The hamlet lies just east of Sutton Bank, north of the A170 road, and 5 miles (8 km) west of Helmsley,[2] in the Hambleton Hills.

[7] Further down, the land sits atop Hambleton Oolite, a white to grey fine ooidal limestone that was used for building houses and drystone walls in the area.

[10][11] One former occupation of the villagers was operating bleachfields (open land for purify and whitening cloth by the action of sunlight) for a beetling mill in Crathorne.

Bleachfields were common in the western Hambleton Hills in the late 18th century, with records of this activity being at Wass, Byland and Oldstead besides Scawton.

[29] In August 1981, a well-spoken caller, rang the police at Ripon to report a body on the road between Scawton and Rievaulx.

The body was labelled as Nude in the Nettles (despite actually being found in willow herb), and is a long-running unidentified murder case.

[31][32] Nettle Dale has several large ponds in the narrow valley which are believed to have been created as fishponds by the monks of Rievaulx.

The long-distance footpath, the Cleveland Way, runs through Nettle Dale from Helmsley towards Cold Kirby and Sutton Bank.