Tag: medieval
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An Ancient Route into Bransdale
In days of yore, should you find yourself journeying from Stokesley to Bransdale on foot, or perchance on horseback, this very track would have been your chosen descent into the dale. It held sway as a vital route for many a year. This ancient road, depicted on a 1782 estate map under the title ‘from…
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Bransdale Westside — a potted history
A clearing in the appropriately named High Plantation, elevated above the hamlet of Cockayne, affords a magnificent view of the western side of Bransdale. Bransdale is drained by the Hodge Beck, which, in medieval times, formed a significant boundary. To the west lay lands granted to Rievaulx Abbey, while to the east, they belonged to…
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Highcliff Gate — From Glacial Spillway to Forgotten Farm Track
The recent felling of Guisborough Forest has completely changed the landscape, evident even on this dreary spring day. Down in the valleys, vernal signs are everywhere: hawthorn buds are emerging, and the woods are alive with birdsong, and some birds are even gathering nest stuff. But up here on Potter’s Ridge, winter’s still holding its…
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Cold Moor Lane — Hollow Way and Medieval Trod
Taking a respite from the biting easterly breeze while in the shelter of Cold Moor Lane, a sunken bridleway climbing out of Chop Gate, a debate unfolded about its origins. Well, if we concede that its sunken characteristic stems from centuries of human and animal movement along this route, then I suppose one could argue…
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Little Raisdale — A modest dale with a forgotten settlement and chapel
In the upper reaches of Raisdale, an eastern prong stretches out to the edge of the Cleveland Hills between Cold Moor and Cringle Moor. Right of centre in the photo stands Hall Garth Farm, a name which suggests a once grand manor-house, standing proudly on the land. To its left, there used to be a…
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St. Cuthbert’s Cave
A pit stop to stretch our legs during the lengthy journey up to Edinburgh. St. Cuthbert’s Cave, a property owned by the National Trust in the Kyloe Hills, earned its name thanks to a group of monks back in 875. Fearing the looming arrival of the Great Heathen Army, they fled from Lindisfarne Abbey with…
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From Scugdale to America
Trudging wearily along the rugged landrover track across Whorlton Moor, passing by patches of scorched heather, you could smell the aftermath of yesterday’s burns. At long last, I reached the northern side of the moor. Below me sprawled the peaceful Scugdale valley, and up there, at the head of the dale, lay that broad col…
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St. Hilda’s Chapel Archaeological Dig
My Wednesdays are spent at an archaeological dig at the medieval chapel site in Kildale and on my penultimate day for this season, a reflection of the progress so far. We’ve unearthed a further trove of pottery, yet raised more questions than answers. This season started with six tidy two-metre square test trenches, but they…
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Donna Cross—from Medieval cross to a legal feud
On the col between Cold Moor and Cringle, one almost stumbles across the stump of Donna Cross hidden amidst the bracken. A boulder, rooted deep in the earth, serves as its natural base, with a socket in which a stone is wedged. This stone, however, is not believed to be a part of the original…
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Wharram Percy
In the realm of Scottish history, the Highland Clearances persist as a contentious period, evoking bitter sentiments to this day. The primary catalyst behind these displacements mirrored the fate of Wharram Percy, an abandoned medieval village, where the driving force was the ousting of tenants to make room for sheep. Wharram Percy has earned its…