Grab your very own piece of Yorkshire grit, just £150,000
Stunning 170ft landmark crag that’s a magnet for climbers... and sheep
WITH a precipitous 170ft cliff face popular among climbers and having featured in a work of art, Kilnsey Crag is one of the best-known hills in the Yorkshire Dales.
It is also home to a hair-raising annual fell run, provides the backdrop to the region’s ‘premier agricultural show’ and, legend has it, even had a witch living at its base.
Now the limestone cliff – a site of special scientific interest for its flora and fauna – is up for sale as part of a site of nearly 19 acres, for £150,000.
Estate agents say it has been put on the market by a local farming family who have owned the land for ‘many years’. Kilnsey Crag in Wharfedale was created by glaciers that filled the valley during the Ice Age.
Sheep graze on the less vertiginous parts of the site, which is covered by an open access agreement meaning the public can climb or wander at will, without having to stick to footpaths.
Estate agent Savills, which is handling the sale, says there are ‘significant’ amenity, biodiversity and environmental possibilities for whoever takes on the crag, which featured in an 1816 sketch by JMW Turner. Will Douglas, of Savills, said: ‘The sale offers significant natural capital, amenity, biodiversity and environmental opportunities and we fully expect its availability will capture the imagination of many interested buyers.’
Mr Douglas said the agency has had ‘lots of calls’ since it went on the market on Monday.
The site includes the crags themselves, plus some surrounding fields.
Unfortunately the buyer will not be able to build a home, or any type of structure, on the land.
The open access agreement means they also cannot charge for anyone to walk across it or climb the cliff.
They could, however, set up a business such as a climbing school.
Just across the road – and on adjoining land owned by another farmer – are fields used for the annual Kilnsey Show, an agricultural event which attracts up to 12,000 people.
Held alongside the event is the annual crag race, run by the British Open Fell Running Association and known as ‘one of the steepest, toughest and scariest’ races in the country.
The 1.2-mile route up and down the crag includes a 40ft near-vertical descent. Wildlife known to inhabit the area around the site include 80 species of birds, such as curlews.