-
Tarn Hows
If you were to look at a calendar of the Lake District, one of the months is sure to feature Tarn Hows. It is one of its most picturesque views. Yet it is entirely manmade. Until James Garth Marshall, whose father, John Marshall, had made the family fortune from his flax mills in Leeds, began…
-
Rose Castle
Our home for the weekend. First documented in 1789-91 when William Bowe “slate getter of Rose Castle” registered the birth of his son, William, and daughter Ann in the parish register of Hawkshead. A getter was a quarryman and William would have worked in the nearby small slate quarry producing flagstones for flooring. The late…
-
Loughrigg Tarn
Thus gladdened from our own dear Vale we pass And soon approach Diana’s Looking-glass! To Loughrigg-tarn, round, clear and bright as heaven, Such name Italian fancy would have given … The encircling region vividly exprest Within the mirror’s depth, a world at rest – Sky streaked with purple, grove and craggy bield, And the smooth…
-
More moor burning
As soon as the weather improves so the heather burning resumes. The left-hand plume is, I think, on Cold Moor, the right, on Snilesworth. A further one, behind me to the east is Gisborough Moor. Six weeks to go before the season ends for this winter, on 15th April. If you want some good news,…
-
Ryston Bank
Why do new shoes feel so good? Maybe I keep the old ones too long. No studs left but the Kevlar uppers are still OK. So with a spring in my step from the new pair and a smattering of snow on the Cleveland Hills, I head up onto Little Roseberry. The fire alarm at…
-
Kildale
Where is Kildale? It seems such a vague place. The village is well known but where exactly is Killi’s dale. Generally, the parish encloses the upper reaches of the River Leven but it also extends into the watershed of the River Esk with Sleddale Beck and Baysdale Beck forming the boundary. Most, but not all…
-
Helmsley Castle
Not inspired by a wind-blasting on the high moors I headed to Rievaulx and a sheltered bimble along the Rye valley. For 900 years Helmsley Castle, standing on its rocky outcrop on the north bank of the Rye, has dominated the town to the west. Castles are almost entirely absent from the bleak upland plateau…
-
29th February – Leap Day
According to tradition, on Leap Day women were allowed to propose to men. This is common across many cultures. If the man refuses, he is obliged to buy her a dress or a pair of gloves supposing to hide her embarrassment of not having a ring. But why do we need to go through this malarky…
-
Ravenscar WW2 Radar Station
Just off the Cleveland way, south of Ravenscar are the remains of the coastal defence radar system for the protection of the UK during the Second World War. It was one of a chain of stations built along the east coast during 1941 to detect approaching aircraft. There are four buildings, nearest is a fuel…
-
Cockmoor Hall Earthworks
The Tabular Hills have a high concentration of Neolithic or Bronze Age earthworks: linear boundaries in the form of ditches and earthbank and round barrows and at the head of Wy Dale, before Stainton Lane descends steeply into Toutsdale, is an extensive area of a confusing mixture of prehistoric earthworks overlain by medieval. Only a…
Care to comment?