Ruskins View

“I do not know in all my country, still less in France or Italy, a place more naturally divine.”
19th century art critic, social theorist, painter and poet John Ruskin

From the far corner of the churchyard of St Mary’s follow the signs to Ruskin’s View where the path opens into Church Brow, a promenade high above the River Lune. There you can feast your eyes on a breathtaking panorama of the Lune Valley and Underley Hall – the famous, heavenly Ruskin’s View.

This scene was painted by the artist JMW Turner in 1822 and the picture so impressed the 19th century art critic, social theorist, painter and poet John Ruskin, that he wrote: ‘I do not know in all my country, still less in France or Italy, a place more naturally divine.’

In 1875, Ruskin described the panorama as ‘one of the loveliest views in England, therefore in the world’. From Ruskin’s View, you can walk down the Radical Steps to the river and follow the footpath to the scheduled ancient monument Devil’s Bridge, with its three ribbed medieval arches.