Skylarks still nest in this inner-city oasis
Found close to Tadcaster Road, one of the busiest routes into York, Hob Moor is an untouched oasis of natural calm: the perfect place to unwind. And yet many residents are unaware it even exists.
Hob Moor has been around at least since the end of the Ice Age, but an even chillier chapter of its history was written when the plague visited York. In 1549, two wooden lodges were built there for the poorest plague victims. Family or friends would have helped or carried the sick a mile or so out of town, depositing them in these small, bleak houses in the middle of nowhere. A plague stone, discovered much later, had a central depression into which victims would leave money for the food brought out to them. The coins would sit in water or vinegar to disinfect. Surviving burial records record the names of eight people who died of the plague on Hob Moor and were buried there, although the real total might have been much higher.
Info
Address Situated between Foxwood, Acomb, Holgate, and Dringhouses, www.fohm.org.uk, friendsofhobmoor@gmail.com | Public Transport Entrances on Tadcaster Road north of the Hob Moor allotments; Holly Bank Grove and Hob Moor Drive; Danesfort Avenue and Kingsway West; Windsor Garth; Acorn Sports Club/Thanet Road; and North Lane. Closest bus stops: Pulleyn Drive, Holly Bank Road, Collingwood Avenue, Danesfort Avenue, and Acorn Sports Club | Tip Askham Bog Nature Reserve, part of the ancient Yorkshire fenlands, is only a couple miles further south on Tadcaster Road (A1036).
The north-east corner of the moor was once home to a watermill which ground corn, and freemen have grazed their livestock on the common for centuries. Wildlife is abundant on Hob Moor, which was York’s second designated local nature reserve. For generations youngsters have collected frogspawn from the pond. Kingfishers are often spotted flying alongside the becks, and it is home to significant breeding populations of skylarks and meadow pipits. Linnets, wrens, finches, and house martins are seen regularly; kestrels and sparrow hawks hunt here, and 19 species of butterfly have been recorded on the grasslands.
Hob Moor forms part of Micklegate Stray, which also takes in Knavesmire and the racecourse. The strays are large expanses of public land which date back centuries: Walmgate, Bootham, and Monk strays join Micklegate as green fingers of land that bring the countryside close to the heart of the city.
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