Lockton and Levisham - twin villages creating a family feel (From Gazette & Herald)

Lockton and Levisham - twin villages creating a family feel

2:40pm Wednesday 13th April 2011 in Village profiles By Natalya Wilson

NATALYA WILSON pays a visit to the twin villages of Lockton and Levisham.

AT this time of year, twins are not an uncommon sight in any part of the country, as lambing season produces so many identical little fluffy white babies that can be seen gambolling around in the beautiful landscape of our green and pleasant land.

Yet a less common phenomenon, which can be seen in this area all year round, is the twin villages of Lockton and Levisham, sitting either side of a steep and breathtakingly beautiful valley not far from the Hole of Horcum in the North York Moors National Park.

These are not identical twins, though, and each village retains its own very different appearance, character and personality.

Lockton, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book, is the first of the villages you arrive at from a turning off the A169, and you can immediately sense that this is a working village from the moment you approach.

The first sign of life were a couple of farmhands loading a vehicle with farm implements, and it turns out that there are no less than five working farms in the village, evident when you stroll along the main street and come across farmyards where geese and farm cats roam and reign on equal terms.

Lockton is also a very peaceful village. Doves cooed serenely in the trees and, even as the sun beat down on a warm day on the 12th century St Giles’ church, this simple chapel, with its 15th century West Tower, still retained a coolness that has no doubt played a part in preserving some of its treasures, including the 13th century tub font and 17th century oak pulpit.

The visitor book, meanwhile, is full of comments from the many walkers that pass through Lockton plus some from all over the world whose ancestors originate from the village.

The youth hostel, meanwhile – which was formerly the old village school – was the first Green Beacon Youth Hostel and at the forefront of sustainable energy in England operating on solar energy, recycled rainwater and with a ‘living roof’.

There’s been no village shop in Lockton or Levisham for some years after its previous owner passed away, but this week Lockton’s The Pantry rises like a phoenix from the flames and re-opens with a complete refurbishment and with new owners, Robert and Helen Birmingham, who have recently moved to the area from Kent and are excited about their new venture becoming an integral part of the community here.

“We bought the building before Christmas,” said Robert.

“We’d been coming up to Yorkshire for years and decided it was time for a change, so moved to Scarborough and commuted up and down the country for a couple of years.

“We were looking around for something we wanted to do and The Pantry was on the market.

“We listened to what people in the village wanted and it was obvious that they were desperate for their village shop to be re-opened.

“So we have changed it round somewhat and will be having a tearoom and small art gallery space upstairs, with a grocery store, focusing on local produce, takeaway option for sandwiches and a little ‘muddy shoe’ tearoom area downstairs.

“We are really hoping that we will be providing a really good service for the people in the village.

“What I like about Lockton is that it’s still a working village and stunningly beautiful and also that everyone is so friendly and approachable.” Passing a house which is selling free-range eggs from an honesty box, we reach the cottage of artist Sue Slack where her cats are sunning themselves on the lawn.

Sue and her partner, David, the village blacksmith, moved to Lockton 11 years ago and have never looked back.

“I like Lockton because it’s a traditional working village,” said Sue, as we sipped a cup of tea in her studio at the back of the quirky cottage.

“People in the village are also really supportive, in fact, over half the village have got one of my pictures or a railing or curtain pole that David has made,” she laughed.

Sue, who also works part-time at The Horseshoe Inn in Levisham, hopes that the opening of The Pantry will provide further links with neighbouring Levisham.

“Since we’ve been living here we’ve realised how much of a community spirit there is, there are lots of nice people and we know everyone in the village – we have very good neighbours,” Sue emphasised.

She has been offered the use of a barn by a Levisham resident to work on her next project, which involves large canvases.

“The surrounding area also provides an inspiration for my work and moving here offered me the opportunity to be a full-time artist,” said Sue, who loves walking around the surrounding landscape, observing its changes.

Sue is just one person who has links with both villages, but there are plenty of residents who do, and there are several examples of this twinning, including joint groups such as the WI, Lockton and Levisham History Group and Handbell Ringers, which are held in the two village halls.

There are twin pubs, too, with the Fox and Rabbit at Lockton and The Horseshoe Inn at Levisham.

The Horseshoe Inn sits at the top of the picturesque, almost chocolate box village of Levisham, with its pretty cottages and old farmhouses, village green and the 19th century church of St John the Baptist, built as an alternative to the ancient and now redundant St Mary’s.

Like St Giles’, this church houses some fascinating features such as the font from the original church, the celebrated Dragon Stone, a beautiful beamed roof, and some ‘mice’ carved by the ‘Mouseman’, Robert Thompson of Kilburn. Further down the village is the Moorlands Country House Hotel and the village hall which, along with the church, is a hub of the community.

Toby Wood, who along with his brother Charles runs the two pubs, loves both villages and finds that many locals and villages frequent both hostelries.

“We have a lot of walkers pass thorough,” he told me over a drink in the cosy surroundings of The Horseshoe Inn.

“We knew the area well and jumped at the chance to take the pubs on,” added Toby, who has had The Fox and Rabbit for eight years and The Horsehoe Inn for four.

“The Horseshoe had been closed for several years and we decided to re-open it, and support from the locals in Levisham has been incredible – in fact, we couldn’t have asked for more support from the 200 or so people who live in both communities.

“Businesses in Lockton and Levisham support each other very well and this has a knock-on effect. Everyone who works for us, for example, are all locals, and we employ anywhere up to 50 staff in both pubs at any one time.”

Toby added that many people walk up to the village from Levisham Station, situated about a mile away at the bottom of another breathtaking valley, and this helps the village to prosper.

Lockton and Levisham may be twins with communities that are supportive of each other, but they retain their own identities and this is no bad thing. And as long as the siblings live in harmony, then life will continue to go on peacefully in these twin villages, as it has done for many centuries.