Kinsey Cave and Giggleswick Scar

How to walk to Kinsey Cave and Giggleswick Scar

Directions to be used alongside an OL02 Ordnance Survey Explorer map

1. Starting from the Church Street Car Park, head out onto Church Street and turn left, heading under the railway arches and walking straight on, crossing over the bridge that spans the Ribble.

2. Carefully cross the road onto the pavement on the other side, and turn left, continuing past a residential road on your right until you reach a road called The Mains. Turn right and head up that road.

3. Continue to the end, where you’ll see a property called The Woodlands. To the right of the property there is a wide path that heads into the woodland. It is walled and surfaced. Continue along it until it bends round to the left and heads uphill to a metal gate in the drystone wall.

4. Continue through the gate and steeply up the bank ahead of you. Continue straight on and up until you reach a dry stone wall which borders the edge of the disused quarry. Here, turn right and follow the line of the quarry wall, keeping it to your left.

5. The drystone wall, turns to fencing, but you need to follow it until its corner at the head of the quarry. Here, leave the fence and continue straight on (the fence heads off on a right angle to your left) and up onto an area of limestone pavement.

6. Turn left and continue to follow the large cairns (pictured) which lead the way to Schoolboys Tower. The direction now is heading southwest, loosely parallel (but at a distance to) the boundary fence of the quarry which will be on your left. The path is undulating at this point.

7. Once at the enormous Schoolboys Tower (This is a huge cairn with a depression in the middle, making it a super picnic spot!) you need to turn right, now heading North West, parallel (but at a distance from) the edge of the scar face that is on your left. There are some further cairns here which will reassure you that you’re headed in the right direction.

8. Note on Schoolboy’s Tower. There is a further cave that is accessible underneath Schoolboys Tower. It is called Schoolboys Cave and used to be a hideout for the kids from Giggleswick School. It’s not easy to get to and has a narrow path with a steep unguarded drop, but if you fancy finding it, head to our Schoolboys’ Cave walk. Not one for those with vertigo or unsteady younger children.

9. The path then heads uphill (this part can be muddy) through some trees and continue along the base of the rocky scar which has risen on your right. You might see a few openings of caves along here before you get to Kinsey Cave, we explored a couple, but they are very small and some of the access is pretty tricky. Best kept for confident kids and experienced parents.

10. You will reach a deep gully in the path ahead of you where the path descends down into the dip and then steeply heads back up the other side. This is your sign to come off path, and turn right, heading towards the rock face ahead of you. Head steeply up and you will see the opening to Kinsey Cave ahead, once you have explored the cave, come back to this point of the path and continue straight on up the bank ahead of you.

11. Continue along the grassy path (muddy in places) passing through a couple of ladder stiles until you reach a split in the path. The left fork takes you down to the road, and you need to head right continuing up.

12. As you reach a further dry stone wall, you will see another path heading sharply off to the left. This is also a path to the road, so ignore that one! You need to head right and through a gate in the wall which is signposted public bridleway. Head in the direction of the public bridleway, which is diagonally right across the next field, heading uphill.

13. After climbing the hill, you will see another gate in the drystone wall ahead. Continue through that, then through the gate in the next wall and then follow the wide grassy path in the field ahead. At the end of this field, you need to head through another gate.

14. The path you need bends round to the right, and is a wide grassy track (this is the Pennine Journey path) For those not keen on cows, there were some present in the fields along this section of the walk. Continue along the wide grassy track as it passes through several more fields, heading straight on. When you reach a fork in the path, keep right through the fields, with the drystone wall to your left, eventually heading through a metal gate.

15. Note on point 14: Here you can choose to adventure to Dead Man’s Cave. As you reach the wide grassy path where you need to turn right, directly ahead of you is a hill and at the top, a gate. Head up the farm track and through the gate and to your right, you’ll find Dead Man’s Cave, another accessible cave for the kids. There are no unguarded drops here, you just need to use your map to find it, as it’s VERY difficult for me to describe! There is no path, but you are on Open Access Land, so have the right to roam.

16. The path now begins to descend, and you need to head to the bottom corner of the field where you’ll see a gap in the wall (this was a gap at the time, awaiting a gate repair!) Continue onto the large grassy path ahead. In the wall opposite are two gates, you need to head through the left of them heading down into Stackhouse.

17. Head steeply downhill (in the direction of the caravan park you can see in the distance) until you reach a stony track and a signpost. Here, turn right and continue as far as the road. Rather than exit onto the road, turn right, following the line of the wall that runs along the edge of the road, keeping that on your left. Continue straight on until you reach a narrow gate in the wall on your left which will allow you to exit on the road.

18. Head across the road where there is a gate in the wall on the opposite side. It is signposted Public Footpath Ribble Way, Settle Bridge. Head across the field towards the edge of the river towards the buildings ahead.

19. You will pass through several gates until you reach the playing fields of the school, which you will skirt around the edge of. Head round to the right and then right again, until you reach a path that takes you back to the bridge where you began. Cross back over the bridge.

20. If you want to head to the park, take the road on your right going towards Booths. The park is directly in front of the shop, next to the Booths Car Park.

Last Walked February 2024