Category: North York Moors
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Top of Brant Gate
I learnt the other day of the Old Norse word ‘brantr‘ meaning steep, although it’s unattested and has been ‘reconstructed’ from the Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian form ‘brattr‘. I guess this means that it’s a bit of a guess. However, I read also that ‘brant‘ is actually a Cleveland dialect word for steep, and…
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The Four Sisters
I am not sure who coined the term the ‘Four Sisters’ for the Cleveland hills of Hasty Bank, Cold Moor, Cringle Moor and Carlton Moor. Maybe it was Martyn Hudson who used that term in his book ‘on blackamoor‘. They form a familiar view from the vale of Cleveland. From urban Teesside, the flattened aspect…
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Ladder traps
I spotted this trap the other day, deep down in the northern horn of Lonsdale. So a battle through the bracken to take a closer look. It’s what is known as a ‘ladder trap’ and consists of a timber-frame covered in chicken-wire mesh with a ‘V’ shaped roof leading to a narrow opening so that…
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Ailesbury Ironstone Mine
Another visit to an old favourite, almost 7 years ago. I read that some conservation work had been done to the mine entrance, some trees cleared and the ditch cleared out. It looks as though some of the stones on the parapet have fallen. Ailesbury Ironstone Mine operated from 1857 to 1885 and named after…
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Cable Stone Crag
I can’t believe it’s getting on for 4 years since I last visited Low Cable Stone, or Cable Stone Crag as I’ve titled this post, a name I picked up from a 19th-century account of a foxhunt in which “a bag fox” was released and “pulled down within twenty minutes”. Twenty minutes of cruelty but…
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Happy days are here again
🎶Happy days are here again The skies above are clear again So let’s sing a song of cheer again Happy times, happy nights Happy days are here again🎶 Quiz question: who was the Britain’s worst prime Minister? I’ll give you a clue: he was educated at both Eton and Oxford. The answer is Sir Anthony…
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Erica cinerea
The moors will soon be a profusion of lilac with the blooming of the Ling, but for several weeks now the deeper purple blaze of Bell heather has been taking the glory. This swathe of Bell heather is the largest I’ve seen. Normally it prefers to grow in small clumps on drier ground, the tops…
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‘The Ancient British Druidical Logan or Rocking Stone‘
A couple of weeks ago I posted about the ‘Immense Landslip’ of 1872 on White Hill. And in that post I quoted from a newspaper article which suggesting paying a visit to ‘The Ancient British Druidical Logan or Rocking Stone‘ when viewing the landslip; ‘only distant a few hundred yards‘. I racked my brain trying to…
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Blakey Topping standing stones
Could this group of standing stones be the remains of a stone circle? Although only three stones are visible in the photo, there is certainly a fourth in an old field bank and one source says a fifth, although I didn’t spot either of these. In addition there are two or three hollows in the…
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Another sunny morning, but a tad windy on the Topping
“Trace in the sky the painter’s brush — Then winds around you soon will rush” The last few days have dawned with blue skies and a smattering of cirrus clouds. High wispy cirrus clouds are composed of ice crystals and usually portend an approaching depression from the west and the associated deterioration of the weather.…