Odd features of the landscape have always captivated my interest, though more often than not they tend to slip my mind upon returning home, overshadowed by more pressing matters.
One of these curiosities is this kink in the dry-stone wall below Easby Moor. It’s almost as if two builders constructing the wall from opposite ends suddenly realised their walls wouldn’t quite meet.
The 1894 O.S. 25-Inch map does show this kink, but the 1856 6-Inch map provides a twist of its own by indicating a sizeable gap. It’s almost as if my tongue-in-cheek speculation has hit the nail on the head.
There likely once was a gate within that gap, but now all that remains is a sheep-smout, a small enough passage for the occasional sheep, although I can’t recall ever seeing them graze on this moor.
A sheep-smout, or just plain smout, is the local term in Cleveland for such a feature1A GLOSSARY OF THE CLEVELAND DIALECT: EXPLANATORY, DERIVATIVE, AND CRITICAL. BY THE REV.J. C. ATKINSON; JOHN RUSSELL SMITH . M.DCCC.LXVIII. Page 443.. Other vernacular names include cripple holes, lonky or lunky holes, hogg holes, sheep run, sheep smoose, and thaw or thirl holes.
‘Smoose‘ sounds very much like ‘smeuse,’ which, apart from denoting a hare’s track, also refers to the gap at the base of a hedge formed by the regular passage of hares and other small creatures21852 A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words- obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs, from the fourteenth century, by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Vol. 2. Page 762.. Now that I’ve introduced the word ‘smeuse,’ I’m sure you’ll be seeing these signs of the daily commutes of animals more frequently.
- 1A GLOSSARY OF THE CLEVELAND DIALECT: EXPLANATORY, DERIVATIVE, AND CRITICAL. BY THE REV.J. C. ATKINSON; JOHN RUSSELL SMITH . M.DCCC.LXVIII. Page 443.
- 21852 A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words- obsolete phrases, proverbs, and ancient customs, from the fourteenth century, by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Vol. 2. Page 762.
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