Search results for: “"cliff rigg quarry"”
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Cliff Rigg Quarry
A shortish walk up to Cliff Rigg, to the great hole left from the extraction of whinstone in the 19th-century. The whinstone is from a dyke, about 25m wide, of igneous rock that was injected through the local sedimentary strata about 59 million years ago, originating from a volcano centred on the Island of Mull…
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Cliff Rigg Quarry
Feeling under the weather so haven’t ventured far. Two ascents of Cliff Rigg with its huge hole left by the whinstone industry. The tooth of rock is the remnant of a wall of whinstone left as shoring to stop the weaker shales from collapsing. In the distance, is Capt. Cook’s Monument of Easby Moor Open…
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Cliff Rigg Quarry
It was the extensive quarrying of whinstone during the 19th and early 20th centuries that created this massive gash in Cliff Rigg. Extremely hard, this narrow wall of igneous rock was formed by molten larva protruding through the sedimentary layers and was much valued for cobble setts and in road building. It has been almost…
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Cliff Rigg Quarry
Former whinstone quarry that dominates the modest Cliff Ridge overlooking the village of Great Ayton. The whinstone seam is part of the Cleveland Dyke, a protrusion of very hard volcanic rock cutting through the surrounding soft sedimentary rocks. It was formed 58 million years ago from a volcano near the Isle of Mull and can…
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Sunset on Cliff Rigg Quarry
Headed up to Cliff Rigg to view the sunset which sort of fizzled out. The ridge is part of the Cleveland Dyke and is a protrusion of very hard volcanic rock cutting through the surrounding older sedimentary rocks. Formed 58 million years ago from a volcano near the Isle of Mull, it outcrops in many…
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A view along the Cleveland Dyke
A view looking down on Gribdale Terrace, a row of white cottages built to accommodate the quarrymen employed at the adjacent whinstone mine and quarry. The line of the Whinstone or Cleveland Dyke can clearly be seen in the photograph, stretching from Cliff Rigg in the distance to behind the cottages where it follows the…
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An early run taking in the top of the quarry at Cliff Rigg
A super morning, dry and sunny with some noticeable southerly winds. To the west, a large bank of cloud looks ominous but kept its distance. The quarry, now under the custodianship of the National Trust, is the result of the extensive extraction of Whinstone or dolerite, an extremely hard igneous rock that was ideal for…
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Johnny Longstaff
This photo of Cliff Rigg quarry looks along the whinstone ridge of the Cleveland Dyke towards Stockton-on-Tees where it crosses the Tees at Preston. I’ve posted about the Dyke many times before, so today I will write about a Stocktonian — Johnny Longstaff, who on this day in 1938 was shot and seriously wounded while…
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Bluebells in Cliff Rigg Wood
Another wet morning. The bluebells seem to be slow this year, although perhaps still a bit early. Cliff Rigg Wood is south facing so the flowers emerge earlier than in the north-west facing Newton Wood. These bluebells are in a gulley which is in a bowl at the south-east end of Cliff Rigg Wood known…
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Top of Thief Lane
I woke up the the farming programme this morning, a weekly roundup as it’s Saturday, and one of the items was that 20 years ago yesterday, in 2001, was the first outbreak of foot and mouth at an abattoir in Essex. This lead to a nationwide lockdown not so dissimilar to our current one. The…