Hebblethwaite Hall Wood

Location: near Sedbergh, Rawthey Valley, in the North West of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Grid reference: SD690930

Hebblethwaite Hall Wood is found near Sedbergh in the Rawthey Valley in the North West of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust. It consists of five hectares of ancient semi-natural woodland stretching along the steep slopes that make up the northern side of Hebblethwaite Hall Gill.

The site has very challenging terrain in places but is well worth a visit. From the footpath, which runs the length of the wood, impressive views of the many small waterfalls created by the almost vertical bedding of carboniferous limestone, sandstone and shale, which outcrop at the base of the gill, can be gained. These internally exposed complex rock and strata formations are designated by the Cumbria RIGS Group. The wood is almost hidden in the surrounding landscape, which is made up primarily of pasture and moorland edge.

The wood supported a bobbin mill employing local people until about the 1890’s, when it was abandoned. Ancient semi-natural woodland is rare in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and this site is well worth a visit to see the bluebells, ash, oak, hazel and rowan trees, ferns, mosses and liverworts that this habitat hosts.