Month: May 2015
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Friar’s Goose Pumping Engine, Gateshead
Within a stone’s throw behind the Gateshead International Stadium stands this ruin, well away from the sight of visitors to the stadium. The remains housed a steam engine built by Robert Stephenson for pumping water from the many coal mines that operated below the ground in the 19th century. Coal mining along the River Tyne first…
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Egglestone Abbey
Bit of a cheat today. This photo of Egglestone Abbey near Barnard Castle was taken just a couple of metres from the van on my way home. I did however run past it yesterday and had mentally logged the location. Knowing I would have to take the dog out up my local hill when I got home…
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The Devil’s Boulder of Great How
A spare few hours. Decided to explore Baldersdale to the north west of Barnard Castle in the Pennines. The valley contains three reservoirs which looked interesting. At the head stood a distinctive hill top, Shacklesborough. At 454m high not significant but its flat top begged for a visit. (It’s in the distance in the photo). But…
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Ramsons
I’ve already posted a photo of this plant earlier this Spring (March 25). Back then the lush green leaves that covered the woodland floor were a welcome sight after the dull colours of winter. The flowers of the ramsons are a delicate white that display a carpet of colour that is equal to that of the bluebells.…
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Chequers
A former inn on the Hambleton Street, an ancient drove road linking Scotland with the south of England. Ancient man generally stuck to high ridges where he could. Low level routes would have been boggy, wooded and less safe. Cattle would be driven from Scotland to markets at Malton and York. A various locations they would be rested…
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Eston Bank
Eston Bank has been plagued by arsonists this Spring. In one report the fire service were trying to extinguish a fire in one area, at the same time the arsonists would be lighting another one elsewhere. Almost taunting the fire service. But nature is quick to restore. Bracken rhizomes go too deep into the earth to be killed…
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Staithes
A picturesque former fishing village on the North Yorkshire coast. I say former because most of the houses now seem to be either second homes or holiday lets. I remember when I first saw the sheltered harbour along Staithes Beck, it was chock a block full of cobles, a type of fishing boat traditional to the North East coast. Today there were but four,…
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Beck Hole Incline
The bottom of the former railway incline from beck Hole up to Goathland. It was constructed by the Whitby and Pickering Railway in 1836 and was originally a horse drawn railway. The carriages were hauled up and down the hill using a system of water tanks. Later in 1865 a new route was constructed which…
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Joseph Wade’s Hut, Bilsdale West Moor
Joseph Wade’s Hut, the feature looked interesting on the map, but all I could find was just a cairn on a bronze age round barrow. Round barrows generally occupy prominent positions in the landscape and are thought to have had a funerary function although they may have also marked the boundaries of prehistoric peoples. The view is overlooking Ryedale…
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Green Bank
The Cleveland Hills mark the north western edge of the North York Moors National Park. This is Green Bank below the Lord Stones Country Park although not much vegetation can grow on the soft Lower Jurassic shales.