“Overhanging the romantic and picturesque vale of Gisborough, a bold prominent rock rears its reverend head, hoary with mosses and lichens, and rent into vast chasms by the storms and tempests of centuries. It is skirted to the north with rich plantations of fir and venerable forests of oak; towards the south it is surrounded by vast tracts of heathy moorlands; whilst westward lie the lovely vale of Kildale and the fertile plains of Broughton, Stokesley, &c. Hither, in our joyous schoolboy days, we were wont to repair, and, with the adventurous daring of youth, climb amidst its craggy precipices for the nests of the hawk, the raven, and the daw. Glad and happy were those hours; for then the free mountain-breezes floated along our locks, and our hearts were light and buoyant as the springy heath on which we trod. Marvellous and delightful, too, were the snow-white ships that gleamed afar off on the azure deeps; pleasant the repose of those rich umbrageous woods, through which, at evening, we wended homewards, listening to the tender croon of the cushat beside his mate; and most exquisite the quire of myriads of birds singing their āamorous descantsā all through the golden furze and sheltering groves. This towering summit was HIGHCLIFFE.”
History and Antiquities of Cleveland by John Walker Ord [1846]
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