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Old hedgerow, Airy Holme
A few scraggy hawthorn trees. A relic of an old hedgerow. The lower branches have been well browsed by sheep. A boundary is shown on the Ordnance Survey Six-Inch map of 1856. It is commonly believed that the age of a hedge can be estimated by counting the number of species in it. True, the longer…
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Eston Nab
Another dreich day so cheating again and posting a photo from yesterday’s jaunt over Eston Nab. The Nab is both loved and abused by the folk of Teesside. In a booklet entitled ‘Green Ways around Teesside‘, the ‘Rambler’ lamented on the state of the hill: “The remains of old bottles were scattered all along our…
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Yearby
An early, gloomy start from Yearby Bank back home via Eston Nab, a prominence which used to be a regular run but now I rarely go. After a few minutes, the sun broke over the hill revealing super lighting over the coastal plain. Yearby is that quiet hamlet at the foot of Yearby Bank, notorious,…
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“Demolished Oil Rig”
The North York Moors Historic Environment Record describes these concrete foundations at Arnsgill Head as a “Demolished Oil Rig”. I think it is more likely to be the remains of a 1944 test borehole — no doubt financed by the anticipation of the eventual commercial exploitation of any resources found. The geological survey is hard…
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For a week so Roseberry summit has been home to a handful of Snowflakes or Snow buntings
A dreich day, “Roseberrye Toppinge weares a cappe“, so a photo from yesterday. For a week so Roseberry summit has been home to a handful of Snowflakes or Snow buntings, to use their more common name. Canny little birds which seem to find pleasure in teasing you — flying off a couple of yards or…
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Since time immemorial, all who have lived within the shadow of Roseberry must must have had a sense of affection to Cleveland’s iconic “mountain”
Thomas Kitchingman Staveley, Lord of the Manor of Newton, went as far as to name his daughter Roseberry. When Archibald Primrose was granted a peerage in Scotland in 1700, he chose the title of Viscount Rosebery, supposedly after “a hill near Archibald’s wife’s estates in Yorkshire“. He continued with the name when he was later…
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A beautiful autumn day, clear and sunny, with light winds and a slight nip in the air
I have had a couple of people say to me recently that “controlled” burning of the moors is now illegal. Well, that’s not quite right. According to Defra the new regulations introduced last year “will prevent the burning of any specified vegetation on areas of deep peat (over 40cm depth) on a Site of Special…
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Ayton Weir
The cataractic centrepiece of ‘Waterfall Park‘ off the High Street in Great Ayton. The weir served two mills: Ayton Mill, situated south of the ‘Buck Inn’, and Low Mill, well downstream of Low Green, shared by a common race which can still be traced today. Both these mills have existed since medieval times but in…
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Roseberry Common ‘omega’ sign
The oak leaf on an ‘omega’ shaped plaque has become the National Trust’s iconic sign since it was designed by Yorkshire artist Joseph Armitage (1880-1945) in 1935. “The oak leaves were chosen as being no less symbolic of England than the more usual lion, and more in keeping with the use of the emblem”. Omega…
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Saw-pit, Middle Heads
One of the books on my bookshelf is “Life and Tradition on The Moorlands of North-East Yorkshire” by Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby and contains an interesting photo of a saw-pit being used at Middle Heads in Farndale. I thought today I would have a go at finding it. I am a bit hesitant about…
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