Shooting Butt No. 2 on Warren Moor

I will call this a ruined grouse butt although I suspect it is still in use. Anyway above the ‘2’ is a stone with a carved grouse dated, I think, 1975.

I have it in mind that this was carved by Roland S. Close (1908-1978), the amateur archaeologist and an estate worker at Kildale. If it is his work then he would have been 67 when he did it¹Birth and death years taken from the plaque on Iron Age Hut Circles on Percy Rigg at NZ 6100 1154 and confirmed by the family history website (see below).. There is no doubt he was a dab hand at dry stone walling, he built the footbridge over Great Hograh Beck²Out and About … (2015). Great Hograh Beck. [online] Available at: https://fhithich.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/great-hograh-beck/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2021]. so a bit of carving is not improbable.

However, I just can not remember where I picked this memory up. Likely from a former residence of Shepherd’s House in Baysdale, the cottage where Roland Close once lived.

According to a family history website, I discover that the ‘S’ stands for Septimus³One-name.net. (2018). Roland Septimus CLOSE b. 31 Mar 1908 Easby, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom d. 1978 Northallerton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. [online] Available at: https://close.one-name.net/getperson.php?personID=I13153&tree=Close [Accessed 3 Oct. 2021]..

The adjacent shooting butt also has a carving of a grouse. Different style and I can’t make out the date, so maybe older?

• 1
  Birth and death years taken from the plaque on Iron Age Hut Circles on Percy Rigg at NZ 6100 1154 and confirmed by the family history website (see below).
• 2
  Out and About … (2015). Great Hograh Beck. [online] Available at: https://fhithich.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/great-hograh-beck/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2021].
• 3
  One-name.net. (2018). Roland Septimus CLOSE b. 31 Mar 1908 Easby, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom d. 1978 Northallerton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. [online] Available at: https://close.one-name.net/getperson.php?personID=I13153&tree=Close [Accessed 3 Oct. 2021].