Rosedale Chimney Bank Top
Claimed to be the steepest asphalt covered motor road in England and possibly the steepest in Great Britain leads to a historical landscape at the summit.
In Britain the road which is famously claimed to be the steepest motor road in the country is the Hardknott Pass in Cumbria (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hardknott-roman-fort) but the locals in North Yorkshire claim that honour for Chimney Bank near Pickering between Rosedale Abbey and Hutton-le-Hole. With slopes of 33% both roads might have the right to the claim and the winner would probably depend on the specific method of measurement. Whist one of these two roads can make the claim for England, within Great Britain there is a road in Wales which is claimed to be steeper, at 40%, but the measurement method is disputed. Whatever the truth, an ascent of Chimney Bank is an experience to savour whether by car or motorbike, although on a pedal cycle the climb is brutal and the descent is dangerous. The hill is commonly used for hill climb races on four wheels and two wheels (both with and without power). When used for vintage vehicles (for example in the first weekend in September) the ones with low power sometimes struggle even in the lowest gear.
The view from the summit are amazing sometimes said to be the best in Yorkshie (a very ambitious claim). The hill is named for a very tall chimney which stood at the summit until demolished in the 1970s. This was the boiler chimney for a static steam engine which dragged iron ore wagons up and down an inclined plane railway using a continuous rope system. The inclined plane used to pull ore wagons from mines further down the hill up to 19th century calcining kils at Bank Top. Remains of the kilns (one of three sets of kilns in the general area) can still be seen (and explored) as can the track beds of both the inclined plane and the Rosedale Railway which carried calcined ore across the moor to blast furnaces in Teeside (now a marked footway). Lots of useful information boards and a cast iron diorama of the old workings and rail infrastructure are provided. There is also the remains of a, cold war period, nuclear monitoring bunker (previously operated by the Royal Observer Corps) and, about 200 yards from the summit parking lot, is a bronze age, round barrow, burial chamber topped by a tall, 19th century, gritstone cross called Ana Cross .
Know Before You Go
In 2021 a formerly un-paved track in Derbyshire was covered in black top and can now possibly claim to be steeper than either of the two other contenders at 37% but whilst OK for cycles it is not really wide enough for a standard motor car.
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