 30 in 2022.

Find out more about Kilnsey at the Conistone with Kilnsey Community Website.

Information about the Kilnsey Show is at the Kilnsey Show website.

Village features

The village is at a bridge over the River Wharfe.

Kilnsey is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Kilnsey has a pub - the Tennant Arms Hotel.

Kilnsey has a shop selling local and farm produce.

The village has a cafe.

Restaurant dining can be found in Kilnsey.

Places to stay in Kilnsey include hotel accommodation.

Kilnsey has a village hall.

Travel

Bus travel

The village has an infrequent bus service.

Road travel

Kilnsey can be reached via the B6104 .

Places to visit

Yorkshire Dales National Park

Much of the Craven district is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The National Park offers mountain peaks, beautiful river valleys, attractive villages with country inns, ruined abbeys and some of the finest limestone scenery in the UK with limestone pavements, dry valleys, potholes and underground caves. The area offers excellent hiking and walking territory with paths and trails for people of all abilities. It is a centre for potholing and caving, has mountain bike routes and offers plenty of opportunity to study its rich wildlife. For more information see our page dedicated to the Yorkshire Dales.

Malham Cove

Malham

Malham is a small village in a hill farming community in the Yorkshire Dales National Park which has for many years attracted tourists, walkers and geographers as the location of some of the country's most magnificent limestone scenery. Find out more about Malham.

Bolton Priory and River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey

Bolton Priory

Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire
The beautiful setting at Bolton Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales National Park is one of the most visited monastic sites in Yorkshire. Beside the River Wharfe are the ruins of Bolton Priory, where the nave of the priory church still survives as a parish church. The Augustinian priory was founded in 1154 and continued until the dissolution in 1539. The abbey has been carefully managed by the Devonshire family since 1755 and now has day-fee car parking (£15 a car or £12.50 pre-booked, as at July 2022), also gift shops, tea rooms, restaurants and facilities for weddings and corporate events. There is an extensive network of footpaths around the estate and one ancient right of way is the 60 stepping stones across the River Wharfe. Other paths lead into the ancient Strid Wood beside the river. Bolton Abbey is 5 miles east-north-east of Skipton (7 miles by road) and 5 miles north-west of Ilkley.

More information at

Bolton Abbey visitor website and at the

Priory Church website.
Find on map:

Bolton Abbey

Skipton Castle

The Bailey, Skipton, North Yorkshire
Skipton Castle is one of England's best restored medieval castles, standing between the town of Skipton and the top of a rocky cliff over the Eller Beck. The castle was first built as a Norman fort at the end of the 11th century, but was replaced in stone and in the early 14th century turned into a formidable stronghold after being granted to the Clifford family by King Edward II. Inside, the castle reveals how it was modified over the centuries, including a charming early Tudor courtyard with a yew tree growing at its centre. The castle was the scene of a Royalist last stand in the north during the English Civil War when it withstood a three-year siege until 1645. After the castle yielded, it was ruined by the Parliamentarians in the winter of 1648-9, but between 1657 and 1658 Lady Anne Clifford saw it carefully restored. The castle is open daily.

Find out more at

Skipton Castle website.
Find on map:

Skipton Castle

Embsay station

Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway

1903 Electric Autocar at EmbsayBolton Abbey stationEmbsay, near Skipton, to Bolton Abbey station
Operates from Embsay, about 1.5 miles from Skipton, to Bolton Abbey station about a mile away from the attractive priory ruins and beauty spot beside the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey. The railway runs trains on most days during the summer and at weekends at other times of year, except January. It also has a range of special weekend events, dining trains and footplate and signal box experience courses. Tank engines are the mainstay of steam operations on the line, but the railway also has a collection of historic diesel locomotives. Also running on the line some days is a restored hybrid electric railcar, which was way ahead of its time when built in York in 1903.

More information at the

Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway website.
Find on map:

Embsay Station

Ingleborough Cave

Near Clapham

This show cave about a 1-mile walk from the centre of Clapham village is one of the natural wonders of the Yorkshire Dales which has been attracting visitors over a period of 180 years. Underground tours along concrete paths in floodlit passages reveal a world of stalactites and stalagmites. The cave is open daily from mid-February to the end of October. Not to be missed if visiting the cave is Trow Gill, a short walk further up the valley from the cave entrance. The spectacular ravine was carved by the melt waters of the ice age.

More information at the

Ingleborough Cave website.
Find on map:

Ingleborough Cave

Kilnsey Park

Kilnsey Park Estate, off B6160 at Kilnsey
The scenic Kilnsey Park Estate has a cafe, local produce shop and an activity centre centred around its trout farm, offering fly fishing and family fun fishing lakes. It also offers an insight into nature through its trout raceways, reserve of wildflowers, red squirrel enclosure, butterfly gardens and bee observation hive and has farm animals and children's play areas.

More information at the

Kilnsey Park Estate website.
Find on map:

Kilnsey Park

Stump Cross Caverns

On B6265 Hebden Road, near Greenhow Hill

Situated around 5 miles west-south-west of Pateley Bridge, Stump Cross Caverns are show caves with some impressive stalactites and stalagmites among the limestone features reached by steps leading beneath the ground. A cafe with fine views across the nearby hills is also situated at the show cave entrance.

Find on map: Stump Cross Caverns

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.

Local government

District authority

Craven District Council

Craven District Council is one of the seven large district authorities within the county of North Yorkshire.

It covers more than 450 square miles of the western area of North Yorkshire with its administrative centre in Skipton.

It has boundaries with the Richmondshire and Harrogate districts of North Yorkshire, the Bradford district of West Yorkshire and with Lancashire and Cumbria, including parts of both counties which were formerly in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Much of the district is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The council is made up of 30 councillors. They are elected for 4-year terms with one-third of the council elected each year in three out of four years.

The North Yorkshire County Council will absorb the services of Craven District Council and six other district councils as a unitary authority area of more than 3,100 square miles from April 2023.

Link to Craven District Council website.

The political composition after the May 2019 election was:

151 Con Ind832 1

30 members

County authority

North Yorkshire County Council
Includes Craven and six other non-unitary districts of North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire County Council website.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire
Covers the county of North Yorkshire and City of York.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner North Yorkshire website.

National government region

Yorkshire and the Humber

Ceremonial county

North Yorkshire

Historic

-1974 In the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Also in Yorkshire.guide

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