Category: Highcliff Nab
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Highcliff Nab: A Crusty Puzzle
Highcliff Nab today, and an enduring puzzle on its crag face. Nearly the entire surface is smothered in light green lichen, except for one striking vertical band where the rock is inexplicably bare, as though the lichens collectively decided this spot was beneath them. Lichens, those delightful symbiotic oddities born of desperation between fungi and…
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Highcliff Nab and Autumnâs Troubling Showstopper
The woodlands are ablaze with reds, oranges, and yellows in what I might call a âdazzling display,â if I were given to such enthusiasms. Recent rain has kept the trees hydrated, and unseasonably warm weather has delayed their annual shedding. How quaint. I am on my way to Guisborough, following the forest track through Hutton…
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Zen and the Art of Being Out & About
Another gloriously miserable day on the North York Moors, the sort of day where fog clings like a wet blanket over everything, damping one’s bones. I heard later the Great North Air Ambulance had been grounded due to poor visibility. It is, as ever, a perfect day for a bit of being out and about.…
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1939: When Guisborough Welcomed Middlesbroughâs Evacuees
Highcliffe Nab, that well-known sandstone crag that dominates the view from Guisborough, has been the subject of these posts many times. But Kemplah, which sits in its shadow, doesn’t get nearly enough attention. The old settlers clearly thought this promontory was important since there’s evidence of both early British and Roman activity there. The name…
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It were a bit barren on t’moors like, nowt much to see!
A view along the Cleveland Way as it traverses Newton Moor, with the elusive Highcliffe Nab shrouded in mist. The cartulary concerning the founding of Gisborough Priory records a significant route named Melegate, extending from a point on the Percy Cross track, known as Molecros, to Roseberry Common. The Cleveland Way here likely follows the…
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From spoil to… What will this heap become?
I stumbled upon an intriguing new feature in the Cleveland Hills today. Gazing westward, Highcliff Nab stands prominent in the background. A vast expanse of Guisborough Forest had been clear-felled and replanted with conifer seedlings. Amidst this scene, someone had built a conical mound of earth, about three metres high with a flat top. But…
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<â To Highcliffe Nab <â
It struck me as a bit peculiar that explicit directions to Highcliffe Nab were considered necessary. One might conclude that folks have frequently found themselves inadvertently ending up at the nearby farm. However, upon closer observation, the reason became apparent: the gate stands firmly padlocked. Despite its designation as a Public Footpath, no stile offers…
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Hutton MoorâA Story of Ownership and Change
Hutton Moor, with Highcliff Nab and Guisborough in the distance, holds memories of the 1970s when I initially settled in the area. At that time, it bore scars of degradation due to off-road motorcyclists exploiting it as their playground. Under the ownership of the Owners of the Middlesbrough Estate, I found myself compelled to seek…
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Codhill Heights â Celtic origins in Yorkshire’s landscape
I read once that place-names split neatly into two groups: habitative names, describing the kind of settlement in question, and topographic names, painting a picture of the lay of the land â rivers, rocks, marshes, and hills. Among the ancient Celtic place-names that have trickled down to us, habitative names are not easy to find;…
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Plough Monday
The Monday after Epiphany used to be a day off for ploughmen up North. You’d enter a village and come across these agricultural labourers, all decked out in ribbons and those pristine white smocks, dragging the Fool-plough through the streets. It was their way of saying, ‘Hey, don’t forget, your bread depends on us pushing these…