Category: North York Moors
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Lord of the Flies
Fields of barley on Bousdale Hill golding under the Summer sun. OK, I made that word up. Gilding? Goldening? I was trying to find a link with William Golding, Nobel Prize awardee in Literature in 1983, knighted in 1988, and fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, who died on this day, 19 June, 1993…
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Farndale
Whenever I see Farndale, my imagination is drawn not to its famous swathes of daffodils in the Spring but to what the dale would look like if Hull Corporation had had its way and built its proposed reservoir. The scheme was first mooted in the 1932, when the Corporation began negotiations to purchase 2,000 acres…
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The Great Landslip of 1872
A hill of many names, Cushat Hill, White Hill, Clay Hill. According to the first O.S. Map published in 1857, the prominence is White Hill, the lower part of the road climb is Clay Hill Bank, and the upper part Cushat Hill. Just to be clear, Hasty Bank is the south face. The road of…
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Low Bride Stones
150 million years ago, as the Jurassic seas advanced and retreated, rocks of differing densities were laid down on the sea bed with a hard gritstone laying over softer sandstones. The sandstone under the weathered more easily resulting in these fascinating tors. A myth that is often quoted is of a petrified bridal party that…
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The Dunn’s Charity for the Benefit of the Poor of Kildale
In the churchyard at Kildale is an 18th-century chest tomb, which is a Listed Monument in its own right. The inscription is weathered and covered with moss and lichen so very hard to read but Cedric Anthony provides a transcript in his book ‘Glimpses of Kildale History‘: Here lyeth the body of Joseph Dunn who…
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Roseberry
A day spent with the National Trust cutting back the growing bracken on footpaths. This particular path is the old bridleway up Roseberry, possibly used to take Victorian tourists up the Topping — although I haven’t any evidence to support this. The bridleway is little used now, but has to be cleared because it’s a…
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Baysdale Abbey
Very little remains of the 12th-century Cistercian nunnery; a large farmhouse now occupying the site. The farmhouse probably dates from the 17th-century although I read it has a date of 1822 above the date. A priory was founded in 1162 at Hutton Lowcross, near Guisborough; but soon the nuns were removed to the village of…
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Ward Nab, Kildale
I’m actually quite glad the Jubilee is over even though it’s likely to be the last one we’ll have for a while. Public outpouring of sentiment is not my scene. The Last Jubilee. I guess I’m a reluctant monarchist, but I really don’t care. Neither do I care for Republicanism. What is the alternative? Whether…
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Bridle Gill Road
A view of the north side of Little Roseberry. There is no indication of a footpath on the 1856 Ordnance Survey Six-inch map, nor the parallel gulleys. Instead a ‘Bridle Road‘ is shown, initially following this route, then taking a right angle, contouring around the nose and ascending on the north side. This Bridle Road…
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Scarth Nick
I’ve found a photo of Scarth Nick taken in 1935 in The Times and though I would try to replicate it. Unsurprisingly. the view looks familar but one thing that is noticeable is the tree cover, it seems to be a lot more nowadays. The photo accompanied a report on the bequest of Scarth Wood…