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The River Derwent in North Yorkshire
By John D. Farquhar

The author has been an active member of the Association for some years and still serves on its Council. His text follows the River Derwent and its tributaries from source to mouth, and so covers a large part of the National Park. It explains why the river follows such an unusual course, often seeking to flow east to the sea but always turning away from it to the west - the result of the ice sheets which wrapped around the Moors 20,000 years ago. The journeys it describes - by the Moorsbus or car, and on foot or cycle - will enable you to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the rich wildlife and learn something of the history of the people who lived along its banks, from Stone Age hunters to the Britons whom the Romans conquered; to the Saxons and Danes and the Normans who ravaged the land they conquered after 1066. Thanks to the people who look after it so well it remains a beautiful, varied and largely unspoilt landscape - yours to explore and enjoy.

 “No Ordinary Man”

The book “No Ordinary Man” by Mike Stainsby published by the National Park is now available in local bookshops and at the National Park Helmsley Office. Publication of the book has been supported by NYMA. For people interested in the social conditions of the 19th century and in particular events like the arrival of the railway in Castleton.

This book is a fascinating insight into the period previously described by the Rev. Atkinson in his book "Forty Years in a Moorland Parish".