B6265 (North Yorkshire)

This article is about the B6265 between Skipton and Green Hammerton in north Yorkshire.
For the other B6265, between Keighley and Cottingley in west Yorkshire, see B6265 (West Yorkshire).

Route

Pateley Bridge

The B6265 is a long-way-round B-road in central Yorkshire, connecting the A59 with itself via the Yorkshire Dales.

The road starts at a roundabout on the A6131 (pre-bypass A59) by the church in the centre of Skipton and heads north out of town, soon crossing the A59 bypass at a roundabout. It enters the Yorkshire Dales National Park before following a narrow valley through the hills. It crosses a freight-only railway line and follows it for a couple of miles before road and railway line diverge to pass either side of a low hill and enter Rylstone. The next village is Cracoe, after which the road meets the railway line again and follows it to the entrance of a quarry, where the line ends. The next right turn is a spur of the B6265, which goes through Linton to end shortly afterwards on the B6160. The mainline of the B6265 continues ahead to meet the B6160 in Threshfield.

The B6265 runs head-on into the northward B6160 and TOTSOs right. It is then the dominant number in a short multiplex before the B6160 takes the next right turn. Our continues ahead, crossing the River Wharfe into Grassington. It turns sharply right in the centre of the village and follows the Wharfe downstream (not particularly closely) to the next village of Hebden before it continues ahead to climb up onto the moors. It crosses the steep valley of the River Dibb before continuing to climb onto Craven Moor.

The road reaches a summit of over 1300 feet just before leaving the national park. It then goes through Greenhow before descending steeply into Nidderdale. It crosses the River Nidd at the town of Pateley Bridge before bending sharply right in the town centre. As in Wharfedale earlier the road then heads downstream for a short distance. This time, however, the road must then TOTSO left, with the road ahead being the B6165, before it can climb out of the valley.

The moors here are not as high as those on the far side of Nidderdale but this is nothing to complain about. The road crosses Sawley Moor before descending steeply to cross the River Skell. A mile or so further on the road passes to the north of the National Trust's Studley Park (which contains Fountains Abbey) before crossing the River Laver and entering the cathedral city of Ripon.

On the far side of the Laver the B6265 turns right at a mini-roundabout before heading through the back streets of town to cross a roundabout and then a second bridge over the River Skell. The road then reaches the start of the Ripon Canal and runs parallel to this to - and beyond - a roundabout on the A61 Ripon bypass. After leaving the canal behind the road passes the racecourse before going over the River Ure.

The road continues east across terrain quite different from earlier in its course. It is largely flat but does go over a low hill before going over the A1(M) and reaching a roundabout on the A168. The road now continues southeastwards through Kirby Hill to Boroughbridge, where it crosses the River Ure again.

The road zigzags through Boroughbridge. It TOTSOs left by the Crown Hotel but the remaining turns are simply bends. Open country is reached once again and the road continues southeastwards passing through no places of any size (but skirting a couple) before reaching Green Hammerton. The road bypasses the village to the west before ending at a T-junction on the A59, which has taken a shorter route to get here from Skipton.

History

The B6265 is described in the 1922 Road Lists as Ripon - Boroughbridge, running between the pre-bypass A61 in Ripon and the A66 (now A168) in Kirby Hill. The road has been extended considerably in both directions in the intervening years.

By 1932, the B6265 had been extended west of Ripon along mostly unclassified roads, as well as taking over the final section of the B6165 into Pateley Bridge and the final section of the B6160 into Grassington. Later large-scale maps give the road a spur along Main Street, which was the original northern end of the B6160. The B6265 left Grassington and Threshfield along what is now the spur via Linton (it gained its current route in 1935) before ending on the pre-bypass A65 in Skipton. It was extended the final few yards to the ex-A59 when the bypass was built.

At the eastern end, in about 1972, the B6265 was extended along the A1167 (once the A66) to Green Hammerton. This village was bypassed later, as was Ripon (although there the road was simply rerouted onto streets that already existed).