Tag: alum
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The Rise and Fall of Alum Production in Great Ayton
As I descend from Capt. Cook’s Monument, approaching Gribdale Terrace, the former whinstone quarrymen’s cottages gleam white, with Cliff Rigg rising behind them. Before me, in the centre of the photo is a range of sandstone buildings mapped as Bank House Farm on the 1853 OS Six-inch map, but an auction advertisement in the Yorkshire…
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Saltwick Bay and Black Nab
When King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries, Whitby Abbey did not escape. Its fixtures and furnishings were all sold off with the funds going into the King’s coffers. The lead on the roof was stripped and used on the nearby St. Mary’s Church which until then had a thatched roof. The bells…
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Belman Bank
Around a decade ago, felling on Belman Bank — ‘Beautiful Mountain’ — revealed the great bowl left by Thomas Chaloner’s alum works, said to be the first in Yorkshire. The manufacture of crystals of alum, used in waterproofing hides and in medicinal products, from the alum shales in the Upper Lias beds is a complicated…
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Ayton Banks Alum Works
While Capt. Cook was swanning around the South Pacific, back home in Great Ayton, a nascent chemical industry was burgeoning on the escarpment slope at Gribdale. Alum, crystals of hydrated aluminium sulphate in combination with another alkali (usually potassium sulphate), was in much demand for a variety of uses: as a fixing agent in dyeing,…
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Saltwick Bay
Just east of Whitby lies the once secluded Saltwick Bay, protected by sea cliffs hosting a breeding colony of Kittiwakes and Fulmars. But the huge static caravan park dominates the cliff top. A steep trod allows access to the beach. On Saltwick Nab in the distance, Sir Hugh Cholmley set up his alum works in…
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Hummersea Bank
I’ve had it in mind for some time now to explore the Public Footpath which drops down Hummersea Bank to the beach. Well, I say beach, but it’s just a sandy rocky sliver only dry at low tide. On the featured photo above, on the left is Hummersea Farm and in front of that, is…
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Rock Hole, Springbank, Slapewath
Walked a section of the Cleveland Way on a cloudy day with several showers. After crossing the A171 at Slapewath the route toils up Springbank around the huge bowl of Rock Hole, the remains of a 17th-century alum quarry. After 400 years some of the shale sides of the quarry noticeably haven’t reverted back to…
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Carlton Bank
It is hard to imagine that 150 years ago this would have been a scene of intense industrial activity. For over a century there had been quarrying of the Jurassic shales needed in the production of alum crystals for use as a mordant in the dyeing of textiles and as a tanning curing agent. Alum…
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Kirkby Bank
Kirkby Bank, the steep northern face of Cringle Moor giving a fine autumnal display of rich colours. The photo also shows well almost three hundred years of man’s activities. History is much older than that of course. The underlying rock is Jurassic, laid down between 150 and 200 million years ago when Yorkshire was on…
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Ayton Banks Alum Works
A cold, overcast day. The fresh snow of the last few days has aged into a dirty wet surface. I found myself above Gribdale looking down on the heavily worked hillside of Cockshaw where the snow accentuated the contours of the Ayton Banks Alum Works that operated for a mere nine years in the latter…