Tag: quarry
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Carlton Bank
It is hard to imagine that 150 years ago this would have been a scene of intense industrial activity. For over a century there had been quarrying of the Jurassic shales needed in the production of alum crystals for use as a mordant in the dyeing of textiles and as a tanning curing agent. Alum…
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Banishead Quarry
A consequence of man’s thirst for slate flagstones. The site comprises two large quarries, Eddy Scale and Banishead, dug on either side of Torver Beck which was left flowing down a ridge between the two. Eventually, a section collapsed creating a waterfall into Banishead. With no apparent drain, the water level quickly rose creating a…
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Lonsdale Quarry
A wet morning following by a wet afternoon. The sky mottled shades of grey. It is said the stone used in the building of Christ Church in Great Ayton in 1877 came from Lonsdale Quarry although surprisingly egress for the stone blocks seems to have been uphill over Great Ayton Moor. The quarry is occasionally…
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Disused sandstone quarry, Easby Bank
I heard somewhere that there is evidence of twelve sandstone quarries along the escapement between Capt. Cook’s Monument and Roseberry Topping. The stone gained from these quarries would have been used for buildings in villages and farms down in the vale of Cleveland and for the miles of drystone walls that divide the moors. This…
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Cliff Rigg Quarry
Former whinstone quarry that dominates the modest Cliff Ridge overlooking the village of Great Ayton. The whinstone seam is part of the Cleveland Dyke, a protrusion of very hard volcanic rock cutting through the surrounding soft sedimentary rocks. It was formed 58 million years ago from a volcano near the Isle of Mull and can…
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Penny Rigg Quarries, Tilberthwaite
This great gash dominates the lower slopes of Wetherlam. Sandwiched between Tilberthwaite Gill and the remains of the Tilberthwaite copper mill, the 18th-century quarrymen were seeking a band of fine quality silver-grey slate. The slate is in a vertical bedding plane meaning extraction is very economical with minimal gunpowder needed. The slates were carted to…
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Kirkby Bank
Kirkby Bank, the steep northern face of Cringle Moor giving a fine autumnal display of rich colours. The photo also shows well almost three hundred years of man’s activities. History is much older than that of course. The underlying rock is Jurassic, laid down between 150 and 200 million years ago when Yorkshire was on…
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Common spotted orchid
Out litter picking after a hot weekend and came across this orchid. The name suggests it may be common but finding it growing in abundance in an abandoned quarry well used as a playground by BMX bikers is heartening. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Ayton Banks Alum Works
A cold, overcast day. The fresh snow of the last few days has aged into a dirty wet surface. I found myself above Gribdale looking down on the heavily worked hillside of Cockshaw where the snow accentuated the contours of the Ayton Banks Alum Works that operated for a mere nine years in the latter…
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Sunset on Cliff Rigg Quarry
Headed up to Cliff Rigg to view the sunset which sort of fizzled out. The ridge is part of the Cleveland Dyke and is a protrusion of very hard volcanic rock cutting through the surrounding older sedimentary rocks. Formed 58 million years ago from a volcano near the Isle of Mull, it outcrops in many…