Kirkdale, with its world-renowned cave, to which we have already referred, lies about two miles to the west.  The quaint little Saxon church there is one of the few bearing evidences of its own date, ascertained by the discovery in 1771 of a Saxon sundial, which had survived under a layer of plaster, and was also protected by the porch.  A translation of the inscription reads:  ’Orm, the son of Gamal, bought St. Gregory’s Minster when it was all broken and fallen, and he caused it to be made anew from the ground, for Christ and St. Gregory, in the days of King Edward and in the days of Earl Tosti, and Hawarth wrought me and Brand the prior (priest or priests).’  By this we are plainly told that a church was built there in the reign of Edward the Confessor.

A pleasant road leads through Nawton to the beautiful little town of Helmsley.  A bend of the broad, swift-flowing Rye forms one boundary of the place, and is fed by a gushing brook that finds its way from Rievaulx Moor, and forms a pretty feature of the main street.  The cottages in many cases have preserved their thatched roofs, and have seldom more than one story; but they invariably appear well preserved and carefully painted, although these stone-built houses, with leaded casements, give little scope for ornament.  But the Helmsley folk have realized the importance of white paint, and the window-frames, and even the strips of lead that hold the glass together, are picked out in this cheerful fashion.  In the broad market-square the houses are large, but their gray respectability is broken by creepers and some pleasant spots of colour.  The corner nearest to the church is particularly noticeable on account of a most picturesque gabled house, with a timber-framed upper floor—­a style of construction exceedingly rare in these parts of Yorkshire.  The old stone cross, raised above its worn steps, stands in the open space close to the modern market hall, and humbly allows the central position to be occupied by a Gothic cross recently erected to the memory of the late Lord Feversham, of Duncombe Park.

A narrow turning by the market-house shows the torn and dishevelled fragment of the keep of Helmsley Castle towering above the thatched roofs in the foreground.  The ruin is surrounded by tall elms, and from this point of view, when backed by a cloudy sunset, makes a wonderful picture.  Like Scarborough, this stronghold was held for the King during the Civil War.  After the Battle of Marston Moor and the fall of York, Fairfax came to Helmsley and invested the castle.  He received a wound in the shoulder during the siege; but the garrison having surrendered on honourable terms, the Parliament ordered that the castle should be dismantled, and the thoroughness with which the instructions were carried out remind one of Knaresborough, for one side of the keep was blown to pieces by a terrific explosion and nearly everything else was destroyed.