Category: North Yorkshire
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Storm Babet
A deserted High Street in Great Ayton. Not a soul in sight. Everyone’s hunkered down. For me, a pluvious and tempestuous battle up Roseberry, though I skipped the summit. A short walk, leaving the rest of the day for housework. There’s an Old English word that suits our usual cleaning routine — ‘scurryfunge.’ It means…
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Sunday Morning Coming Down
Though Johnny Cash’s song is as clear as crystal about solitude, the blues, and the foggy haze of a Sunday morning after a wild Saturday night, it oddly echoes the serenity of this particular Sunday morning, which coincided with the first frost of the season, a gentle nudge reminding us of the impending winter’s chills.…
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Kirkby-in-Cleveland
Or should that be Kirby-in-Cleveland? After all, we have a Kirby Lane, Hall, and Bridge. Villages often feel to me like a last resort for photography, with parked cars cluttering the streets and interesting buildings shielded by being private houses. Yet, churches and pubs stand out as two exceptions, bearing the charm and history of…
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The Tees Rivers Trust’s vision for a fish pass at Ingleby Weir
I came across an interesting Facebook post about The Tees Rivers Trust’s proposal to construct a fish pass near the weir on Ingleby Beck. The purpose of this pass is to enable fish to migrate upstream, as weirs pose a significant barrier for small fish. While I’m unsure about the exact commencement date of the…
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The Kildale Spectres
Another one of the old folk tales collected by Richard Blakeborough and published in the Northern Weekly Gazette in July 1901. THE KILDALE SPECTRES. By RICHARD BLAKEBOROUGH. The first part of this story, so far as the source from which it sprang is concerned, has not passed through many lips, seeing that the father of…
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Two villages: “Cherchbi” and “Broctune Magna”
It’s been a windy day on Cringle Moor, but the sky has been clear. The moving clouds created a beautiful display of shadows over the vale of Cleveland. I could see below me the villages of Kirkby-in-Cleveland and Great Broughton, both of which were mentioned in the Domesday Book. Kirkby-in-Cleveland was referred to as “Cherchbi”…
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The Shops and Businesses of Hutton Rudby — A Nostalgic Look Back
If you look at old black and white pictures of Cleveland villages and compare them to what they look like today, you can see that there’s a big difference in the amount of trees. It seems like people didn’t really like having trees around until later in the 18th century. Hutton was no exception. In…
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The Enigmatic Charm of Scarth Wood Farm — A Love Nest?
Scarth Wood, located above Ingleby Arncliffe, can be a perplexing place to navigate. The footpaths in the area are challenging to follow, which led us to take an unusual route down to Scarth Wood Farm. I have only passed through this farm a few times in the past. Scarth Wood Farm is an intriguing building.…
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River Leven
A paddling of ducks in Ayton can be seen swimming leisurely on the River Leven, located downstream of a weir, which is referred to locally as the waterfall. Despite the serene ambiance, there are several concerns about the condition of the river. Agricultural lands located upstream contribute to high levels of nitrates and sediment runoff.…
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An earlyish wander around Scarth Wood Moor
Overcast with a patch of heavy drizzle. This is the famous Sheepwash. Where the Hambleton Drove Road fords Crabtree Beck. A popular honeypot in the post-war car boom, but that was before the Cod Beck Reservoir was built. The grassy footpath opposite is not shown on the O.S. map as a Right of Way, but…