VISITOR numbers are expected to rise at an ancient priory following the opening of a prayer walk.

The 500-yard path is on a hill overlooking the Lady Chapel, which lies on the Cleveland Hills, above Mount Grace Priory, Osmotherley, near Northallerton.

It has been constructed over the past year by prisoners from Kirklevington Grange Prison, at Yarm, near Stockton, working with their officers and staff from the North York Moors National Park.

Benedictine monks from Osmotherley's monastery, who tend the 500-year-old chapel, expect the walk to increase the number of visitors travelling to the priory, which attracts 10,000 people a year.

The path is a memorial to the late Monsignor Peter Storey, who lived at the monastery and planted many of the pine trees along the zig-zag route.

Mgr Storey found the derelict Lady Chapel in 1942, along with another Middlesbrough Catholic priest Father Michael O'Sullivan.

The path is dedicated to the late Bill Atkinson, of Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, and other Lady Chapel supporters.

It was blessed and opened by the Bishop of Middlesbrough, the Right Reverend John Crowley, who is a keen walker.

About 50 people attended the ceremony, including Mgr Storey's brother, Father Tony Storey, a retired priest from Hull, who also planted trees on the hill.

Monastery prior Father Terence Richardson said: "The path is a place of prayer and roughly follows the route that Mgr Storey would often take to inspect his trees.

"Many people have commented favourably on the quality of the path and we are delighted that people have begun to use it already."

Halfway along the path is a walled area, overlooking the open moor, and monks hope it will become a place for rest and meditation.

The Lady Chapel was built in 1515 by Queen Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII. Franciscans, then Benedictines, have cared for it since it was rebuilt and it is now used every day of the year.