Mount Grace Priory is the best-preserved of England's nine medieval Carthusian charterhouses, founded in 1398 by Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, and the last monastery established in Yorkshire. The Carthusians were monasticism's strictest order: each monk lived as a hermit in his own two-storey cell with a walled garden, ranged around a vast cloister, meeting only for night services and feast days. Meals were passed through an L-shaped hatch beside each door so the server was never seen. The house had room for a prior and twenty-three monks — seventeen choir monks in cells off the great cloister and six lay brothers in a smaller court. Dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539, the guest range was later remodelled into a 17th-century manor, then transformed from 1900 by ironmaster Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell into a celebrated Arts and Crafts house (it still holds an original William Morris carpet in the drawing room) wrapped in thirteen acres of terraced gardens. One monk's cell has been fully reconstructed and planted — the only surviving monk's-cell garden of its kind in England — giving an unusually vivid sense of that life of deliberate silence. The ruins, famous for their resident stoats, sit in woodland at the western foot of the North York Moors a few miles north of Osmotherley.
Highlights
- The reconstructed monk's cell — a two-storey hermit's house with its own walled garden, the only surviving monk's-cell garden of its kind in England, showing exactly how a Carthusian lived, worked and prayed alone
- The L-shaped serving hatch beside the cell door, designed so food could be passed in without the monk ever seeing or speaking to the server
- The great cloister, one of the largest in England, with the outlines of all seventeen choir-monk cells laid out around it
- The small, plain Carthusian church at the heart of the site — modest by the standards of the great Cistercian abbeys, reflecting the order's austerity
- The Arts and Crafts manor house created by Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, with William Morris designs and an original Morris carpet in the drawing room
- Thirteen acres of terraced gardens, wildflower meadow, orchard and the Monks' Pond, with borders redesigned by award-winning gardener Chris Beardshaw
- The resident stoats that live among the ruins — the site's unofficial mascots, with family 'explorer packs' to spot wildlife in the grounds
At a glance
| Period | Medieval (1398) |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | Daily in season, reduced days in winter — check English Heritage. |
| Stage | 12 — Danby Wiske to Osmotherley |
Before you go
The reconstructed monk's cell and gardens reward an unhurried visit; the priory sits in the woods just off the route below Beacon Hill.
Take care
- culture-sites.json describes Mount Grace as the best-preserved of England's 'ten' Carthusian charterhouses; English Heritage, the National Trust and Wikipedia all state there were NINE Carthusian houses in medieval England. Correct 'ten' to 'nine'.
- culture-sites.json coordinates (54.402, -1.297) place the marker roughly 2.5 km north-east of the actual site. Authoritative coordinates are approximately 54.3801, -1.3111 (grid SE 449 985, postcode DL6 3JG).
- The site is open daily only April-October; in winter it is Sat-Sun (Nov-Feb) and Wed-Sun (March), usually 10am-4pm, so a late-afternoon or off-season thru-hiker may find it closed.
- No pedestrian bridge yet exists over the A19; walkers should take the official Coast to Coast National Trail diversion via the Trenholme Bar road bridge rather than crossing the dual carriageway on the level.
History
Mount Grace was founded in 1398 by Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, a kinsman of King Richard II — one of very few monasteries founded anywhere in Britain between the Black Death and the Reformation, and the last in Yorkshire. It was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St Nicholas and later known as the House of the Assumption of the most Blessed Virgin in Mount Grace. Holland's fortunes collapsed with his royal patron: Richard II was deposed in 1399 and Holland was executed in 1400 after a failed rising against Henry IV; his body was eventually recovered and reburied in his charterhouse in 1412. The priory was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. In the 17th century the monastic guest range was remodelled into a manor — a rare house of the Commonwealth period associated with the Lascelles family, who held the estate from 1653. The Victorian ironmaster Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell bought the property and from 1900 repaired and extended the house in Arts and Crafts style while stabilising the ruins. The site is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Monument; it is owned by the National Trust and cared for by English Heritage.
Myth & legend
Ghost stories cling to the quiet charterhouse: visitors tell of a hooded monk gliding through the cloister ruins and vanishing when approached, and of low chanting heard when the priory stands empty — as though the Carthusians' great silence were still being kept, and now and then broken.
Geology
The priory and its later manor are built largely of local sandstone, the same gritstones and sandstones that form the moors the route climbs onto beyond Osmotherley. The sheltered, spring-fed hollow at the foot of the wooded escarpment was chosen partly for its reliable water, which fed the monks' cells and the precinct's fishponds.
Wildlife & nature
Wooded slopes rise immediately behind the priory at the western edge of the North York Moors. Mount Grace is best known among visitors for its population of stoats, which den in the old walls and are often seen darting across the lawns; English Heritage even runs a stoat-themed family trail. The thirteen-acre grounds combine formal Arts and Crafts terraces with a wildflower meadow, a traditional orchard and the Monks' Pond, which together draw a good range of woodland birds, butterflies and small mammals. It makes a tranquil, sheltered contrast to the exposed moorland the Coast to Coast is about to climb onto beyond Osmotherley.
