Category: Ayton Bank
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A Forgotten Quarry—With a view of Roseberry
A broken down dry-stone wall enticed me to scramble over for a gander and I stumbled upon an old sandstone quarry I never knew existed with a view of Roseberry from an angle I’ve not seen before. Ah, the uncomplicated pleasures of discovery. It wasn’t a large quarry, and a quick count reveals it to…
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Ayton Bank — and a delve into the world of ‘Tumblers’
This morning, I was lucky enough to get dropped off in Guisborough, and decided to walk back home, a one-way trip; avoiding, of course, the more popular paths since it’s a Sunday. Ayton Bank is off the beaten track that offers a quiet location. In the distance is Easby Moor, topped with Capt. Cook’s Monument.…
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The Rise and Fall of Alum Production in Great Ayton
As I descend from Capt. Cook’s Monument, approaching Gribdale Terrace, the former whinstone quarrymen’s cottages gleam white, with Cliff Rigg rising behind them. Before me, in the centre of the photo is a range of sandstone buildings mapped as Bank House Farm on the 1853 OS Six-inch map, but an auction advertisement in the Yorkshire…
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Through Mist and Mud
Amidst the bleakness of a dreary day near the old site of Summerhill Farm, stand these lichen covered gate posts, a testament to times long gone. The muddy path between them is now only trod by sheep, and the ruinous dry stone wall adds to the sense of abandonment. Yet, in the midst of it…
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Everytime I go up to Capt. Cook’s Monument I find another area of clear felling
This is on Little Ayton Moor, above Hunter’s Scar — note to self: have a look at this feature — revealing a view of the whole of the short valley between Roseberry Topping, Black Bank and Great Ayton Moor. A view that has not been seen for perhaps half a century. To me, a view…
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Clear felling on Little Ayton Moor has opened up super views across Great Ayton Moor all the way to Highcliff Nab
A light overnight snowfall hides the debris from the forestry work. I guess the remainder of the forestry will go in due course. Great Ayton Moor has a wealth of archaeological features which I’ve posted about many times before. A chambered cairn, a cairnfield , an Iron Age enclosure, and numerous tumuli. Elgee thought that…
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Gribdale
I’ve never really figured out where Gribdale begins and where it ends. There is no dale as such. The col between Capt. Cook’s Monument and Great Ayton Moor is known as Gribdale Gate. Beyond that, we’re into Lonsdale, so Gribdale must lie this side. But there is no valley. A stream does spring out from…
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Bullfinch sky
A dash up to Gribdale to catch the sunset. At first a disappointment but then the distant clouds caught fire. This was twenty minutes or so after the actual sunset, well into twilight; the display lasted barely five minutes before fading. According to the writer Robert Macfarlane, the Finnish call this orange afterglow of twilight…
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Track To Summer Hill
I’ve lived in the area for almost fifty years and there are still footpaths I’ve never trodden. I’ve known about this Right of Way but I’ve never bothered with it. For me, getting to the start would entail a kilometre or so of road running, it ends abruptly and doesn’t link up with over routes.…
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Freedom Day
Another ‘dog day’, so named because these hot and sultry days of summer (in the northern hemisphere at least) are associated with the Dog Star Sirius rising with the sun. And ‘Freedom Day’ to boot. ‘Freedom’ to all those key workers, NHS staff and care helpers who cannot avoid the risk of prolonged exposure, to…