Out & About …

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

Category: Bilsdale

  • Easterside Hill

    Easterside Hill

    Lower Bilsdale and the distinctive bulk of Easterside Hill with its limestone cap dominating the confluence of the Rivers Septh and Rye. Seen from Ayton Bank on the edge of Rievaulx Moor on a dull overcast morning. Interestingly, a Dornier Do217 of the German Luftwaffe crashed into north end of Easterside Hill (to the right)…

  • Rotten Scar

    Rotten Scar

    Last Sunday I posted a little question where was I when I took the photo. I thought the hill would be a giveaway but for once no one came close. Further back and a little bit higher on the edge of Urra Moor and Hasty Bank becomes more obvious. The valley is the top end…

  • View from the Cheshire Stone

    View from the Cheshire Stone

    And a fine view it is on a lovely morning. So easy to pooh-pooh the dire weather forecast. The large basin on the flat sandstone top does not look natural but no doubt it is. And judging by the rate of erosion of prehistoric rock art on sandstone boulders elsewhere on the North York Moors…

  • Trennet Bank Plantation

    Trennet Bank Plantation

    Climbing from William Beck Farm. Across Bilsdale the overnight snowfall picks the remains of the Trennet Bank Plantation, an unsightly conifer woodland that was felled by the National Park Authority in 2015/6 under their Trennet Bank Project. The plantation of Sitka spruce and Lodgepole pine dates from the 1970s. It was planted close to the…

  • A view east from Hawnby Hill

    A view east from Hawnby Hill

    Bilsdale Moor West. A beam of sunshine is shining on Wethercote Farm which must be one of the highest farms in the area. The land is recorded as belonging to Rievaulx Abbey around 1145 and contains quarries from which stone was used in the construction of the abbey. In the 18th century, coal was mined…

  • Tripsdale

    Tripsdale

    Another fine morning but a day of indecision. Driving up Clay Bank and into Bilsdale I had no idea where I was heading. Chop Gate I suppose but the car park was ignored and in the end, I parked at Fangdale Beck and headed east up onto Coniser Howl, a huge large expanse of heather…

  • Bridestones

    Bridestones

    A climb up to Nab Ridge between Bilsdale and Tripsdale. Ended up trying to wade though a thistled rough pasture whilst following a diverted path around the manicured lawns of Cam House. And the pet llamas took a dislike to the dog. I was aiming for the Bride Stones, a Bronze Age round barrow, long…

  • Seave Green

    Seave Green

    Blue skies, an inquisitive bullock and the sandstone cottages of Seave Green, an hamlet in upper Bilsdale, make an idyllic scene. A scene which, if the Victorian speculators had had their way would have looked quite different. In 1874 a railway was proposed running down the valley through the fields on the far side of the beck. The railway was to…

  • Urra Moor

    Urra Moor

    A drab misty start to the week with rain threatening. The boundary stones across Urra Moor probably mark the limit of the Feversham estate. Bilsdale below is only just visible.

  • Swaledale sheep, Bilsdale

    Swaledale sheep, Bilsdale

    At least I think these are Black Faced sheep, one of the traditional breeds of the Northern hills. Other contenders could be Swaledales and Rough Fells. Quite frankly after looking at scores of photos on Google they all begin to look the same. All three are found on the North York Moors and all are said to be descended from a…