Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Category: Bilsdale

  • Seave Green, a hamlet in Bilsdale

    Seave Green, a hamlet in Bilsdale

    One might reckon Seave Green a hamlet nowadays, though through the ages, it’s been nothing but a scattering of farms, stretching southward to Chop Gate. Further up on Bilsdale’s far eastern slope, a chapel and manor once stood, though ‘Town Green’ hints there might’ve been a medieval village. The buildings of Seave Green, mostly built…

  • A View from Wath Hill and Echoes of Life at Clough House

    A View from Wath Hill and Echoes of Life at Clough House

    A view of Wath Hill from above the remains of the old farmstead of Clough. Just a handful of moss-covered stones indicate where Clough House farm used to stand. It’s simple to overlook its past as a bustling farm, a family home. A solitary out-building still stands, its roof clad in corrugated sheeting. The rest…

  • Cold Moor Lane — Hollow Way and Medieval Trod

    Cold Moor Lane — Hollow Way and Medieval Trod

    Taking a respite from the biting easterly breeze while in the shelter of Cold Moor Lane, a sunken bridleway climbing out of Chop Gate, a debate unfolded about its origins. Well, if we concede that its sunken characteristic stems from centuries of human and animal movement along this route, then I suppose one could argue…

  • Easterside Hill, the sleeping behemoth

    Easterside Hill, the sleeping behemoth

    It was a magical moment, ascending from the sombre depths of Bilsdale up Newgate Bank, when we emerged into a realm of brilliance and lucidity, with a cloudless azure sky adorning the western horizon. And the formidable hogback of Easterside Hill loomed above the cloud like a sleeping behemoth. While the mist persisted in the…

  • From Spider Bites to Scorpion Stings: DEFRA’s Leadership Labyrinth

    From Spider Bites to Scorpion Stings: DEFRA’s Leadership Labyrinth

    On a rather dreich stroll across Urra Moor, the swirling clouds over Bilsdale managed to inject a bit of interest into an otherwise lacklustre affair. Now, I had it in my notes to have a whinge about Thérèse Coffey’s decimation of the 2010 consensus concerning the future of our public paths. Today seems an opportune…

  • Little Raisdale — A modest dale with a forgotten settlement and chapel

    Little Raisdale — A modest dale with a forgotten settlement and chapel

    In the upper reaches of Raisdale, an eastern prong stretches out to the edge of the Cleveland Hills between Cold Moor and Cringle Moor. Right of centre in the photo stands Hall Garth Farm, a name which suggests a once grand manor-house, standing proudly on the land. To its left, there used to be a…

  • Local Governance Quagmires: Who Pays for Road Repairs?

    Local Governance Quagmires: Who Pays for Road Repairs?

    One might think that our modern roads just magically appeared, but let’s cast our gaze upon the B1257, the stretch that runs between Stokesley and Helmsley, for a tale of twists and turns. First, let’s scale Cushat Hill to Clay Bank, which, back in the day, used to be known as Hagg’s Gate. Then, it…

  • The Crags of White Hill: Evidence of a 1872 Landslip

    The Crags of White Hill: Evidence of a 1872 Landslip

    A brisk autumn morning but with a subtle nip in the roriferous air, though the temperature would soon be rising. A warm day beckoned. Meanwhile, 377,000 kilometres away, the moon hangs in the morning sky, as is often the case during its waning gibbous phase, when it transitions from full to half. Down below on…

  • Cheese, Stones, and a Summer Solstice Alignment

    Cheese, Stones, and a Summer Solstice Alignment

    I’ve been diving back into that book, “Rock Art and Ritual,” the one I got off eBay a few weeks back. It’s been giving me the itch to go revisit some of the out of the way nooks and crannies on the North York Moors. So today, I took a little jaunt around Urra Moor,…

  • Chop Gate—a quintessential collection of cottages

    Chop Gate—a quintessential collection of cottages

    In the heart of idyllic Bilsdale, nestled among the high moors, lies Chop Gate with this collection of charming sandstone cottages. Their roofs are adorned with typical pantiles, exhibiting the distinctive S-shaped cross-section—a design that crossed the North Sea from Holland to Britain in the 17th century. Since the start of the 18th century, these…