Category: Farndale
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Hall Wood, Farndale
A pleasant little wander around Farndale on another bitterly cold morning. The route, regrettably, was largely tarmac, because the North York Moors, in their wisdom, provides very few Public Rights of Way in the dale bottom away from the ever popular daffodil trail. By chance, we came across Hall Wood, a rather unpretentious National Trust…
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Hemmell Stones — Raising the Harvest
Hemmell stones served to raise barns, granaries, hayricks, and beehives off the ground, protecting them from damp and vermin. Usually comprising a separate head and base, these stones gave them a distinctive mushroom-like appearance. In other parts of the country, they are more commonly known as ‘staddle’ or ‘steddle’ stones, with variations in design depending…
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A Cloud over Rudland Rigg and the Insects’ Plight
An uncommon veil of cloud swathes Rudland Rigg, seen here across the expanse of Farndale. In the foreground, a vivid member of the thistle family teems with insects eagerly gathering its nectar. It is a picture of health, yet beneath this tranquil surface, a serious calamity is unfolding. Even without the trained eye of an…
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Breckon Bank Quarry, Farndale
Farndale, a hidden gem within the North York Moors, is famous for its wild daffodils that draw visitors in droves during spring. I decided to explore the dale’s eastern side, a maze of landslips, secret ponds, and abandoned quarries that took me quite by surprise. A few less-frequented footpaths wind up the bracken-covered slopes from…
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Long Causeway
A strange name for a farmstead, perhaps a reference to the post medieval trackway that can be discerned by a faint holloway parallel to the dry-stone wall in the photo. I once read that large earthfast boulders in a wall is an indication that the wall is of some antiquity. The farm was a beneficiary…
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Sarkless Kitty
In 2015, I posted ‘The Sad Tale of Sarkless Kitty‘, a harrowing story of a woman from Gillamoor who, allegedly having been romanced and forsaken by a farmer from Hutton-le-Hole, was supposed to have ended her own life in the shallow waters of the ford that crosses the River Dove while carrying his unborn child.…
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Saw-pit, Middle Heads
One of the books on my bookshelf is “Life and Tradition on The Moorlands of North-East Yorkshire” by Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby and contains an interesting photo of a saw-pit being used at Middle Heads in Farndale. I thought today I would have a go at finding it. I am a bit hesitant about…
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The Farndale Hob
I realised the other day that I don’t know upper Farndale at all. I’ve skirted around the skyline on the Rudland Rigg or the track of the old mineral railway to Rosedale many, many times. I do remember crossing the dale once in the Cleveland Survival Race. But I can’t say I’ve ever been to…
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Farndale
Whenever I see Farndale, my imagination is drawn not to its famous swathes of daffodils in the Spring but to what the dale would look like if Hull Corporation had had its way and built its proposed reservoir. The scheme was first mooted in the 1932, when the Corporation began negotiations to purchase 2,000 acres…
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The Nab and Douthwaite Dale
Heading to Bransdale to work with the National Trust clearing up after Storm Arwen, my eyes ached from squinting into the sun during the drive along Blakey Ridge. Blue skies all around, and not a cloud in sight. In the distance , the Vale of Pickering was smothered by a blanket of white cotton wool…