I parked at Bank Foot, below Turkey Nab, a name thought to come from the local term for grouse: wild turkeys. More plausibly, it originates from Thurkilsti, the name of the ancient drovers’ road running from Ingleby Greenhow to Kirbymoorside, mentioned in Walter Espec’s grant of land to Rievaulx Abbey in 1145.
From Bank Foot, the track winds up Ingleby Bank, curving past the nab. The Cleveland Hills abound with nabs, those rocky crags of Jurassic sandstone perched atop softer mudstone and shales.
The cairn at Turkey Nab is a precarious construction, situated on a sloping overhanging ledge. It marks an old beacon site offering splendid views over the Tees Valley. These views would not have been appreciated by William Parkingson who, in 1729, became the last man hanged at Turkey Nab for the murder of a Scottish drover at Great Broughton. Tried at York assizes, he was brought back within fifteen days for the sentence to be carried out—a testament to swift justice. Shortly after, Sir William Foulis, 8th Baronet of Ingleby Manor, had the gallows removed.
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