The hill is 252 metres (827 ft) high, and is a layer of Coralline Oolite on top of sandstone.

Hood Hill, which is just to the west of Sutton Bank, and some 7 miles (11 km) east of Thirsk,[2] is 252 metres (827 ft) at its highest point, and the cap slopes gently to the south towards Thirkleby and Carlton Husthwaite.

The oolite can be up to 18 metres (60 ft) thick in places, and the harder sandstone underneath the cap was quarried for use locally in building and for walling stone.

[16] Veterinary surgeon and author, James Herriott described the view from Sutton Bank across Gormire Lake and Hood Hill as the "finest in England".

[20] In 2009, a report in the York Press stated that military souvenir hunters were using metal detectors to salvage equipment from the Sabre crash site.