Drive & Stroll, with RON FREETHY - this week in Shap, Cumbria. . .

THOSE, like me, beyond the first flash of youth remember Shap as the steep road you got stuck on especially in the winter.

The village was situated on the ancient road between England and Scotland. After his defeat in 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie passed through Shap with his defeated army around him.

If legend is believed he seems to have slept in every old house in the village, including the Greyhound Inn established in 1680 and the Hermitage which was built in 1691.

On a bright, warm Saturday afternoon I followed the brown signs to the left of the main road which indicated Shap Abbey.

This small religious house is one of my favourites because of its idyllic setting on the banks of the River Lowther.

Shap was founded in the 12th century by the Premonstratensian Canons who were known as the White Canons because this was the colour of their habits.

Compared to other orders, such as the Cistercians (Whalley and Sawley) or the Augustinians (Bolton Abbey), the White Canons were not very rich. Nevertheless Henry VIII dissolved the abbey, sold the land and demolished the church in 1540. Some of the stone was used to build the farm alongside the ruin and some stone was taken and used in the construction of a market hall. This square building still stands almost in the centre of Shap village.

The most impressive feature of the abbey is the mighty tower which dates to the 15th century. Shap is famous for its limestone and granite quarries and these stones are doubtless the reason why the tower has survived.

My circular walk of about four miles leads from the abbey across stiles and mostly level fields to the hamlet of Keld. Here the National Trust are at present repairing the roof of a chapel built in the 15th century but later incorporating valuable and ornate stone work from the Abbey following the dissolution.

The return to Shap shows just how important the village was prior to the opening of the M6. When I was 13 I was with my uncle who delivered farm stones. In a snowstorm we were stranded on Shap and spent two nights at the Greyhound.

The Greyhound was established in 1680 by adapting a farm dating back to the 15th century. It became a coaching inn and was on the main coaching route between London and Edinburgh and later evolved into the A6. In 1847 the Lancaster to Carlisle Railway opened and Shap became an important stop. The Shap Wells were regarded as having healing properties in Victorian England. Although well used the Shap Wells failed to compete with places such as Buxton and Harrogate. Clitheroe, another limestone area, also had its own spa but this did not last either.

The Greyhound offers good residential accommodation as it had done long before Bonnie Prince Charlie's ill-fated retreat.

Stroll gently and enjoy Shap, its abbey and the chapel at Keld.