The view
Set against a backdrop of dense hanging woodland, the silvered ruins, the reconstructed cell tower and the layered Arts and Crafts terraces make Mount Grace one of the most atmospheric stops on the eastern half of the walk. The reconstructed cell garden and the long borders are at their best in early summer; the orchard and meadow turn gold in autumn.
Photography
The reconstructed cell viewed across the great cloister is the classic shot, especially in low morning light. The garden terraces and herbaceous borders photograph best in June and July; the manor-house frontage and the ruined church arches work well in soft, overcast light. Patient visitors can sometimes catch the stoats on the lawns near the ruins.
When to visit
The priory and gardens are open daily 10am-5pm (last entry 4.30pm) from April to October, but winter opening is much reduced — typically Saturday-Sunday only from November to February and Wednesday-Sunday in March, usually 10am-4pm. A thru-hiker arriving late afternoon, or out of season, may find it shut, so check current hours before relying on a visit. The gardens are loveliest from late spring to early autumn.
Getting there
Mount Grace lies about half a mile off the A19, half a mile south of its junction with the A172, postcode DL6 3JG (grid reference SE 449 985), roughly 6 miles north-east of Northallerton — the nearest railway station, on the East Coast Main Line. Parking charges apply for all visitors. By bus, Osmotherley is served by routes linking to Northallerton, giving a useful bail-out if the weather turns before the moors; check current timetables.
Where to stay
Most walkers visit en route and stay the night in nearby Osmotherley, which has the Golden Lion and the Queen Catherine, plus the Cote Ghyll cottage, mill hostel and campsite just north of the village, and other B&Bs. Book well ahead in the May-September peak, as beds in this small village fill quickly. English Heritage also lets the on-site Prior's Lodge holiday cottage (two bedrooms, sleeps five). Baggage-transfer firms serving the Coast to Coast will move your pack between overnight stops so you can visit unladen.
Food & water
There is no reliable wild water on this lowland stage, but the Orchard Café on site sells hot and cold drinks and there are toilets at the priory; Osmotherley nearby has pubs, a shop and cafés. Carry enough water for the day's farm-and-field walking, as taps are at the villages rather than along the way.
Safety
The priory itself is a safe, gentle visit on well-made paths. The hazard on this stage is reaching it: the traditional Coast to Coast route crosses the busy A19 dual carriageway on the level near Ingleby Arncliffe — the busiest road on the walk with no pedestrian bridge or tunnel — which has caused near-misses. The official Coast to Coast National Trail now follows a diversion using the existing road bridge over the A19 at Trenholme Bar (the former Black Swan crossroads); take the marked route rather than dashing across the carriageway. In any emergency on the trail dial 999 or 112 and ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue; for non-urgent medical advice call NHS 111.
Accessibility
There is ramp access into both the manor house and the priory grounds, and the café and its external seating are wheelchair accessible; a portable hearing loop is available from the admission desk. Two accessible parking spaces sit about 25 metres from the entrance. The wider ruins and garden terraces are grassed and uneven in places, with steps in parts of the grounds, so some areas are harder going for wheelchair users.
Visitor tips
Allow at least 30-45 minutes — the reconstructed cell and its garden are the highlight and reward unhurried exploration. Time your day to arrive before mid-afternoon so you are not turned away near closing, and keep dogs on a short lead — they are welcome in all outside spaces but only assistance dogs go inside the house, café and cell.
Listen: the audio guide
The full narration of this stop's audio guide, in text.
