Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

  • Ailesbury Ironstone Mine

    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…

  • Cable Stone Crag

    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…

  • Benjamin Flounders (1768 – 1846)

    Benjamin Flounders (1768 – 1846)

    I originally started this blog as a photo-blog. A photo a day with a bit of a caption, and more often than not that’s the way it goes, I pick my best picture and write something to accompany it. Occasionally however I come across a interesting snippet of history or whatever and then make it…

  • Happy days are here again

    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…

  • Unfinished millstone on Kildale Moor

    Unfinished millstone on Kildale Moor

    A short excursion to look at the unfinished millstone just off the Baysdale road. I’ve been before but the same old questions remain. Why was it abandoned? Who abandoned it? And when? The NYM Historic Environment Record dates it to “post medieval” which is anytime between 1540 and 1799. The bedrock at this location is…

  • Erica cinerea

    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…

  • Leave No Trace

    Leave No Trace

    Leave No Trace is an American initiative to educate and encourage users of the outdoors to converse, protect and minimise impact on the environment. 7 principles are urged: Plan Ahead & Prepare Travel & Camp on Durable Surfaces Dispose of Waste Properly Leave What You Find Minimize Campfire Impacts Respect Wildlife Be Considerate of Others…

  • Dunsdale’s Tin Tabernacle

    Dunsdale’s Tin Tabernacle

    Sometime last week, I posted about a young girl’s letter from 1913 about her village of Kildale. I’ve come across another letter in the same newspaper this time from Ida Sanderson who lived in Dunsdale in 1917: DUNSDALE VILLAGE. Dear Daddy — l was very much pleased when I saw my name in print. In…

  • Paddy’s Hole

    Paddy’s Hole

    A small man-made harbour on the river side of the South Gare Breakwater. Brightly painted boats bob in the breeze and ‘quaint’ boat-houses, once the home of salmon fishermen, align the shore. It is assumed the name, Paddy’s Hole, comes from the large number of Irish navvies that helped build the breakwater between 1863 and…

  • ‘The Ancient British Druidical Logan or Rocking Stone‘

    ‘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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