ABOVE: Hodgson's 108 (SK24 CVA), an ADL Enviro200 MMC, approaches the High Street stop in Stokesley at the start of a route 80 journey to Northallerton. All photos in this article were taken on Friday 19 September 2025.
100 British Bus Routes: Route 80
Stokesley to Northallerton
13 December 2025
Runs: Mondays to Saturdays (no evening service)
Operator: Hodgson's
Weekday daytime frequency: About every four hours (three journeys per day each way)
Weekday Vehicle Requirement: One bus (interworked with service 89, Stokesley to Northallerton)
Off-peak journey time (weekdays): 54 minutes
Estimated route length: 18-20 miles
I’m in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, about eight miles south of Middlesbrough Town Centre. But, even though I am here, I don’t really know what the Town Centre looks like…
Stokesley was granted a charter to hold fairs by Henry III in 1223. Today, there are 80 Grade-II listed buildings in the town, and the High Street “is lined with independent small shops and restaurants” (Wikipedia). There’s an agricultural show and four-day fair held on the Saturday following the third Thursday in September.
Which, as I stand on the High Street on an overcast morning, is tomorrow. And that explains why the entire Town Centre has been taken over by fairground rides, stalls, and giant, pointy structures that look big enough to launch a rocket.
College Square would normally accommodate dozens of parked cars, but the only cars there today are dodgems. There’s another big Car Park that doubles as the Market Place, but the traders later today will be selling rides and fast food, not fruit, veg or trinkets.
The fun fair, which closes the High Street, runs across the three evenings prior to the main event, and all day on the Saturday alongside the main show. So it’s probably just as well that I have not come 24 hours later to ride route 80 to Northallerton.
This service is run, three times a day, by local operator Hodgson’s, of Barnard Castle, County Durham. Alongside route 89, which links the two towns but via a different route, a broadly two-hourly service is offered.
I am boarding the 1110 departure – the second route 80 of the day. The bus comes into view from behind a Hook-a-Duck stall, in good time, and there are two of us for this departure. The bus is an almost-new (24-reg) ADL Enviro200 MMC – a short 8.9m version - in a smart livery.
The outskirts of Stokesley are dominated by what looks like new build housing – even in the depths of North Yorkshire the quest to create more living space is apparent.
A few minutes out brings us to the civil parish of Skutterskelfe (population 129 in the 2011 Census). Rudby Hall, a neoclassical country house in the village that was built in 1838, is Grade-II* listed. This wall might something to do with it or it might not:
We pass through Hutton Rudby. My notes record “lovely houses” here as we pass the Village Green.
Station Road has no signs of a railway now, but the Picton to Grosmont line (part of the North Yorkshire & Cleveland Railway) once passed through the area (also serving Stokesley). I suspect that the station referred to by Station Road will have been Potto, a village just to the south. The last passenger railway service on the line ran in 1954, and the line was closed completely in 1958.
Station Road nowadays is just fields and trees:
We pass through Potto itself, a settlement which can be traced back to the 13th century. In the mid-1950s, the local pub, the "Dog & Gun", became known as “the pub that never opened”. The story is that the landlord became notorious for checking on customers from his window to decide whether they looked “respectable” enough to be let in. I wonder if he would have let me in...
Potto was included in a list of the “coolest postcodes to move to” in an article in 2023. Writers recommended it for “burnt-out city folk” due to its proximity to the North Yorkshire Moors and the Cleveland Hills.
Across the A172, which links the A19 with Stokesley and Middlesbrough, we undertake a double-run into Swainby. We’re at the north-western corner of the North York Moors National Park, close to the ruins of Whorlton Castle.
There’s an unexpected treat for those of us on board as we pass a Classic Car showroom. I’m no expert on classic cars but I know that these look good!
This might be a village of only 1,820 people (as at the 2011 Census), but it has two public houses according to Wikipedia, and this, “The Blacksmith’s Arms”, is one of them.
There is also a café called “The Rusty Bike”, which has a bike mounted onto the building, at close to roof level, for effect.
