Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: moor

  • Cranimoor

    Cranimoor

    Just ten minutes earlier the “hog-backed sweep of Cranimoor” as Frank Elgee wrote was clear. Time to head back to the car before the weather deteriorates. I am on Cold Moor looking across the col of Little Raisdale, for want of a better name. At 432 m, Cringle Moor, to give the hill its more…

  • Greenhow Moor, looking towards the old ironstone mine at Rud Scar

    Greenhow Moor, looking towards the old ironstone mine at Rud Scar

    On the 16th June 1814, the stagecoach ‘England Rejoice’ set off from Stockton on bound for Whitby. It was the return leg of a new service offering weekly return trips with York and Stockton. The coach had left the Freemason’s Tavern, Whitby at “exactly” six o’clock on the Monday morning bound for York. The journey…

  • Mount Vittoria, Garfitt Gap and Hasty Bank

    Mount Vittoria, Garfitt Gap and Hasty Bank

    Today is the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoléon Bonaparte, aged 51, whilst in exile on the island of St Helena in the middle of the Atlantic. The autopsy concluded he died of stomach cancer, but some believe he was killed by arsenic poisoning. This may not have been as sinister as it sounds,…

  • On this day in 1933

    On this day in 1933

    “It was icy cold in Munich on New Year’s Day [1933]. Adolf Hitler was drinking coffee over breakfast at his luxurious apartment at 16 Prinzregentenplatz. The morning papers made gloomy reading about his political prospects in the coming year. A critical article in the social democratic newspaper Vorwärts headlined ‘Hitler’s Rise and Fall’ suggested the…

  • Dear Rishi Sunak,

    Dear Rishi Sunak,

    I am writing this open letter, as one of your constituents, to express my concern at some of the aspects of the introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021 which I believe has been deliberatively drafted as an excessively lengthy document (307 pages) and which is being rushed through the Commons on…

  • What’s below this pond on Newton Moor?

    What’s below this pond on Newton Moor?

    I’m guessing this is a manmade pond, at the head of Howden Gill. It’s not shown on the 1958 OS Map. I’ve photographed it before but have always assumed it to be on Great Ayton Moor, but on closer inspection it’s actually to the north of the Newton parish boundary, so strictly that will make…

  • Standing stone on Kildale Moor

    Standing stone on Kildale Moor

    I believe this is just a waymarker rather than a boundary stone or religious cross. The North York Moor Historic Environment Record (HER) map suggests it dates from the 19th-century. It stands alongside a path designated as “F.P.”on the 1895 Ordnance Survey map. This is one of the paths The Ramblers have identified during their…

  • Turkey Nab

    Turkey Nab

    I’ve just watched the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the USA, the first time I’ve ever watched such a ceremony. I now reside in a feeling of immense relief. Both America and ourselves take pride in our liberal democracies. But there are huge idiosyncrasies on both sides. Our unelected House of…

  • A splash of green

    A splash of green

    Heather moorland, for most of the year, especially in winter, offers a drab palette of dull browns. Only in late summer, when the heather comes into full bloom, do the moors take on their blanket of purple. Yet occasionally you come across a splash of contrast. Verdant bog mosses, most likely one of the UK’s…

  • Commondale from Three Howes Rigg

    Commondale from Three Howes Rigg

    The North Yorkshire Moors has been my playground since 1973, and yet every so often I get to someplace where I’ve never trod before. I’ve seen this view before, a mere glimpse whilst travelling at 60 mph down along Three Howes Rigg road on the way to Castleton. Cycling allows a longer view, but until…