Lady Anne's Way

Anne Clifford was the third and only surviving child of the 3rd Earl of Cumberland, Queen Elizabeth I's Champion, who owned vast estates in the Yorkshire Dales and Westmorland. On her father's death in 1605, she failed to inherit his estates, the land and titles going instead to her uncle. After spending 38 years fighting this injustice, Lady Anne gained control of the estates in 1643 and devoted the rest of her life to restoring her castles at Skipton, Barden, Pendragon, Appleby, Brough and Brougham. She also rebuilt the churches and chapels on her estates, erected monuments, built bridges, founded almshouses and gave frequently to the poor; her philanthropy was legendary. Whilst supervising the work on her castles, she would travel to each one in turn with her retinue of ladies-in-waiting, servants and followers, spending months at a time at each.

Lady Anne's Way retraces the routes she took between her castles, visiting all of the important buildings associated with her story. The trail runs from Skipton Castle, where she was born on 30th January 1590, to Brougham Castle on the outskirts of Penrith, where she died on 22nd March 1676, aged 86. It meanders through Wharfedale and Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, follows an ancient green lane known as Lady Anne's Highway through ruggedly beautiful Mallerstang and then explores the tranquil countryside of the Eden Valley. Along the way it passes through many attractive villages and market towns such as Burnsall, Grassington, Kettlewell, Askrigg, Hawes, Kirkby Stephen and Appleby, one of the most delightful small towns in England, with a wide tree-lined main street overlooked by many fine buildings including the castle, Moot Hall, almshouses and St Lawrence's Church, where Lady Anne is buried. In addition to Skipton, Barden, Pendragon, Appleby, Brough, Brougham and Penrith Castles, the route passes many other sites of historic interest including Nappa Hall, a fine medieval fortified manor house; Hell Gill, a deep gorge which the highwayman Dick Turpin is said to have leapt to avoid capture; Great Ormside's ancient little church with it's 'leper's squint'; and Brougham Hall, the 'Windsor of the North'.