In March 2025, a grant of £30,000 has been awarded from Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT), which will help Kirkby Lonsdale Town Council and ‘The Friends of Ruskin’s View’, to restore Ruskin’s View and the full Brow footpath, which were both closed in September 2021, due to safety issues. Kirkby Lonsdale Town Council are responsible for both Ruskin’s View and The Brow footpath.
In August 2024, the Town Council was able to reopen the first length of the footpath, which includes Ruskin’s View (Phase One). ‘The Friends of Ruskin’s View’ paid for the work undertaken.
However, the rest of The Brow footpath, which links the town with Kearstwick to the north and provides a route to St Mary’s churchyard and the adjacent Rugby Club remains closed. The Grant from YDMT will help with the work required to complete Phase Two: the restoration of the whole length of the footpath.
Mike Burchnall Chair of The Friends of Ruskin’s View said: ‘’As a charity set up to raise funds for the restoration and reopening of the footpath, we welcome this grant from YDMT. When added to the money raised through fundraising events, donations etc, it provides a huge boost to the funds available for the next stage of works.’’
(For full press release, see News section of website)
Also in March 2025, Kirkby Lonsdale Town Council’s Technical Team held a Stakeholders Meeting in which they indicated that the rest of the footpath could be re-opened as soon as late Spring/early Summer this year (if approval of the proposed monitoring and range of physical works is received from Westmorland and Furness Council).
Funds already raised by ‘The Friends of Ruskin’s View’ and pledges will be made available for this phase.
Also in March, Kirkby Lonsdale was listed in ‘The Times’ as one of the best places to live in England!
