Month: August 2023
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Benchmark on Kildale Moor
I unexpectedly stumbled upon this benchmark a week ago. And yesterday, seeking a breather after a gruelling climb from Hob Hole, I concealed my bike amidst the heather, then ambled a couple hundred metres to revisit it. The mark, showing little sign of erosion, distinctly directs attention to a notch atop the boulder. Clearly an…
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Vandalised Legacy: The Tale of Beggar’s Bridge
A stroll down to Beggar’s Bridge to take a gander at the scene of recent vandalism that had struck the 17th-century packhorse bridge. News of the damage, likely inflicted by a sneaky hand wielding a Stihl saw, has cast doubt over the bridge’s future. The old structure, standing for 400 years, now bears the scars…
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Boom and Bust: Glaisdale’s Brief Ironstone Mining Era
Back in 1831, Glaisdale was a mere township within the parish of Danby. But, by the end of the century, Glaisdale was a parish in its own right. The village, though, pretty much developed as a mining community, which began around the mid-1860s, and by the end of that decade an ironworks had been built.…
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27th April 1979 — A Tragic Day in Lealholm
A tear in the clouds allowed a ray of sun to grace Lealholm Side, a hamlet perched a few hundred metres above the main village of Lealholm in the Esk valley. Back on Friday 27th April 1979, the village was buzzing with activity. The school had full attendance, its corridors echoing with youthful enthusiasm. Around…
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The Nine Stones of Thimbleby Moor
Isn’t it funny how when you haven’t been to a place for months, you seem to end up going there over and over again? This is now the third time in just a few weeks that I’ve ended up around Thimbleby Moor. This time, I took a different route, coming via the Hanging Stone after…
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Breckon Bank Quarry, Farndale
Farndale, a hidden gem within the North York Moors, is famous for its wild daffodils that draw visitors in droves during spring. I decided to explore the dale’s eastern side, a maze of landslips, secret ponds, and abandoned quarries that took me quite by surprise. A few less-frequented footpaths wind up the bracken-covered slopes from…
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St. Bartholomew’s Day
A rather dull start to St. Bartholomew’s Day, a day which has some weather lore associated with it: If the twenty-fourth of August be fair and clear, Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year. At St. Bartholomew, There comes cold dew. All the tears that St. Swithin can cry, St. Bartlemy’s mantle wipes them…
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Cosmic Alignments or Coincidence?
So there I was, flicking through Brian A. Smith and Alan A. Walker’s book “Rock Art and Ritual,” when a quirky little detail caught my eye. They mentioned something about a prehistoric ring-cairn on Kildale Moor, with a clear line of sight to the ring-cairn on Great Ayton Moor and, on the same line, to…
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The Weird Mystery of the Moor — A Guisborough Legend
Here’s another story by Richard Blakeborough, published in the Whitby Gazette on May 5th, 1905. I’m not sure if they’re too long to share on this blog, but I’m really interested in them, especially the ones about places I know such as this one about Guisborough Moor where I can picture the landscapes. Some of…
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Middlesbrough’s Dark Past: the 1961 Cannon Street Riots
A reminder popped up on my phone today that back in 1961, things had hit a boiling point on Cannon Street in Middlesbrough. Three nights of rioting had built up to that day. The spark was the killing of an 18-year-old named Jeffrey Hunt, and the place was like a pressure cooker, especially that August,…