Low Gill Beck is subsumed by the River Esk within metres of Beggars Bridge. At the entrance to East Arncliffe Wood is a small wooden bridge which accompanies the ford and provides an alternative means to cross the Beck. A railway bridge also passes within metres.

Once over the ford the woodland path guides you uphill on a series of wood framed steps as it climbs above the riverbank. The greens and yellows of the woodland provide deep shade, whilst the shining sun insists on dappling the woodland floor.

Rounding a bend near the crown of the Wood, a little more light filters through to the leaf carpeted floor. The path accompanies the riverbank as the Esk continues south.

The woodland path fleetingly passes close to the riverbank, permitting a view towards a large easterly bend in the river, exposing the wooded riverbank. Opposite the path, on the far side of the Esk, is Limber Hill Wood.

After the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the Norman's conquest there was a large expansion of the monastic orders across England and Wales. To improve communication between abbeys and granges there was a push to creating more roads. These were called trods and were designed to be ridden on horseback. This would shorten their journeys from days to hours.

Notwithstanding that the creation of Monks Trods surged after the Norman Conquest, most of those still existing came into being between the 17th and 19th centuries. The East Arncliffe Wood trod was part of the monks' route between Whitby Abbey and Guisborough.

East Arncliffe Wood once housed a successful clog making industry, which continued until the end of World War 1. One reason why the industry was successful in these woods was the abundance of coppiced stands of beech, alder, ash and sycamore, which was precisely the type of wood used for clog soles. Coppiced trees were far easier to use as the wood was smaller. Stands of trees were usually coppiced in a cycle of 12 years.

Clogs were traditionally made in East Arncliffe Wood by hand. The shoes would be roughly carved on the outside with a stock knife in the first instance. Because the wood was softer when fresh, or green, the roughly shaped shoes were made with freshly cut timber rather than letting it season first. However, before completing the clogs the roughly carved clogs were allowed to season by stacking them in open pyramids, which allowed the air to circulate. Seasoning usually took a few months. The work was then finished by a master clogger using a stock knife and pivot knives, i.e. a hollower and a gripper bit.

This is an example of the type of clogs that were made in East Arncilffe Wood. The uppers were made of leather and were pinned to the wooden clog with metal studs that were hammered through the leather and into the wood. Steel toe pins were attached to the front to protect the leather when kneeling and metal clog irons were fitted to the soles. The soles had metal clog irons fitted to them.

Coast to Coast Trail Guide

"Hiking the Coast to Coast" is a digitally enhanced eBook available from Apple Books for all people who have either a Mac, an iPhone or an iPad, and is designed to accompany you on your walk of the Coast to Coast path. The trail guide contains Ordnance Survey maps and other advanced mapping features, step by step directions, hundreds of colour photographs, details of the route, its conditions in different weather and research snippets relating to places of interest along the way.