Tag: quarry
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Priest’s Spa Quarry and its elusive spring
On Hither Moor, this 19th century sandstone quarry overlooks the road winding up the Cod Beck dale between Osmotherley and Scarth Nick. Nowadays, the dale is best known for its reservoir that draws quite the crowd. The quarry, mapped as “Priests’ Spa” by the early Ordnance Survey, owes its name to a spring allegedly blessed…
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Sandstone Quarry, Easby Bank
A bit chilly but a lovely morning. This is an old sandstone or ‘freestone’ quarry on Easby Bank. A ‘bank’ is a Yorkshire term for “a steep hillside, often with a road taking a direct route from top to bottom”. But the Ordnance Survey on their Six-inch England and Wales, 1856 map annotated ‘Easby Bank’…
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Turkey Nab from Easby Moor
A view across the vale of Cleveland towards Turkey Nab, scarred by the recently graded track that climbs the bank. This is thought to be the start of Thurkirsti, the ancient route across the moors to Kirbymoorside. Thurkirsti does suggest a likely root for the name of ‘Turkey’ and seems more plausible than another explanation…
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An explore of the old lime kilns above Cobble Hall in Commondale
I was actually a little disappointed. The pair of entrances were obscured by a large hawthorn bush and protected by vicious nettles. So I settled for a general view of the quarry above the kilns overlooking lower Commondale. The kilns operated from 1817 to 1838 by Otley & Lightbody and exploited “a localised bed of…
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Lonsdale Quarry
I often end up at this quarry. It avoids a good chunk of the busy gravel track along the escarpment between Gribdale and Little Roseberry. In all the years I think I have only seen anyone else here once – a couple wild camping. Its name appears on the 1853 O.S. map, and is probably…
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Esk Valley and Iburndale from Aislaby Moor
Wonderful views of the lower Esk Valley and the wooded Iburndale, but this large sandstone quarry took me by surprise. I had no idea it even existed, hidden from the A171 by woodland. But what connects this quarry with an English diarist, a mole, and the first English colony? According to one report I read…
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THE debauchee rewarded or, A Warning to Young Men
A sleepy view of Great Ayton village from Easby Moor before the crowds arrived. I came across this little gem the other day: THE debauchee rewarded or, A Warning to Young Men. Also, How he met Her while out a Shooting, in a Path Way leading thro’ a Grove, attempted to Ravish her, she was…
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What’s in a name?
It must be at least a week since I’ve posted a photo of Roseberry Topping. My inference, a few days ago, that the name ‘Roseberry’ was derived from a personal name (well, OK, the name of a god) was challenged. I thought it common knowledge, perhaps it needs an explanation. It was put to me…
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Cringle Crag
Last night I found a book I had forgotten I had, tucked behind the book shelves. Tom Burns Scott has written extensively about the North York Moors. In this book, he wrote of an engraving in an old quarry face on Cringle Moor that records “a change of ownership of the Dromonby estate in 1732”.…
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Pancake Day
On my way to Northallerton to get jabbed, so popped over into Cod Beck on the way. This is a view of Scarth Nick and Sheep Wash from Priest’s Spa Quarry on Hither Moor. And it’s Pancake Day too, a day when many traditions have been lost to history. Shrove Tuesday, the day before the…