Echoes of Disaster: The Kettleness Landslide

Kettle Ness, as seen in the photograph across Runswick Bay, presents a grim and barren face, stripped of vegetation. I have read that, with care and a sharp eye, one might discern the dark line of the jet seam, beneath which lies the greyer alum shale, and lower still, just above the wave line, two distinct bands of iron strata.¹‌Home, Gordon. “Yorkshire Coast and Moorland Scenes” 1907. I must confess that my eyes are not sharp enough.

The bleakness owes much to the alum works, which were still active in early 1854 but would soon cease. Jet was also being quarried around this time, adding to the desolation. Indeed, it was this year when a jet worker named Dalton Taylor tragically fell from the cliff’s summit onto a broken rock below, meeting his end.²Barrigan, Alice. 2024. ‘Runswick: A Tale of Landslips – and the Cholera of 1866’, Blogspot.com <https://northyorkshirehistory.blogspot.com/2020/12/runswick-tale-of-landslips-and-cholera.html> [accessed 8 August 2024]

The cliff beneath the village of Kettleness bears a history marked by calamity. On an early Friday morning in 1829, a massive landslide destroyed the alum works owned by the Earl of Mulgrave.³The Pilot – Wednesday 30 December 1829 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001301/18291230/035/0004?noTouch=true The works, along with the manager’s house and several cottages, stood at the base of the towering cliff. A few days before, folk had noticed ominous cracks in the cliff and feared a collapse. Their fears, alas, were realised. The cliff gave way, burying the works and homes under a vast heap of rock. Remarkably, no lives were lost, though several families were asleep in their beds when the disaster struck. One account, penned many years later, mentions that some residents, alarmed by subterranean rumblings, took refuge in a small schooner anchored in the bay.⁴‌Home, Gordon. “Yorkshire Coast and Moorland Scenes” 1907. Their timely escape was rewarded, for soon after, the great section of the cliff slid down, burying the cottages beneath it. The next morning, little remained but a sloping mound of lias shale at the foot of the precipice. The villagers managed to recover some of their belongings by digging through the debris.

• 1
  ‌Home, Gordon. “Yorkshire Coast and Moorland Scenes” 1907.
• 2
  Barrigan, Alice. 2024. ‘Runswick: A Tale of Landslips – and the Cholera of 1866’, Blogspot.com <https://northyorkshirehistory.blogspot.com/2020/12/runswick-tale-of-landslips-and-cholera.html> [accessed 8 August 2024]
• 3
  The Pilot – Wednesday 30 December 1829 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001301/18291230/035/0004?noTouch=true
• 4
  ‌Home, Gordon. “Yorkshire Coast and Moorland Scenes” 1907.