Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: sandstone

  • Roseberry’s Forgotten Quarry

    Roseberry’s Forgotten Quarry

    It might sound unbelievable, but, back in the day, sandstone used to be quarried right at the very top of Roseberry. A small quarry nestled just below the summit was the most recent scene for this extraction. On the climb up the back of Roseberry, from the summerhouse, and you’ll start to climb a gentler…

  • The Hanging Stone

    The Hanging Stone

    Overlooking the heavily forested Hutton Lowcross, the sandstone outcrop at the end of Ryston Nab is well known as the Hanging Stone, presumably because it ‘hangs’ over the valley, rather than it being a site of execution. Ryston Nab, the nose on which it’s on, has a more interesting etymology. It survives from the 14th-century…

  • Sandstone Quarry, Easby Bank

    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’…

  • The Beast of Ingleby Moor

    The Beast of Ingleby Moor

    Well, I think it looks like a beast, a cat or lion maybe. I woke up needing some inspiration for today’s outing. In 1484, Richard III was on the throne. The last of the Plantagenets, he who ended up under a carpark in Leicester. Whenever I think of Richard III, I think of a quip…

  • Cringle Crag

    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”.…

  • Hanging Stone

    Hanging Stone

    A dash around one of my regular routes before the weather was due to change. Through Newton Wood, up Hanging Stone, and then on to Roseberry. There were the remains of a fire on the Hanging Stone. Folk mulling over the meaning of life gathered around a campfire. An activity which has probably gone on…

  • Evening on Roseberry

    Evening on Roseberry

    An evening wander up Roseberry. Refreshingly cool. And surprisingly, the summit was all mine. That must be a lockdown first. In the distant, the Cleveland Hills, familiar if a little hazy. The sheep in the green field are quietly maintaining their social distancing. While the yellow fields have now been cut, their bales await collection.…

  • Old railway bridge at Swainby Ellers

    Old railway bridge at Swainby Ellers

    The fern that has found a home on the stonework of this old railway bridge first caught my eye. Now I could confidently write it’s a Lady Fern but that would be just a sheer guess. Ferns are notoriously difficult to identify, and it would take some climbing ability for a closer look. An ability…

  • On Roseberry summit

    On Roseberry summit

    A dash up Roseberry before the rain came. Not many folks up here today, bliss. A hazy view towards Guisborough. Open Space Web-Map builder Code

  • The Cop Loaf

    The Cop Loaf

    I knew I had posted a photo of this stone before but I hadn’t realised today’s was from almost the same viewpoint. Ah well. A different season though, the depths of winter, January 2018. But in spite of the greater tree canopy, clear-felling to the south has allowed in a lot more light. I forgot…