The people of the village come across as generous as well. A woman boards and offers some free cooking apples for anyone who wants some. She leaves a bag of them in the luggage rack for the benefit of subsequent passengers (she doesn’t travel). Apparently visitors who stop off here might also be able to get their hands on some plums and pears as well. It is harvest season, I suppose!
Scugdale Beck, a tributary of the River Leven, cuts through the village, making for a nice “water feature” along the sides of the roads.
The trip through this village has been a circular one, and we’re soon back to the A172, opposite the junction that would take us back to Potto.
But not this time. We instead turn left and head for Ingleby Cross.
ABOVE: Ingleby Cross
A moment later and we are at its larger neighbour, Ingleby Arncliffe, before turning around and returning to Ingleby Cross.
We join the main A19 road for a brief run on to the pretty village of Osmotherley, which requires a full there-and-back for a mile or so on from the main road. There’s a church here built on an Angle site with parts of the building dating back to the Norman period.
On the village green stands the Barter Table. John Wesley preached here on several occasions. It stands next to the ancient Market Cross. The cross was erected in 1874 to replace an earlier 14th-century structure, but the steps beneath are believed to be medieval.
ABOVE: The Market Cross in Osmotherley, with the Barter Table in front of it to the right.
As we do a U-turn around the green, the cooking apples leave the luggage rack and transfer to the floor. Although someone will pick them up, I am concerned at this point about whether they will find a decent home during the afternoon, or just end up being disposed of as rubbish “accidentally” left behind by a customer. Hopefully the driver will push them to subsequent passengers or even take them home…
ABOVE: The bag of apples on the floor of the saloon. Have a look out at the scenery, though!
We cross the main A19 road now, which will take motorists south to Thirsk and York if they so wish. We’re on the home straight towards Northallerton now. After the village of Ellerbeck, we head briskly down a fast but wide country lane, enjoying scenery like this:
There’s just one more village to call into now – Brompton. The Battle of the Standard took place here in 1138, where English forces under William of Aumale repelled King David I’s Scottish army; William was appointed as Earl of York as a result.
ABOVE: Looking across Brompton Beck from Water End in Brompton, towards Fullicar Lane
Brompton was an important centre for linen making and weaving, with eight mills operating here in 1820. That industry might have faded but the village is beautiful.
As we approach Northallerton town centre, there is more new housing under construction. I then discover something that has not been a feature at all during this journey up to now – a traffic queue.
It’s a little slow on the final stretch, but we arrive on time at 1204. I've been here before, of course.
The terminus in Northallerton is known as the Buck Inn, named after a public house at one end of the busy High Street. But I would suggest that the more obvious landmark here is the stunning All Saints Parish Church.
It’s a curious terminus. Four bus stands in the middle of what is otherwise a car park. Buses pull onto the stands but pull off forwards rather than backwards, meaning they can cross the path of passengers waiting for other buses.
And this nearly causes an accident. As we alight, a Proctor’s bus from the stand to our left pulls off sharply on route 73 to Bedale, and it feels like a close thing. Personally, if I had been the driver of that bus, I might have waited a moment to see if anyone alighting from the 80 might have wanted to change to the 73. Me, for example?
There has been a settlement at Northallerton since Roman times. It became an important religious centre in the 11th century when King William II gifted land here to the Bishop of Durham.
The High Street is always busy, especially on the twice-weekly market days (Wednesdays and Saturdays). The Grade-II listed 1873 Italianate style Town Hall building stands proudly at the head of the High Street.
ABOVE: A view of Northallerton Town Hall, taken from another bus through a rather dirty window!
The 80 has brought six passengers, and a bag of cooking apples, into Northallerton. There’s a decent crowd of around a dozen waiting for the return service, which will depart at 1210 as route 89 back to Stokesley, following the same route as far as Swainby, but a completely different route after that.
One of the joys of a rural bus service like this one is anticipating all the twists and turns that the bus will make during the journey, to call into any number of isolated villages. These are places that one would never normally see if driving through the main roads of the area. If you come up here, it's well worth a ride – you won’t be disappointed.