Category: Port Mulgrave

  • High Lingrow: From Wartime Deception to Agricultural Use

    High Lingrow: From Wartime Deception to Agricultural Use

    At Port Mulgrave today, where the weather could not make up its mind, shifting between sunshine and snow flurries. Lingrow Cliffs is just that little headland across the bay, not really anything special, especially at low tide. But near its highest point—named, with great imagination, High Lingrow—there was once a Second World War bombing decoy…

  • Port Mulgrave: A Harbour of Erosion and Memory

    Port Mulgrave: A Harbour of Erosion and Memory

    The last time I ventured down Rosedale Cliff to Port Mulgrave was sometime before the world discovered a new way to grind to a halt — the dreaded COVID. Shortly afterwards, a landslip completely wiped out the path. Today, visiting the beach was not on the itinerary, but fate – in the form of National…

  • Rosedale Wyke to Ruin: The Decline of Port Mulgrave

    Rosedale Wyke to Ruin: The Decline of Port Mulgrave

    Every time I visit Port Mulgrave, I am struck by how little it changes—save, of course, for the gradual but ceaseless gnawing of the harbour by the North Sea. Today, I didn’t manage to descend to the beach, not that I missed much, for from Rosedale Cliffs I could see quite plainly that the old…

  • Landslides and Lost Steps

    Landslides and Lost Steps

    The coast offered a respite from the mist that, I understand, shrouded the moors today. This is Port Mulgrave, once a bustling harbour east of Staithes, where ironstone was shipped to the foundries of Tyneside. The descent from the cliff top at Port Mulgrave to the harbour below is no easy task. The path, worn…

  • Port Mulgrave

    Port Mulgrave

    The coast provided an escape from the inland mist. This is Port Mulgrave, once an active harbour east of Staithes, where ironstone was exported to foundries on Tyneside. There is still no easy way down to the harbour. Once there were steps used by the men to descend every day to work on the quays…

  • Port Mulgrave

    Port Mulgrave

    Every time I go to Port Mulgrave, it still feels very much the same, yet much has changed. The winter storms have eroded the old jetty. The harbour has become more silted, the fishermen’s huts more elaborate. Some now are clearly contenders for Grand Designs. Landslips have caused the steep paths down the cliff to…