Parking
Use the small car park beside Gunnerside Literary Institute, near the bridge. Public toilets are available near the King's Head; the village is also served by bus from Reeth.
Overview
About Gunnerside Gill Circular
Why go
- Dense concentration of historic lead-mining remains
- Different scenery on the higher return
Heads up
- Rocky valley path with stiles and wet-weather footing
- Exposed return and confusing mine-workings terrain
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Yorkshire Dales map
Full mapElevation247–469 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Yorkshire Dales alert
- ClosureTemporary closures on public rights of wayAvoid the listed sections of public rights of way while their temporary closures or pedestrian prohibition are in force. - Public Bridleway No. 52 (05.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Yorkshire Dales Tour Guide
Your drive to Gunnerside Gill Circular, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yorkshire Dales National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Gunnerside Gill Walk0:00 / 0:24
“You're coming up on Gunnerside, the start of a five-mile loop into Gunnerside Gill. Follow the beck into a steep-sided valley, where abandoned mine levels and raw hushing scars show how much work went on here.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Yorkshire Dales Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Miners' Artificial Flood
- Holes Full of Birds
- The Farm Divided Among Heirs
- The Shaft They Filled In
- 298 audio storiesacross Yorkshire Dales’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Eurasian Otter, Atlantic Salmon, Short-eared Owl, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 99 trails, 63 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Gunnerside Gill Circular
The routeA circular walk of about 5 miles from Gunnerside village, which is the official distance…
A circular walk of about 5 miles from Gunnerside village, which is the official distance convention for this route. The mapped line is drawn in fine detail and comes out slightly longer at 5.67 miles, so treat 5 miles as the rounded headline figure rather than a precise measurement.
How it unfoldsYou head north out of the village on a stone track and footpath that stays close to Gunnerside…
You head north out of the village on a stone track and footpath that stays close to Gunnerside Beck, through Birkbeck Wood and up into the narrowing gill. The industrial remains build as you go: Sir Francis Level, Dolly Level, then a larger spread of workings with bouse teams, a ruined smithy, a waterwheel pit and the raw hushing scars carved into the hillsides. The turnaround is Blakethwaite Smelt Mill and its peat store, the biggest single set of ruins on the walk. The return climbs to a higher grassy and stone track that looks back down into the gill from above before dropping to the village connector.
Effort and footingModerate rather than hard, with roughly 220 metres between the lowest and highest ground on the…
Moderate rather than hard, with roughly 220 metres between the lowest and highest ground on the route. Expect rocky and uneven sections, steps, woodland paths and stretches that turn muddy after rain. Boots with grip are worth having, and the streamside sections put you close to the water in places, which matters if you are walking with children.
Mine safetyThis is a working landscape that was abandoned, not tidied.
This is a working landscape that was abandoned, not tidied. Old shafts may be open or poorly capped and some sit close to the path, so stay on the route and keep children and dogs under close control. Do not handle loose lead ore, and wash your hands before eating. Weather in the gill can change fast, so carry a layer even on a settled looking day.
PracticalitiesParking: a small car park beside the Literary Institute, near Gunnerside bridge
- Parking: a small car park beside the Literary Institute, near Gunnerside bridge
- Toilets: public toilets near the King's Head
- Dogs: fine, but keep them close given the shafts, livestock ground and stream
PhotographyThe strongest material is the contrast between the tight, steep-sided gill and the scale of the…
The strongest material is the contrast between the tight, steep-sided gill and the scale of the ruins sitting in it. The smelt mill and peat store give you structure and depth, and the higher return track is where you get the overview shots looking back down the valley that you cannot take from the bottom.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Yorkshire Dales
10 sightingsEurasian OtterMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
11 sightingsAtlantic SalmonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsShort-eared OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
22 sightingsWestern Barn OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
27 sightingsTawny OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
34 sightingsCommon KingfisherMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yorkshire Dales. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
