Walkers following in the footsteps of Lady Anne

IN A couple of weeks, a group of walkers will set off from Skipton Castle and head northwards to the village of Embsay.

They will be following the first stage of a relatively new longdistance footpath which links the town with Penrith in Cumbria.

Lady Anne’s Way is a trek through the Yorkshire Dales inspired by the indomitable Lady Anne Clifford, who owned vast estates in the North during the 17th century and travelled repeatedly between the five castles in her domain while she supervised their restoration after years of neglect.

Sadly, most of them fell into disrepair following her death in 1676 and are now in ruins.

The walk from Skipton will celebrate the recent completion of waymarking Lady Anne’s Way along the entire 100-mile length of the route, which wends north through Wharfedale, crosses Stake Moss into Wensleydale and follows Cotter End to the long Mallerstang valley and the banks of the River Eden.

Much of the path is on routes Lady Anne is known to have used, and it provides a fascinating alternative to other long-distance walks through the Yorkshire Dales, such as the Dales Way from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere and Dales High Way from Saltaire to Appleby-in- Westmorland.

The late Bill Mitchell, the former Dalesman editor and a prolific author of books on Yorkshire, once described Lady Anne as the Queen of the Dales.

Born at Skipton Castle in 1590, she was the sole heir of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, who also owned Appleby Castle.

However, it wasn’t until after the English Civil War was over that she was able to claim the estate. The Cliffords had backed the Royalist cause, and Skipton Castle was under siege. She also faced a lengthy legal battle to gain her inheritance.

The most southerly outpost of her estate was Barden Tower between Bolton Abbey and Burnsall. Then there was Pendragon Castle lying deep in the Mallerstang valley. Said to have been built by Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur, it was later the home of Hugh de Morville, one of Thomas Becket’s murderers and reputedly Lady Anne’s favourite residence.

When she began the restoration, though, it was described as a “heap of stones”.

Finally, there was Brough Castle, another ruin, and the derelict Brougham Castle at Penrith.

Sheila Gordon, author of a guidebook, Lady Anne’s Way, (Skyware Press £9.99) writes that the route into Mallerstang provides the best sense of how difficult travelling in the Dales must have been for her, the terrain being wild and the track rough in places.

“Lady Anne did not travel light. She herself went in a horse litter, her ladies-in-waiting would be in her coach drawn by six horses; menservants would be on horseback while many others had to travel on foot. Items of furniture, bedding, tapestries and even a window were taken from castle to castle, ready for a long stay.”

Today’s walkers on Lady Anne’s Way would be well advised to carry much less.