Category: North York Moors
-
A Bransdale dry stone wall – before and after
Today, there are about fifteen occupied farms and cottages scattered throughout Bransdale, making a population of around about 40. At the beginning of the 19th-century it was about 400. There were shoemakers, innkeepers, millers, shopkeepers, schoolteachers, dairymen, jetminers, as well as the expected farmers and agricultural workers. Far outnumbering the humans in the dale are…
-
View to Guisborough over Old Park Farm
I nearly copped it today. Mowed down by some mountain biker careering down a Public Footpath, the Cleveland Way no less, between Percy Rigg and Highcliff. I failed to get a photo but did take some of other cyclists on the same Public Footpath but riding more considerately. In the end, I’ve opted to post…
-
“At our feet lay the little village of Newton …”
In 1887, an account of one person’s ascent of Roseberry Topping appeared in the Leeds Mercury. Unfortunately the identity of the correspondent is unreadable: “… After a brief survey of the ruins [Guisborough Priory] we proceeded to Pinchinthorpe, whence we had a pleasant walk to the village of Newton, and leaving the village green and…
-
Cockayne
On the 15th April 1802, Dorothy Wordsworth wrote in her diary: Thursday 15th. It was a threatening, misty morning— but mild We set off after dinner from Eusmere— Mrs Clarkson went a short way with us, but turned back. The wind was furious & we thought we must have returned. We first rested in the…
-
Guisborough Moor
Actually taken from Codhill Heights looking north towards Potters Ridge but all part of the great expanse that is Guisborough Moor. On 31 Mar. 1941, the Times reported that the Air Ministry and Ministry of Home Security had issued a communiqué: Though there has been some activity off the east and west coasts during the…
-
A 3 wheeled tractor … now I recognise that
I used to have one as a Dinky Toy. The back lifted and it had cast alloy wheels. Had a clear out a few years ago and sold my old Dinky Toys on eBay. Someone, somewhere is lovingly caring for it. I bumped into this one, which does need a bit of T.L.C. above Lealholm.…
-
Hock-Monday
Today, the Monday after Easter is Hocktide, (or more specifically the Monday and Tuesday after Easter), and was a traditional medieval festival where games and sports took place, or there would be ‘hocking‘. This was a custom where the women would capture men and only release them on payment of a ransom, which went to…
-
Newton Wood
Woke up to snow this morning. The last kick of winter? By half nine the melt had begun.
-
Cheese Stones
A recent Facebook posting mentioned a “font” on the Cheese Stones on Ingleby Moor. I was intrigued. It’s been a few years since I visited this sandstone outcrop but I had never heard of a rock-font. A little prompting revealed the information was found “on the web”, but the only reference I could find was…
-
Blackthorn, Thief Lane
In 2012, a human headless torso was discovered during industrialised cutting of peat from a bog in in Rossan, Co. Meath. The lower half had been destroyed by the peat cutting machinery. It was dated to the Iron Age and became known as the Moydrum Man although the slenderness of the skeletal remains suggests this…