Carlton Moor

About Carlton Moor

Rising steeply above the Teesside plain, this heather-clad summit marks a dramatic northern bastion of the North York Moors. Often known as Carlton Bank, it offers a gritstone-edged ridge walk along the Cleveland Way, providing expansive views across the Vale of Mowbray toward the distant Pennines.

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Did You Know?

• •The name Carlton derives from the Old Norse 'karla-tūn', meaning the farmstead or settlement belonging to free peasants.
• •The northern face is scarred by the remains of 18th-century alum works, where shale was excavated and processed to create a chemical fixative for the British textile industry.
• •Walkers on the Coast to Coast path cross the summit plateau to reach the Lord Stones, a collection of ancient boundary markers where the lands of three historic estates once met.
• •The summit offers a clear perspective on the region's geography, with the distinctive cone of Roseberry Topping visible to the northeast and the industrial skyline of Middlesbrough stretching toward the Tees estuary.
• •The hill is a premier site for gliders who rely on the powerful ridge lift; for the average walker, this usually manifests as a wind strong enough to make a sandwich disappear mid-bite.
• •The moor is classified as a Hump (a hill with a prominence of at least 100 metres) due to its significant drop into the surrounding lowlands of the Cleveland basin.