Month: September 2017
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Skelton Pond
Not such an ugly duckling. A brood of eight cygnets with a pair of adults. And very tame, no doubt expecting stale bread. Could Skelton Pond be the fish pond mentioned in a 13th-century document? Or where a witch drowned herself after being chased following a murder? I have my doubts. Witches are so 17th…
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Leven Gorge
Upstream from Great Ayton and Easby the River Leven is confined by a narrow gorge as it flows through Mill Bank Wood. A few hundred metres downstream from here, where the gorge widens a little, is the site of a bleach and fulling mill that can be dated back to the 14th century. In the…
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The Leven
A purling brook swift gliding from its fount, From Botton Head (that sterile, craggy cliff), The rill descends, meanders down the hill, The woody Hagg its course continues on, By Ingleby then gurgling through the meads, Loses its current, and the Leven joins; So runs the Leven down from Kildale’s brows, Thence falls to Easby,…
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Holy Well Gill
It must have needed a torrent of water to have carved this gill on Pamperdale Moor near Osmotherley. Certainly not water from the spring mapped as Holy Well and situated way down the gill not far to its junction with Crabdale Beck. The “spring” in the photo, higher up, doesn’t even qualify with an Ordnance…
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Kempswithen
With low cloud shrouding the North York Moors I had to dig into my bank of “bad weather” ideas. Earlier this year I recalled seeing a large new sandstone “PRIVATE NO ACCESS” sign which I thought a bit over the top. So I headed for Kempswithen, the site of a 18th-century agricultural experiment but now…
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Hambleton Street
The ancient drovers’ route along the western edge of the North York Moors. A route that probably has been used since prehistory. The name “street” implies Roman usage and it’s mentioned by name in a document of 1577. Traffic peaked in the 17th and 18th centuries when herds of cattle were driven from Scotland to…
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Parci Gill
Parci Gill is a tributary of the River Rye nestling between Cow Ridge and Sour Milk Hills on the moors to the west of Bilsdale. The name, Parci, sometimes written Parsi, is unusual and its etymology is difficult to explain. It has been suggested that it may predate the more usual Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon roots.…
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Spring trap across Sleddale Beck
Not a pretty picture. Just an example of the type of traps used to ensure the heather moors are eradicated of small mammalian predators, such as stoats and weasels, which may feed on the young grouse chicks. Complete eradication of all “vermin” is the aim. This is in spite of the moors being designated a…