Out & About …

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

Category: Codhill Heights

  • Codhill Heights — Celtic origins in Yorkshire’s landscape

    Codhill Heights — Celtic origins in Yorkshire’s landscape

    I read once that place-names split neatly into two groups: habitative names, describing the kind of settlement in question, and topographic names, painting a picture of the lay of the land — rivers, rocks, marshes, and hills. Among the ancient Celtic place-names that have trickled down to us, habitative names are not easy to find;…

  • No wheeple from this whaup

    No wheeple from this whaup

    No plaintive cry echoed through the air. It was the silhouette that gave it away: that lengthy and slender bill that bent downward. I casually approached at an oblique angle, yearning for a better shot. Amidst the heather, its speckled brown feathers made spotting it quite a challenge. Alas, my audacious closeness prompted it to…

  • Codhill Quarry—A 19th-Century Legacy

    Codhill Quarry—A 19th-Century Legacy

    Here on Codhill, on Gisborough Moors, is one of a pair of small sandstone quarries. Probably 19th-century. It couldn’t have produced any significant amount of rock, likely used for some dry stone walling over at Sleddale Farm. Really, there is not much else to say about this feature. Now, the day started off all hot…

  • “The Glorious Twelfth” — A Tradition Under Scrutiny

    “The Glorious Twelfth” — A Tradition Under Scrutiny

    The moors were eerily silent this morning, a stark departure from the cacophony of gunfire that might be expected to reverberate across the heather today. Not a single report echoed in the air, just an eerie silence that draped the landscape like a shroud. Even the normally noisy grouse seem to sense an awareness of…

  • A barrow of all seasons

    A barrow of all seasons

    I’ve posted about this Bronze Age bowl barrow many times before, here, here, here and here, but never in the summer, in a sea of purple heather. It’s on the highest point of Codhill Heights, a low subsidary top of Gisborough Moor and is the most obvious feature on a moor with other barrows, field…

  • The Butts, Codhill Heights

    The Butts, Codhill Heights

    A modern take on the lines of shooting butts that typically cross the heather moors of North Yorkshire. Butts awaiting their clients while lines of workers chase the grouse over their heads on the Glorious Twelfth. Although they have a bit of a wait; I’ve heard the grouse numbers are down this year. These butts…

  • Guisborough Moor

    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…

  • Codhill Heights

    Codhill Heights

    A lovely day. The high point of the ridge between Sleddale Beck and Codhill Slack on the moors south of Highcliff Nab, Codhill Heights is 296 metres above sea level and has a prominence of just 12 metres. One contour on the 1:25,000 O.S. map. The view is north-west towards Black Nab and the col…

  • On Codhill Heights

    On Codhill Heights

    Sans le chien so a chance to go off-piste. So this is looking back after crossing Rivelingdale from Percy Cross Rigg and climbing Codhill Heights. The map indicates an old field system hereabouts, but there is not much to see. This small standing stone may or may not be significant, but as Donkey said in…

  • Potters Ridge

    Potters Ridge

    On Codhill Heights looking up towards Potters Ridge. A precarious cairn. One of a pair, both newly built. First time I have seen them. The moorland is part of the 3,460 acres of grouse moor owned by the Baron Gisborough whose farms received £89,278.37 under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2016. Open Space Web-Map…