Winter Colour beyond Gribdale Gate

A photograph dominated by bracken in its dry, reddish-brown winter state. From Gribdale Gate, the narrow road winds down beside the beck which marks the parish boundary between Great Ayton and Kildale. In the shadowed south side of the dale, the conifers of Coate Moor plantation rule.

This abundance of bracken across the northern slope once caught the eye of Dr Frank Elgee¹Elgee, Frank. The Moorlands of North Eastern Yorkshire. Page 105. 1912.. He linked its dominance to the thinning of the raw-humus soil and noted the rise of young trees and shrubs, Hawthorn among them. A century has gone by, and only a single lonely tree seems to have held its ground.

Lonsdale is thought to draw its name from an old Scandinavian personal name, perhaps “Lothaen.”²‘Lonsdale :: Survey of English Place-Names’. 2023. Nottingham.ac.uk <http://epns.nottingham.ac.uk/browse/id/53286b0ab47fc40bc600010c> [accessed 2 May 2023] In the founding charter of Guisborough Priory, it appears as Golstandale, with the Priory’s lands described as lying “by Percy Crosse, extending toward the south as far as Golstandale.”³‘Parishes: Kildale | British History Online’. 2023. British-History.ac.uk <https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp249-253#fnn5> [accessed 2 May 2023] The priors also held grazing rights here, save for the “wood of Golsendale,” a park kept by the lord of the manor of Kildale⁴‘Parishes: Kildale | British History Online’. 2023. British-History.ac.uk <https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp249-253#p3> [accessed 2 May 2023].

• 1
  Elgee, Frank. The Moorlands of North Eastern Yorkshire. Page 105. 1912.
• 2
  ‘Lonsdale :: Survey of English Place-Names’. 2023. Nottingham.ac.uk <http://epns.nottingham.ac.uk/browse/id/53286b0ab47fc40bc600010c> [accessed 2 May 2023]
• 3
  ‘Parishes: Kildale | British History Online’. 2023. British-History.ac.uk <https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp249-253#fnn5> [accessed 2 May 2023]
• 4
  ‘Parishes: Kildale | British History Online’. 2023. British-History.ac.uk <https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp249-253#p3> [accessed 2 May 2023]