Out & About …

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

Bloworth Crossing

Or Blawith, as I’ve seen it written1BRIERLEY, HARWOOD. “LEAVES FOR A YORKSHIRE ITINERARY. XLIII – LASTINGHAM TO STOKESLEY. ” Leeds Mercury, 8 Aug. 1896. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/BC3201928085/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=40f5df05. Accessed 27 June 2021.. Or Blowith2Brown, A.J. “ Striding Through Yorkshire”. Page 193. Country Life. 1943..

Many names, but a well-known feature on several long-distance path over the moors. Where the Rosedale mineral railway crossed the ancient track along Rudland Rigg, a track which, in 1934. Alec E. F. Wright described as a “grass road” and “exhilarating”3DISCOVERING NEW COUNTRY A WEEK-END TRAMP. | Cleveland Standard | Saturday 08 September 1934 | British Newspaper Archive. [online] Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003490/19340908/171/0008 [Accessed 9 Apr. 2022]..

In the 21st-century, the Rudland Rigg is a dusty, rugged, tedious track, much frequented by off-road vehicles. In my short journey from Turkey Nab, four motorcyclists zoomed past me, leaving noise and petrol fumes in their wake.

When the mineral railway was laid across the moors to Rosedale, the track was more frequently used than today. Farmers from the dales would drive their horse-drawn carts to Stokesley market4Hayes, R.H. & J.G. Rutter. “Rosedale Mines and Railway”. Page 19. Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society. Research Report No. 9 Reprinted 1991.. In season, large numbers of apple-carts came from Helmsley, Harome, and Nunnington, also heading for Stokesley market, returning empty by the same rough road5The El Dorado Of Cleveland | Newcastle Courant | Saturday 13 May 1899 | British Newspaper Archive. [online] Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000086/18990513/005/0002 [Accessed 9 Apr. 2022]..

Hardly a motorway but sufficient for the railway company providing a manned crossing with gates. During the peak production in the 1870s, there was a daily average of between 1,000 and 1,500 tons, each train pulling 14 8-ton wagons6Hayes, R.H. & J.G. Rutter. “Rosedale Mines and Railway”. Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society. Page 22. Research Report No. 9 Reprinted 1991.. I make that about 13 trains a day. And then there’s the return journey with empties or light loads. The line operated day and night.

So a pair of cottages were provided for the crossing-keepers, long since demolished. There was a siding here too, for use by the Bransdale farmers and miller7Hayes, R.H. & J.G. Rutter. “Rosedale Mines and Railway”. Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society. Page 19. Research Report No. 9 Reprinted 1991.8Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952. Yorkshire XLIII.SE (includes: Bransdale; Farndale East Side; Farndale West Side. Available online at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/100942445#zoom=6&lat=3708&lon=3062&layers=BT [Accessed 9 Apr. 2022]..

  • 1
    BRIERLEY, HARWOOD. “LEAVES FOR A YORKSHIRE ITINERARY. XLIII – LASTINGHAM TO STOKESLEY. ” Leeds Mercury, 8 Aug. 1896. British Library Newspapers, link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/BC3201928085/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=40f5df05. Accessed 27 June 2021.
  • 2
    Brown, A.J. “ Striding Through Yorkshire”. Page 193. Country Life. 1943.
  • 3
    DISCOVERING NEW COUNTRY A WEEK-END TRAMP. | Cleveland Standard | Saturday 08 September 1934 | British Newspaper Archive. [online] Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003490/19340908/171/0008 [Accessed 9 Apr. 2022].
  • 4
    Hayes, R.H. & J.G. Rutter. “Rosedale Mines and Railway”. Page 19. Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society. Research Report No. 9 Reprinted 1991.
  • 5
    The El Dorado Of Cleveland | Newcastle Courant | Saturday 13 May 1899 | British Newspaper Archive. [online] Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000086/18990513/005/0002 [Accessed 9 Apr. 2022].
  • 6
    Hayes, R.H. & J.G. Rutter. “Rosedale Mines and Railway”. Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society. Page 22. Research Report No. 9 Reprinted 1991.
  • 7
    Hayes, R.H. & J.G. Rutter. “Rosedale Mines and Railway”. Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society. Page 19. Research Report No. 9 Reprinted 1991.
  • 8
    Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952. Yorkshire XLIII.SE (includes: Bransdale; Farndale East Side; Farndale West Side. Available online at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/100942445#zoom=6&lat=3708&lon=3062&layers=BT [Accessed 9 Apr. 2022].

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