Sunset on Cliff Rigg Quarry

Headed up to Cliff Rigg to view the sunset which sort of fizzled out. The ridge is part of the Cleveland Dyke and is a protrusion of very hard volcanic rock cutting through the surrounding older sedimentary rocks. Formed 58 million years ago from a volcano near the Isle of Mull, it outcrops in many locations between there and Whitby. And wherever it surfaces the hard rock was quarried to be used principally for paving setts and road making. Its common name is Whinstone on account the gorse or whin frequently found growing where the rock outcrops. Cliff Ridge quarry was operated by Messrs. Winn with the whinstone cobbles bound for the streets of Leeds. The quarry closed around 1918 but further extraction took place in the seventies with the stone being crushed for road surfacing. A narrow strip of the stone called a plug was usually left as shoring to stop the softer shales collapsing. Here the snow highlights a column of the plug remaining, left of centre.