Bolton Abbey

The Augustinian priory was founded here in 1154 and dissolved in 1539, but the nave was kept in use as the parish church and is still in use today, so the site is half ruin and half working church. Sixty-odd stepping stones cross the Wharfe beside it. Upstream, at the Strid, the river turns on its side and forces its entire volume through a channel about a metre and a half wide cut into gritstone; it looks steppable and is not, the water is several metres deep with undercut sides and a powerful undertow, and it has drowned people repeatedly over centuries. The estate, some 33,000 acres or around thirteen thousand hectares with six Sites of Special Scientific Interest including Strid Wood, has over a hundred kilometres of footpaths, and Barden Tower, a fifteenth-century hunting lodge, stands further up the valley.

The landscape

• The half-ruined priory - a working parish church attached to a dissolved nave.
• The stepping stones - a line of blocks across the Wharfe by the priory.
• The Strid - the whole river squeezed through a slot about a metre and a half wide.
• Barden Tower - a fifteenth-century hunting lodge up the valley.

When to go

April to October for the riverside walks; bluebells in Strid Wood in May are the strongest single season. Autumn colour along the Wharfe is excellent. High water covers the stepping stones and makes the Strid far more dangerous.

What to expect

Parking is charged per car rather than per person and is the main cost. The Strid is genuinely lethal and its deaths are not folklore; the fenced viewing points exist for a reason. Summer weekends fill all three car parks by mid-morning.

Nearby

Skipton lies south-west; Grassington and Upper Wharfedale run north.

Key facts