Morning Sun on Cold Moor

A panorama of Cold Moor from the vantage point of the Wainstones; to the right, the col known as Garfit Gap.

What caught my eye in this view is the way the morning sun, hanging low, highlights the remains of the old jet mining drifts. These drift entrances, now long collapsed, appear as V-shaped scars etched into the hillside. They create a line, gently tilting to the left, following the natural stratum. Below each drift is its own shale mound, composed of the discarded spoil brought to the surface in the trusty wheelbarrow.

Jet, the fossilised wood of the monkey puzzle tree, has held value in jewellery since time immemorial, with its craftsmanship long tied to Whitby. The Bronze Age tumuli on the heather-moors have yielded jet beads and other artifacts. Archaeology indicates that Whitby jet travelled widely across Britain, even being worked in Roman York¹‘History | Museum of Whitby Jet | England’. 2016. MoWJ <https://www.museumofwhitbyjet.com/copy-of-geology-gemmology> [accessed 19 February 2024]. Local lore recounts that during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, an artificer named John Carlill crafted jet crosses in Whitby²‘Whitby’s Jet Industry. | Selby Times | Friday 08 September 1916 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2024. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005031/19160908/086/0003> [accessed 19 February 2024]. However, since the latter half of the 19th century, jet mining has also been active in the Cleveland Hills, with the jet from Bilsdale to Riasdale considered of the finest quality.

In nearby Scugdale, no jet mining existed in 1850, but by 1877, 39 miners were toiling away³“The North York Moors Landscape Heritage”. Edited by D.A.Spratt and B.J.D.Harrison. Page 175. David & Charles. 1989. ISBN 0 7153 93472.. Come 1890, the industry had all but faded away, succumbing to the allure of cheap Spanish imports and the capricious whims of fashion. The lifespan of these mines on the slopes of Cold Moor likely mirrored a similar timeline.

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  ‘History | Museum of Whitby Jet | England’. 2016. MoWJ <https://www.museumofwhitbyjet.com/copy-of-geology-gemmology> [accessed 19 February 2024]
• 2
  ‘Whitby’s Jet Industry. | Selby Times | Friday 08 September 1916 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2024. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005031/19160908/086/0003> [accessed 19 February 2024]
• 3
  “The North York Moors Landscape Heritage”. Edited by D.A.Spratt and B.J.D.Harrison. Page 175. David & Charles. 1989. ISBN 0 7153 93472.