Beck Hole
OS grid reference:- NZ 821 023
The idyllic North York Moors village of Beck Hole lies at the base of a steep hill in the wooded valley of the Murk Esk River, a tributary of the River Esk which flows on to meet the North Sea at Whitby. The village is around 1.25 miles (2 km) to the north-west of Goathland.
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway passes the village close by to the north. The current route was created in 1865 to allow steam trains to travel the entire route, replacing a complex arrangement of water filled tanks used to raise and lower carriages. The old route is now a footpath, leaving the current route at Moorgates, one and a half miles south of Goathland, and rejoining it a mile and a half north of Beck Holes.
The small village's houses nestle around an old fording point on the Eller Beck, just before it meets West Beck to become Murk Esk.
The characterful Birch Hall Inn (pictured right) has two bars with a fully stocked sweet shop in the middle and a terrace-garden at the back back. Evidence exists that a building occupied the site dating to at least the seventeenth century, the present building is believed date to the mid or late eighteenth century.
The origins of the village date back to the Middle Ages when it was set in the great Forest of Pickering, which began to be cleared in the thirteenth century.
The first recorded mention of the village, which was originally known as Amerholm, dates to the late sixteenth century, and makes reference a single farmstead. A fulling mill was in operation at the river bank around this period.
Thomasson Foss
Thomason Foss (OS Grid Reference- NZ 826 021), situated about half a mile to the east of Beck Hole, is a small but highly picturesque waterfall located in a tranquil picturesque dell, surrounded by woodland. It has a lovely scenic backdrop as Eller Beck is crossed by a bridge carrying the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
The waterfall is accessed via a footpath from the village, starting at the bridge next to the Birch Hall inn, it runs alongside both the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and Eller Beck.