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Lingcote End
An unfamiliar view of the lower portion of Westerdale, taken whilst being buffeted by Storm Malik, the latest of this winter’s storm. I am on what is named as Grange Bank on the old O.S. map descending into the dale after a slog over Baysdale Moor. The photo gives a good overview of the medieval…
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View of Stokesley and the Cleveland Plain from Tom Gill
I was minded to post a photo of Stokesley today, as on this day, 28th January, a Royalist army was raised in the town. If you didn’t know Stokesley is the built-up area far left in the photo. In a previous post, I wrote about the Battle of Marske Beach when, in the summer of…
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Willow hedging
I spotted this newly layered willow hedge this morning and was quite impressed. I thought willow hedging was mainly ornamental or perhaps useful in boggy ground so it’s surprising to see it used as a field boundary. I guess the hedge is only partially complete and the long ‘poles‘ will be laid sideways and interweaved.…
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Baysdale
Today is Australia Day. An Australian national holiday to commemorate when the British First Fleet, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, sailed into Port Jackson so establishing the first permanent white European settlement on the continent. The year was 1788, almost eighteen years after Captain James Cook had set foot on the place. The fleet comprised eleven…
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Hrímfaxi, the goddess of the night’s horse, pulls her chariot through the dark sky
It was pretty bleak on Urra Moor this morning. I had half expected to see ‘The Hagmare of Orrer‘, a witch that was said to roam the moor in the guise of a horse. I had met this beast earlier on Greenhow Moor. The great plow of Watership Down thundering out of the freezing mist.…
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The North York Moors Draft Management Plan
I found out today that the North York Moors National Park have been consulting the public on their Draft Management Plan November 2021. The trouble is the deadline for comments was 21 January 2022. I’ve missed the boat. I wonder where they publicised this “consultation”. Anyhow, the plan proposes six “outcomes”: 1. A resilient landscape…
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The Cleveland Plain from Ingleby Incline
As I was struggling up the Ingleby Incline I spotted the carving of the top hatted gentleman about ¾ of the way up and a nascent connection with one of today’s historical anniversaries formed. I have taken a photo of the carving before. Nothing much has changed so I thought I might as well reuse…
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Back o’ Cranimoor
A wander around the back of Cranimoor, more familiarly known as Cringle Moor. On what was an otherwise overcast morning, a patch of sunlight tantalisingly moves up Raisdale before petering out before reaching Wath Hill, the prominent hill at the head of the dale. Raisdale was once a source of building stone for Hartlepool and…
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On this day in 1950, George Orwell died
On this day in 1950, George Orwell died after a three-year battle with tuberculosis. He was a prolific writer including Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, both controversial books, widely viewed as an attack on totalitarianism. ‘Orwellian‘ is an eponym describing the world imagined in 1984. A dystopian society ruled by “The Party” with lies, disinformation, denial…
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Castlerigg Stone Circle
My early morning run took in the Castlerigg Stone Circle, a 4,500 year old monument built by the earliest farming communities who took advantage of the fertile lands of the valley bottoms. Castlerigg is particularly impressive, giving a 360° panorama of the surrounding fells. This is a view south up the tiny Naddle valley. It’s…
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