Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Scarth Nick

Scarth Nick

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Scottish drovers breasted this cleft in the Cleveland Hills driving their cattle to southern markets along the Hambleton Drove Road after fording the Tees at Yarm. It has probably used in prehistory, by the Romans and in medieval times.

Today’s tarmac road winds up the climb from Swainby taking visitors to the honey-pot of Codbeck Reservoir. Most don’t stop, but in the 19th-century, the Nick was a popular meeting place. In 1820, 2000 Primitive Methodists gathered here for one of their camp-meetings, an event which achieved fame in the annals of the movement1See my previous post Scarth Nick dated 30th July 2020.2Clowes, William. “The Journals of William Clowes”. Hallam and Holliday, 1844 [online] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=w4oAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=%22Scarth+Nick%22+methodist&source=bl&ots=ywOgq7EePd&sig=ACfU3U0yLP7-6rLWtJm6R9YdKnV4lrsLPg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDgNTwmc_zAhVlnFwKHW4WBA8Q6AF6BAgQEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Scarth%20Nick%22%20methodist&f=false [Accessed 16 Oct. 2021].3‌My Primitive Methodists. (2016). Middlesbrough: Primitive Methodism around Middlesbrough. [online] Available at: https://www.myprimitivemethodists.org.uk/content/place-2/yorkshire-2/i-p-yorkshire-2/middlesbrough_primitive_methodism_around_middlesbrough [Accessed 16 Oct. 2021]..

In 1874, the 15th annual festival of the Swainby Temperance Society’s Festival was held on Scarth Nick complete with a large marquee and the Marske brass band4“STOKESLEY” (1874) York Herald, 27 Jun, 4+, available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/R3211131540/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=a2003d8b [accessed 16 Oct 2021]..


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