Category: North York Moors
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Kildale
Where is Kildale? It seems such a vague place. The village is well known but where exactly is Killi’s dale. Generally, the parish encloses the upper reaches of the River Leven but it also extends into the watershed of the River Esk with Sleddale Beck and Baysdale Beck forming the boundary. Most, but not all…
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29th February – Leap Day
According to tradition, on Leap Day women were allowed to propose to men. This is common across many cultures. If the man refuses, he is obliged to buy her a dress or a pair of gloves supposing to hide her embarrassment of not having a ring. But why do we need to go through this malarky…
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Cockmoor Hall Earthworks
The Tabular Hills have a high concentration of Neolithic or Bronze Age earthworks: linear boundaries in the form of ditches and earthbank and round barrows and at the head of Wy Dale, before Stainton Lane descends steeply into Toutsdale, is an extensive area of a confusing mixture of prehistoric earthworks overlain by medieval. Only a…
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Commondale from the south
The quiet village of Commondale, once a hive of industrial activity. Best known is the brickworks of the Cleveland Fire Brick and Pottery Company which occupied the small dale behind old school and St Peter’s Church built with its distinctive red bricks. This was started in 1860 by John Slater Pratt, a printer from Stokesley,…
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Little Roseberry
Falling Foss was the aim but overnight snow had closed the Whitby road at Birk Brow and Gerrick. Drove for an hour and ended up back in Guisborough. A couple of hours later and the snow was rapidly disappearing off the Cleveland Hills. Quickly come quickly go. Suddenly a reminder that spring is just around…
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Former workshops and stables, Belmont Ironstone mine
Around the back of the impressive range of buildings used for stabling the ponies that were used underground in the Belmont Ironstone Mine. They are probably the best-preserved surface remains of mine buildings in Cleveland and have found use once again for stables. In the 1970s I remember them being used for housing pigs. Or…
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Roseberry Mine Reservoir
Operations at the Roseberry Ironstone Mine would have been dependent on steam power. In the 1931 public auction when the mining equipment was sold off, the lots included 2 hauling engines, 1 compressor, 1 fan engine, 4 boilers, and 2 pumping engines. To supply all these steam engines with sufficient water a reservoir was built 25 feet on the slope…
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The prehistoric linear boundary at Bridestones
Working on the prehistoric linear boundary at Bridestones Moor for the National Trust today and this morning I got drenched. My 20-year-old waterproofs let me down. It rained so heavy we sat it out at one point in the pickup. But the good news is the new fencing is now finished. It has taken three…
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Nab Ridge, Kepwick
A walk from Osmotherley to Boltby along Hambleton Street, the old Drovers’ Road. A rather dull afternoon with failing light and a bit of drizzle. This is taken from the Drover’s Road looking down along Nab Ridge onto the village of Kepwick. Just beyond Kepwick and slightly to the right is Howe Hill, which, although…
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Forgotten Footpaths
I’ve found a website which is currently fascinating me. It’s called ‘Don’t Lose Your Way’ and it’s run by the Ramblers. It enables a direct comparison between the modern Ordnance Survey map and the 1895 edition. Its purpose is to identify and record lost footpaths that have been omitted as statutory Public Footpaths from the…