You leave the open country behind and drop into the shelter of wooded hills, and there below you lie the pale ruins of Mount Grace: a huge, quiet square of grass ringed by the roofless outlines of tiny separate houses. It looks like nothing else on your whole walk. This was a place built for silence, where men chose to live alone, side by side, and never meet. And one of their little houses has been rebuilt so completely that you can step inside and stand where a hermit once stood. Mount Grace is the best-preserved of England's Carthusian charterhouses, founded in 1398 at the foot of these hills. The Carthusians were the most austere of all the monastic orders, and their way of life was unlike any other. Where most monks shared a dormitory, a refectory and a common round of daily work, each Carthusian lived as a hermit, entirely alone, in his own two-storey house with its own walled garden, and all these little houses were ranged around one enormous cloister. A monk ate, prayed, slept, studied and gardened in solitude, coming together with his brothers only for occasional services in the church. It was a life of deliberate, chosen silence, and it produced a community famous across medieval England for its holiness. Look for four things as you explore. First, the great cloister itself, far larger than in any other kind of monastery, because it had to be big enough to give each hermit his own house and garden around its edge. Second, look at the individual cells, or rather the ground plans of them, ranged in a row: each was a small house on two floors, with a workshop, a living room, a study and a covered walk in its private garden. Third, and this is the treasure of the place, find the one reconstructed cell, rebuilt and furnished and planted as it would have been, so you can walk in and feel the scale of a single monk's whole world. And fourth, look beside the doorway of each cell for the clever L-shaped serving hatch, an angled little tunnel through the wall. That hatch is worth pausing on, because it tells you everything about this life. Each monk's meals were brought to him and passed through that right-angled opening in the wall beside his door. The angle was the whole point: because the hatch turned a corner, the monk inside could take his food without ever seeing the hand that delivered it, and the servant outside never saw him. Even the simple act of being fed was arranged so that solitude need never be broken. Picture it: a single monk, day after day, year after year, praying and reading and tending his small garden in complete quiet, his only glimpse of another soul the shared worship in the church. Step into that reconstructed cell and the silence is almost a physical thing, a life so different from your own long open days on the trail that it stops you where you stand. There is a grand house here too, at the gatehouse end, for after the monasteries were dissolved the priory buildings were partly turned into a country home, and its handsome rooms make a curious companion to the hermits' silent cells. Do take a little care among the older ruins as you look, keeping to the paths and treating the fragile walls and the planted cell with respect. From Mount Grace the Coast to Coast climbs up onto the high edge of the moors, and over the coming miles it carries you eastward along the great escarpment of the Cleveland Hills towards a wild jumble of rock called the Wainstones, next on your walk. Take one last look down over that silent green cloister and its ring of empty little houses, and carry a little of its stillness with you as you climb. Walk safe.
Common questions
How old is Mount Grace Priory?
Mount Grace Priory dates from the Medieval (1398) period.
How do I get to Mount Grace Priory?
Mount Grace lies about half a mile off the A19, half a mile south of its junction with the A172, postcode DL6 3JG (grid reference SE 449 985), roughly 6 miles north-east of Northallerton — the nearest railway station, on the East Coast Main Line. Parking charges apply for all visitors. By bus, Osmotherley is served by routes linking to Northallerton, giving a useful bail-out if the weather turns before the moors; check current timetables.
What are the opening hours at Mount Grace Priory?
Daily in season, reduced days in winter — check English Heritage.
Is Mount Grace Priory accessible?
There is ramp access into both the manor house and the priory grounds, and the café and its external seating are wheelchair accessible; a portable hearing loop is available from the admission desk. Two accessible parking spaces sit about 25 metres from the entrance. The wider ruins and garden terraces are grassed and uneven in places, with steps in parts of the grounds, so some areas are harder going for wheelchair users.
When is the best time to visit Mount Grace Priory?
The priory and gardens are open daily 10am-5pm (last entry 4.30pm) from April to October, but winter opening is much reduced — typically Saturday-Sunday only from November to February and Wednesday-Sunday in March, usually 10am-4pm. A thru-hiker arriving late afternoon, or out of season, may find it shut, so check current hours before relying on a visit. The gardens are loveliest from late spring to early autumn.
Is there food and water at Mount Grace Priory?
There is no reliable wild water on this lowland stage, but the Orchard Café on site sells hot and cold drinks and there are toilets at the priory; Osmotherley nearby has pubs, a shop and cafés. Carry enough water for the day's farm-and-field walking, as taps are at the villages rather than along the way.
Where can I stay near Mount Grace Priory?
Most walkers visit en route and stay the night in nearby Osmotherley, which has the Golden Lion and the Queen Catherine, plus the Cote Ghyll cottage, mill hostel and campsite just north of the village, and other B&Bs. Book well ahead in the May-September peak, as beds in this small village fill quickly. English Heritage also lets the on-site Prior's Lodge holiday cottage (two bedrooms, sleeps five). Baggage-transfer firms serving the Coast to Coast will move your pack between overnight stops so you can visit unladen.
What should I know before visiting Mount Grace Priory?
Allow at least 30-45 minutes — the reconstructed cell and its garden are the highlight and reward unhurried exploration. Time your day to arrive before mid-afternoon so you are not turned away near closing, and keep dogs on a short lead — they are welcome in all outside spaces but only assistance dogs go inside the house, café and cell.
Is Mount Grace Priory safe to visit?
The priory itself is a safe, gentle visit on well-made paths. The hazard on this stage is reaching it: the traditional Coast to Coast route crosses the busy A19 dual carriageway on the level near Ingleby Arncliffe — the busiest road on the walk with no pedestrian bridge or tunnel — which has caused near-misses. The official Coast to Coast National Trail now follows a diversion using the existing road bridge over the A19 at Trenholme Bar (the former Black Swan crossroads); take the marked route rather than dashing across the carriageway. In any emergency on the trail dial 999 or 112 and ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue; for non-urgent medical advice call NHS 111.
Nearby on the route
Plan the visit
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