Category: Great Ayton Moor
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Great Ayton Moor
A sunny morning and a little obambulation over Great Ayton Moor. Surprisingly a rainbow. “A rainbow at night, fair weather in sight. A rainbow at morn, fair weather all gorn.” Happen to be near this cairn. Although Great Ayton Moor has many Bronze Age tumuli, sadly this cairn is not one of them. A modern…
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Ounsbury toppin hill
So Christopher Saxton annotated the hill in his Atlas of the Counties of England and Wales which he published in 1579. Commissioned by Elizabeth I, it was the first definitive map of England and Wales with each county being engraved on a separate copper plate on a scale of 1″ to 3⅓ miles. Maps were…
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Howden Gill
Another blashy morning with low cloud so no panoramic views today. Plenty of water around though. This is Howden Gill which drains Great Ayton Moor. The foam is caused by natural surfactants released from decaying organic matter in the stream lowering the surface tension and allowing the water and air to mix more easily creating…
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Designated Landscapes Review
In January 2018 the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs published a 25 Year Plan for the Environment with the intention of setting out an approach to protect the landscapes and habitats in England and committed to undertake a review of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). Last week the Landscapes…
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Two boundary stones and a Bronze Age round cairn
On Great Ayton Moor, a jumbled pile of stones on top of a Bronze Age round cairn and partly buried are two roughly dressed limestone boundary stones. One is inscribed “TKS 1815” while is inscribed “RY 1752” on the east side and “GN” on the west side. I don’t know about the “TKS” or “GN”…
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Hog in the fog
Yorkshire Fog that is, Holcus lanatus, although grasses are difficult to identify so I may have dropped a clanger here. No doubt someone will put me right. And it may well be a double clanger. A hog is a young sheep, one or two years old that hasn’t been sheared. Count as poetic licence. Back…
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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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Ladder trap, Great Ayton Moor
Last week there was a furore over Natural England’s decision to revoke its long-standing General Licences to kill birds to prevent serious damage to livestock and crops. This followed a legal review of its licensing system which was found to be unlawful. Chris Packham, one of the three co-directors of the environmental organisation, Wild Justice,…
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Pond, Great Ayton Moor
I managed to get my feet a little wet trying to take this photo and was reminded of the 1973 British Public Information Film “The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water” menacingly narrated by Donald Pleasance, perhaps better known as Blofeld, James Bond’s arch-villain. This is a modern version of folk tales told to instil…
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Gribdale Gate
I have never really understood where Gribdale is. The oldest Ordnance Survey map marks Gribdale Gate as the col between Little Ayton and Great Ayton Moors. There is a Gribdale Plantation but apart from that, there is no other mention of the name, and there is no resemblance of a dale on the Great Ayton…