Kilnsey's Clapper bridge

Easy to overlook, this ancient clapper bridge sits alongside the much more recent wooden bridge that forms the entrance to the Kilnsey Park Trail.  Many clapper bridges date back to medieval times and are a very simple way of crossing a stream or river, using huge slabs of stone resting on the banks at either side, or on stone pillars when the span is large. This particular example, spanning Sykes Beck, is thought to date back to when Kilnsey was farmed by the lay brothers attached to the monastery at Fountains Abbey.