Out & About …

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

Tag: ruin

  • Fast Castle

    Fast Castle

    This is a part of the country I just didn’t know existed. We’re usually dashing past on the A1. But it’s a fascinating coastline, rugged, unfrequented with few paths. Fast Castle looked interesting, perched on an inaccessible promontory called Castle Knowe. It was built in the 14th-century, destroyed and rebuilt in the 16th but in…

  • Far House

    Far House

    A long-abandoned farmstead on the west bank of the River Rye, in the manor of Arden. It was last occupied in the 1930s. Although, it is named as Far House on the oldest Ordnance Survey maps the farm has been identified as previously being called Paddock Wath, a name which Bill Cowley records was still…

  • Port Mulgrave

    Port Mulgrave

    Every time I go to Port Mulgrave, it still feels very much the same, yet much has changed. The winter storms have eroded the old jetty. The harbour has become more silted, the fishermen’s huts more elaborate. Some now are clearly contenders for Grand Designs. Landslips have caused the steep paths down the cliff to…

  • Ruined water tank, Rosedale

    Ruined water tank, Rosedale

    An early start for a circuit of Rosedale. Dense mist to begin but quickly clearing for a nice day. Much good work has been improving the old mineral railway around the head of the valley; it is now easily cyclable. What is not so good is the conservation of the brickwork ruins of an old…

  • Cho fad ‘s bhios craobh ‘san choille, Bidh foil na Chuimeaneach

    Cho fad ‘s bhios craobh ‘san choille,
    Bidh foil na Chuimeaneach

    My Dad once gave me a piece of advice that has remained with me always. He said there are three subjects that should be avoided in conversations: sex, politics, and religion. Of course that was way before the social media so he would have meant talking in pubs but I have generally tried to stick…

  • Peanmeanach

    Peanmeanach

    The building with the green roof is Peanmeanach bothy. It was announced earlier this year that the owners, Ardnish Estate have decided us to close it as an open bothy. You will now have to book, pay a fee, and presumably get sent a key through the post. The reason the owners give is increased visitor…

  • Isthmus between Port an-t Slaoichain and Port Bheathain

    Isthmus between Port an-t Slaoichain and Port Bheathain

    In Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped‘ the hero, David Balfour is kidnapped and is shipwrecked landing up at Erraid on the Ross of Mull. The story then follows his journey back to Edinburgh to confront his wicked uncle. In June 2016 two mates, Bob and Andy, and I followed in the footsteps of Balfour, from Erraid…

  • Yew Tree Farm

    Yew Tree Farm

    Ancestry, the genealogy website, is offering free access during this Easter “break” and I put that in inverted commas as it seems just like any other day. Anyhow, I thought I would do a bit of research on the history of a property rather than my family history. I found that it’s not that easy.…

  • Roseberry Hermitage

    Roseberry Hermitage

    At one time there was once a hermitage on the summit of Roseberry. It was referred to in a letter to Sir Thomas Chaloner (1559 – 1615) by a person with the initials ‘H. TR’ (who remains somewhat of a mystery). The letter was quoted in the ‘The Topographer and Genealogist Volume II’, edited by John Gough…

  • Old weir for Marske Corn Mill

    Old weir for Marske Corn Mill

    There was a lot of water coming down Skelton Beck this morning tumbling over the ruined weir built to provide a head of water for the long-demolished Marske Corn Mill a few hundred yards downstream. It is interesting that the mill took its name from a village two and a half miles away along the…