Out & About …

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

Category: Kildale

  • Kildale and St. Cuthbert’s Coffin

    Kildale and St. Cuthbert’s Coffin

    I delayed going out this morning because of the dismal weather. It was still raining when I left the house at 12:00 but by the time I crossed the River Leven at the other end of the village the sun was out. I discovered something about Kildale the other day, although when you think about…

  • Percy Cross Rigg

    Percy Cross Rigg

    These posts often result from a faint memory which I then spend an hour or so trying to verify or research further in the evening — it beats watching ‘Strictly …’. But then, every so often, I plunge head first down a rabbit hole after I’ve pressed the post button. Yesterday was a case in…

  • Leven gorge, Kildale

    Leven gorge, Kildale

    A rather dull and murky walk home from Kildale. The estate have been opening up the gorge, yet further restricting access to the river and waterfall. Today, 19th October, 1536 is the day Henry VIII got tough on those who took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace. In a letter to the Duke of Suffolk,…

  • Sandbeds Plantation

    Sandbeds Plantation

    Lovely morning lighting in Kildale Woods. This beech plantation was probably planted soon after Coate Moor ironstone mine was re-processed in 1875. It had been going for a mere three years. I’m not sure where the name comes from, apart from the obvious, but as far as I know there are no sand deposits in…

  • Shooting Butt No. 2 on Warren Moor

    Shooting Butt No. 2 on Warren Moor

    I will call this a ruined grouse butt although I suspect it is still in use. Anyway above the ‘2’ is a stone with a carved grouse dated, I think, 1975. I have it in mind that this was carved by Roland S. Close (1908-1978), the amateur archaeologist and an estate worker at Kildale. If…

  • Standing Stone, Rivelingdale

    Standing Stone, Rivelingdale

    At Percy Rigg Cross, a spur of the moment to pop down to have a look at the spring in Rivelingdale or Codhill Beck. There is one internet source which suggests the spring is a holy well with the name of ‘St. Mary’s Well‘. Apparently, it’s a name referred to by the archaeologist Roland Close…

  • Kildale

    Kildale

    The ‘village green’ at Kildale. Another glorious morning. And Michaelmas day to boot. St Michael’s Day, 29th September, the Feast of Michael and All Angels, one of the traditional four ‘quarter days’ in a year, the other being Lady Day (25th March), Midsummer (24th June), and Christmas (25th December). On these religious festivals, the agricultural…

  • St. Hilda’s Chapel, Kildale

    St. Hilda’s Chapel, Kildale

    My penultimate day at the archaeological dig in Kildale which I have been involved with all summer. The site will soon be winterised until next year. It is thought the stone walls are the remains of a medieval chapel dedicated to St. Hilda, which was located through detective work by members of the Hidden Valleys…

  • Nanny Howe and the Devil’s Court

    Nanny Howe and the Devil’s Court

    A view across Kildale from Park Nab to the densely forested Coate Moor. The highest point towards the left is actually Easby Moor with its monument to Capt. Cook but this story is about a Bronze Age barrow hidden amongst the trees on Coate Moor called Nanny Howe. It’s a story about a witch and…

  • The Park, Kildale Moor

    The Park, Kildale Moor

    A view south along the Cleveland Hills on the meteorological first day of Autumn.  Corrugated skies of grey. The heather is just about to change, not many more days when there is a hint of the purple. This moorland was once part of a medieval deer park of the Percys of Kildale. Just out of…