Category: Capt. Cook’s Monument
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Rapeseed Transforms the Vale of Cleveland
The expansive fields of rapeseed, ablaze with its yellow flowers, command this view of the vale of Cleveland from Battersby Moor, presenting a picturesque mosaic of greens and yellows. Rapeseed, grown for its oil, a staple in cooking, fuel, and other products, graces landscapes worldwide, transforming into a breathtaking spectacle during its bloom. Easby Moor,…
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Capt. Cook’s Monument
The obelisk to Captain James Cook on Easby Moor, a familiar sight from the Cleveland plain. Cook is a local hero. We all know of his epic voyages to the Pacific, they are taught in schools, but his legacy is being reassessed as we look at events at that time through 21st century eyes. Cook’s…
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Kildale’s Telecoms Mast Dilemma
The picture doesn’t quite portray the hurricane-like gusts, making it a struggle to stay upright. Another rain shower is looming, chasing away the previous one in no time. I’m up on the moor behind Park Nab, looking across Kildale. On the distant skyline, at its highest point, stands Captain Cook’s Monument. But something’s amiss with…
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Heather’s Purple Dance with Golden Grass
Apart from the swathes of purple heather, there is another colour that resonates with me and epitomises the moors at this time of the year: the golden brown of grasses. These strands of gold flourish abundantly upon the ancient swiddens, gently swaying in the breeze and contrasting with the purple that’s nothing short of mesmerising.…
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The Local Legacy of Capt. James Cook
Well, it’s been a quite a while since I last posted a photo of that obelisk known as Capt. Cook’s Monument, perched ever so ostentatiously upon Easby Moor. A tribute it is to that infamous chap, Captain James Cook, the problematic “discoverer” of Australia, who hailed from the local village of Great Ayton during his…
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With a teachers’ strike likely, it seems timely to point out that exactly 50 years ago today teachers resumed their normal working after a three-month work-to-rule dispute with the local authority
On this day in 1973, the Daily Mirror published interviews with some Teesside pupils: HILARY COX, age 13: “It’s rotten, it’s boring, and my Mam says she’s sick of me going in and out like a yo-yo all day. There’s nothing to do at all. “I’ve been going to all the classes that have been…
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The story of Cleopatra’s Needle’s journey to Britain
The well-known monument to Capt. James Cook was erected in 1827. The design of an obelisk has led some to speculate a masonic connection. But the more probable reasoning was that obelisks were simply in vogue. In that year, Dublin had begun its erection of the Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park to commemorate victories by…
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A day of strange atmospherics
On this day in 2005, at 0601 in the morning, a huge explosion rocked an oil depot in Buncefield near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It was the largest in peacetime Europe and the noise is said to have been heard as far away as the Netherlands. I seem to remember people at work saying they…
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An early start
It was dry when I left home but by Gribdale Gate, the wind had picked up and it was beginning to spit, and any thoughts of photography had been forgotten. Still, it was pleasant to see Gribdale empty of cars; apart from two early dog walkers. It’s has always been a popular car park as…
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A brilliant day on Easby Moor for the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team’s Remembrance Sunday gathering
The gathering took place at the memorial to the aircrew who died when their Lockheed Hudson aircraft crashed into the hill on 11th February 1940. The aircraft took off from Thornaby-on-Tees at 04:10 and failed to gain suffient height due to ice forming on the wings. It clipped the escarpment, ploughing on through a drystone…