Just along the coast from where the Cleveland Way passes by the mineral railway, far too close to the shear drop for comfort, past the Charm Bracelet sculpture the cliff becomes deceptively less steep. Here walkers might breath a sigh of relief. Yet somewhere below, hidden from view, lies Jackdaw Crag, no doubt once favoured by its clamorous namesake. The 1853 O.S. map shows the name but by its 1930 edition, that is skulking half-smothered beneath the hachures, as if purposely meant not to be noticed. It has been left off the modern map.
A contributor to the Edwardian rag, the Northern Weekly Gazette, wrote of a steep path that slanted across the shaly face of Jackdaw Crag, a route by which, so he claimed, “anyone with steady nerves and sure feet may descend to the beach”1Northern Weekly Gazette – 05 August 1911. Holiday Jaunts and Jumbles. By “N.W.G. Readers”. From Saltburn to Colburn Head. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003075/19110805/058/0014. Further down the coast, I know of several such daredevil routes, at Boulby or Black Nab for example, where frayed lengths of polypropylene rope provide local fishermen with access to their secret marks. These require more courage than sense to use. It was the first I have heard of such a descent at Huntcliff, and it was with a mixture of resolution and unease that I went in search of any lingering trace.
Of course, there was none. A century of the North Sea pounding the foot of the cliff twice a day has taken its toll allowing me only the faintest glimpse of the rocky crag itself through a tangle of blackthorn and bramble.
Local lore insists that this lost path once served the smugglers, and that a gate at the top marked the end of one Webster, a gentleman of the trade. The tale tells that he staggered up from the shore with two kegs of brandy, one slung over each shoulder. When he bent to lift the hasp of the gate, the kegs swung to the far side. In striving either to retrieve them or to haul himself after them, the rope tightened, the kegs twisted, and he met an ignoble end upon his own contrivance.
A tall story indeed. A hidden ascent here would have proved handy when the excise men grew too attentive at Saltburn or Skinningrove, yet the notion of carrying two full kegs up this cliff only to be undone by a farm gate strains belief. Perhaps the tale has grown fat on retelling, or perhaps it was first spun as a sober warning against overfondness for brandy. Either way, the cliff holds its secrets with the tenacity of stone.
- 1Northern Weekly Gazette – 05 August 1911. Holiday Jaunts and Jumbles. By “N.W.G. Readers”. From Saltburn to Colburn Head. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003075/19110805/058/0014
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