Category: East Cleveland
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Huntcliff: A Roman Lookout Lost to the Sea
It’s been a lovely day at the seaside, but I my eyes were drawn to Huntcliff Nab, the huge beetling cliff that towers over Saltburn. It’s made of soft shales and is slowly being worn away by the sea and wind. I imagined what the headland would have looked like almost two millenia ago, when…
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The White Maid of Kilton Castle
The British Cycling Championships descended upon East Cleveland today, bringing to mind a project I embarked upon during the days of Covid: transcribing the works of Richard Blakeborough. Among his tales, “The White Maid of Kilton Castle” holds a special place, for it is set in the environs of Brotton, the very spot where I…
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Cuckoos on the Move as Cyclists Battle Up Saltburn Bank
In the women’s race of the Cleveland Classic, competitors ascend the formidable Saltburn Bank at the first of the event’s four laps. Cycling here, my ears were tuned keenly for that distinctive call of the first cuckoo of the year. Today marks Cuckoo Day, also known as St. Tiburtius’ Day, traditionally the day when the…
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Cattersty Sands—From Fretful Sea to Fragile Foam
A visit to the sea-side. Back at home, we had woken up to a wet but mild morning. However, the scene at Cattersty Sands was a different world. A sea fret unfurled before us, though glimpses of blue peered above sporadically. Typically, the surf maintains a steady rhythm, a predictable ebb and flow. Yet on…
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Pig-Iron to Steel: Skinningrove’s Industrial History
Have you ever pondered the origins of Skinningrove, nestled in this sheltered valley leading to the North Sea? What led to its establishment there? I certainly have. Back in 1873, when the Loftus Iron Company first erected two blast furnaces on that hill overlooking the valley, the iron-smelting industry was already thriving in the Cleveland…
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Dipping Toes and Donning Macintoshes: A History of Sea-Side Bathing
Numerous folk were having a refreshing dip at Saltburn this morning, seizing the opportunity presented by the autumn sun’s warm rays and the surging waves. The surfers had donned their wet-suits, which bestowed upon them some protection against the chilly clutches of the North Sea. One fellow strolling back along the shore confessed that it…
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On me bike which meant I had to negotiate Guisborough’s busy town centre!
Surprisingly quiet. The town cross is relatively modern but the steps are worn, perhaps part of the Medieval Market cross although a 17th or 18th century engraving shows circular steps. Perhaps the engraving also shows the town’s bull-ring which was located very near the cross. Yes, bull-baiting was a very popular in this period and…
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It’s good to see blue skies after the grey of the last few days
This is the sands at Redcar. A few years after the turn of the 19th-century Redcar, with the exception of Scarborough, was described as “the most extensively patronised seaside resort on the N.E. coast.” An old Redcar woman, Mrs. Diana Carter, had begun providing the first bathing machines at Redcar in about 1802. Six years…
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Dunsdale’s Tin Tabernacle
Sometime last week, I posted about a young girl’s letter from 1913 about her village of Kildale. I’ve come across another letter in the same newspaper this time from Ida Sanderson who lived in Dunsdale in 1917: DUNSDALE VILLAGE. Dear Daddy — l was very much pleased when I saw my name in print. In…
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Boosbeck
East Cleveland is a not so frequented neck of the woods for me, yet it is an area steeped in history. This is Boosbeck, at the head of the Margrove valley, which Elgee insisted on calling the Boosbeck valley. His reasoning? The valley originally drained east from the moors beyond Aysdale to Saltburn Gill. This…