Out & About …

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

Category: Commondale

  • Bigod’s Rebellion and Nicholas Cockerell’s Loyalty Test in Commondale

    Bigod’s Rebellion and Nicholas Cockerell’s Loyalty Test in Commondale

    This morning I awoke to find a reminder in my calendar. It told me that on this very day back in 1536, King Henry VIII got tough on the Pilgrimage of Grace rebels. Now, naturally, I pondered where I could saunter off to today that might have a smidgen of relevance to that dusty tidbit.…

  • Commondale, or should that be Sleddale?

    Commondale, or should that be Sleddale?

    From Three Howes Rigg, if you look westward, you might’ve thought you are seeing into Commondale, or maybe Sleddale? Those fields of green let their waters drain into Sleddale Beck. The village of Commondale is tucked away in the dale. Back in its heyday, that Guisborough Priory was a big landowner in the north of…

  • Ravensgill, Commondale

    Ravensgill, Commondale

    When The Commondale Brick & Pipe Works closed its gates for good in 1947, this would have been a very different scene probably with no tree or blade of grass to be seen. It is now a Scout camp, so not normally accessible. I took the opportunity to search the beck for a memorial carved…

  • Commondale from Sand Hill

    Commondale from Sand Hill

    Said to be named after Colmán, Bishop of Lindisfarne. So what was the venerable prelate doing in this remote dale that resulted in it taking his name? It is known he was present at the Synod of Whitby in 664 A.D., having been was appointed bishop 3 years earlier. Colmán led a delegation of monks representing…

  • Commondale Bleach Mill

    Commondale Bleach Mill

    Another item on my bucket list ticked off. Commondale Beck is barely two miles long from its start at the meeting of Sleddale and Ravengill Becks to its confluence with the River Esk, although its meanderings might push it over this distance. About 175 metres from Commondale Railway Station on the west Guisborough parish side…

  • Commondale from Kempswithin

    Commondale from Kempswithin

    Kempswithin is a large expanse of heather moorland bound on the north by the Esk Valley railway and containing no Rights of Way; this latter fact reinforced by the abundance of signs that have been placed by the Kildale Estates advising “No Dogs | No Bikes | This is not a footpath or bridleway“. Whilst…

  • Commondale from Three Howes Rigg

    Commondale from Three Howes Rigg

    The North Yorkshire Moors has been my playground since 1973, and yet every so often I get to someplace where I’ve never trod before. I’ve seen this view before, a mere glimpse whilst travelling at 60 mph down along Three Howes Rigg road on the way to Castleton. Cycling allows a longer view, but until…

  • Nanny’s Nook

    Nanny’s Nook

    A dull morning for a bike ride, but dry. Just outside Commondale on the Kildale road, there is a small copse. It hides a double right-angled bend in the dry stone wall called Nanny’s Nook, said by Frank Elgee to have been frequented by a witch and the site of an ancient settlement. This may…

  • Skeldersceugh Farm

    Skeldersceugh Farm

    A view from the south of Commondale, named after Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne who had been a monk at Whitby in the 7th-century. Top left, basking in the sunshine, is Skeldersceugh Farm which is likely to be the site of Skelderskew Grange, a monastic grange of Guisborough Priory. The name was first mentioned early in…

  • On Wayworth Moor

    On Wayworth Moor

    There’s nothing quite like exploring a new place, seeing a new view, or just the sudden recognition of a familiar view from a different direction. The last time I was on Wayworth Moor to look at the stone circle was 2016. Five years, it seems an eternity. Ahead, Leven Vale is suffused in the verdurous…