Out & About …

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

Category: Ainthorpe

  • Standing Stone, Old Wife’s Stones Way

    Standing Stone, Old Wife’s Stones Way

    A leisurely saunter into the morning sunshine across the ancient expanse of Danby Rigg on the Old Wife’s Stones Way. A timely shower to the west served as a fitting backdrop to this squat yet impressive standing stone. The route, considered no older than medieval times, is lined with tall, slender standing stones, save for…

  • The Coombs

    The Coombs

    The moors have been transformed into a vibrant green as bilberries blanket the landscape. From this vantage point in the Esk valley, overlooking a basin resembling an armchair at the northern edge of Danby Rigg, known as ‘The Coombs.’ A captivating scene which caught the attention of Rev. Canon Atkinson, who dedicated fifty years as…

  • Nan Hardwicke — Witch or Hare? The Folklore of Cleveland

    Nan Hardwicke — Witch or Hare? The Folklore of Cleveland

    There are very few Cleveland villages which, at one time or another, one of the inhabitants had not been stigmatised as a witch. More often than not, it was some lonely old woman, past her childbearing age, probably widowed but more than likely without any degree of patriarchal protection. The most celebrated of these witches…

  • Moor burning on Commondale Moor

    Moor burning on Commondale Moor

    With the advent of the autumnal fine weather, the heather burning season has quickly got underway. At least half a dozen fires could be seen from Ainthorpe Rigg today with smoke was creeping down on to Guisborough and the Esk valley. A sharp contrast to just six weeks ago when the North York Moors National…

  • Church Way, Ainthorpe Rigg

    Church Way, Ainthorpe Rigg

    I often find I visit a stretch of moor that I haven’t been to for years then, a short time later, I’m back on that very same moor. So it was today, I found myself back on Ainthorpe Rigg, and on the Old Hell Road, the old corpse road. This would have been the final…

  • Barn at Castle Houses

    Barn at Castle Houses

    From the Ainthorpe to Little Fryup Dale road, a fine view over Danby and the Esk valley. Open Space Web-Map builder Code