Category: Highcliff Nab
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Patches of blue, reflections and a spanking new gate—Highcliff Gate this morning
In her dotage, my dog exhibits a distinct lack of enthusiasm for upland walks. This now renders the crudely painted “DOGS ON LEADS” sign on the wooden rail of no matter to me. A threat for sure, yet not a command. A “PLEASE”, though, would have aided in conveying the message in a less intimidating…
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Highcliffe Farm
I’ve posted about Highcliffe Farm before, located on the wide and shallow col between Highcliff Nab and Great Ayton Moor; unsheltered from the winds from the north and the south. One might question the wisdom of setting up a farm in such an exposed spot. The landscape owes its origins to the ancient forces of…
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Tussock-Skipping and Bog-Trotting — Adventures in Rivelindale
Today’s misadventure took me to a wide, flat valley flanked by low heather-clad moors. Sounds lovely, right? But Codhill Slack, or Rivelindale to use its Medieval name, has a bottom that is a boggy morass with plenty of standing water, thanks to yesterday’s heavy rain. In the distance are a couple of well-known landmarks. Highcliffe…
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Highcliffe Nab — observer of history
Guisborough is an ancient place, with a long and varied history. It was important enough during the time of the Conquest to be listed in the Domesday Book, a detailed record of The Conqueror’s ill-gotten gains, although it was of relatively low value, contributing just a few shillings per year to the royal coffers. Over…
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The natural temptation, when standing on Highcliffe Nab is to look north over Guisborough town …
… this view is south — towards Highcliffe Farm, Codhill Slack and Percy Cross Rigg. Highcliffe Farm is an exposed location, gaining no shelter from both northerly and southerly winds. In 1908, it was being farmed by Thomas Wedgewood. One day Wedgwood and a farm labourer were snaring rabbits on the hillside when he noticed…
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Guisborough Races, 1784: Asses, Mens’ sack race, Ladies, and a Soap-tail’d Pig
Guisborough, population around 17,000. At the turn of the 19th-century, in the 1801 census, it was a mere 1,719. This was the eve of the industrial revolution, nevertheless it was the largest town in the area, the focal point of trade, although the alum industry, once a major employer, was in decline. Another industry which…
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A Highcliffe dog
A ‘brynic‘ is some sort of sign in the sky foretelling some event. The end of a rainbow for instance might be a warning of a coming shower, if not a bad spell of weather. This rainbow, with its crock of gold at Highcliffe Nab, is not a complete one. A mere stump or ‘stob‘…
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A 19th-century description of Highcliff Nab
Overhanging the romantic and picturesque vale of Gisborough, a bold prominent rock rears its reverend head, hoary with mosses and lichens, and rent into vast chasms by the storms and tempests of centuries. It is skirted to the north with rich plantations of fir and venerable forests of oak; towards the south it is surrounded…
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The Cleveland Way
Buy any Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 map nowadays and you’ll find it criss-crossed by lines of green diamonds — the symbol for a National Trail or Long Distance Path. In 1965, the first such trail was launched, The Pennine Way, and the second was our very own Cleveland Way, opened four years later on this day,…
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The House of Lords is “useless and dangerous to the people of England”
The House of Commons so declared on this day, 19th March, in 1649, when the House of Lords was abolished. In January of that year, Charles I had been executed and Oliver Cromwell, ‘Lord Protector‘ dominated the Government. The House of Lords was reduced to a largely redundant body having no powers and was abolished…