Category: North York Moors
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A late afternoon wander
A strange sort of day. Blue skies in Ayton this morning but Nunthorpe enveloped in a low lying fog, which by late afternoon was beginning to creep higher. The cottage is known as Airey Holme Cottage, built sometime in the later half of the 19th-century and recently modernised. Most of the census returns are not…
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Billy’s Dyke
So named after William the Conqueror, who was supposed to have passed this way in his harrying of the north. Here he met with a storm and cursed in its face. I’m surprised I haven’t posted about this 4.4km earthwork along the eastern edge of Bilsdale before but it’s not exactly the most photogenic subject. Another…
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When is a moss not a moss?
The answer of course is when it’s a lichen. Now I’m going to stick my neck out and say this is Cladonia portentosa. Folks commonly refer to it as Reindeer Moss but that name strictly relates to Cladonia rangiferina which is uncommon and found high in the mountains of Scotland and Wales. As the name…
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Westworth
When Robert de Brus endowed Guisborough Priory in the early-12th-century, he included vast tracts of somewhat ill-defined moorland. It was left to his son, Adam de Brus, to define the boundaries which named an area of forest known as Westwyth for which de Brus retained his hunting rights. Martyn Hudson in “on blackamoor” describes Westwyth perfectly:…
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Where is the Elephant Hole?
The National park have recently been at worked erectly a new kissing gate, steps and fingerpost below Aireyholme Farm. One ‘finger’ confuses me, it points to the ‘Elephant Hole’. Where exactly is the ‘Elephant Hole’? Some opinion seems to be that it is the large bowl at the top of Cliff Rigg. But if this…
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The Hospital of St. Leonard of Lowcross
A miserable morning so I thought I had better take a photo or two before venturing up into the gloom. The old Ordnance Survey map shows a “Leper Hospital (Site of) A.D. 1392” to the left of centre within the curve of the track. This location is confirmed on the North York Moors Historical Environment…
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A fresh sprinkling of snow on Roseberry summit
A sprinkling of fresh snow coated the summit this morning and judging by the absence of footprints I was the first. It’s quite a rarity nowadays to have the summit to myself. Even at night head-torches can frequently be seen. Besides the 1950s trig point, two pieces of modernity adorn the summit. Both can be…
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A doomed Ash tree
The Ash, one of our major trees along with oak, birch, elm and lime. It’s a strong and flexible wood, traditionally used for spears or axe handles. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘aesc‘ meaning a spear or lance. But since 2012, a disease has been devastating Ash trees — Ash Dieback, caused by a…
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The Cleveland Dyke
I ‘discovered’ this viewpoint the other day. It nicely illustrates the route of that intrusion of igneous rock known as Cleveland Dyke. The Cleveland Dyke was formed about 59 million years ago when an immense hot spot of pressurised molten magma developed under the Earth’s crust near the island of Mull off the west coast…
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Went for a bimble around the Belmont Ironstone Mine
To be clear this is the old mine, which operated between 1855 and 1877, and not the new one which was sited a kilometre further west and which operated in the first half of the 20th-century. I didn’t really expect to find anything. The authoritative “Catalogue of Cleveland Ironstone Mines” by Peter Tuffs doesn’t mention…