Category: Great Ayton
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Lamers Hill
Looking back on the climb up to Capt. Cook’s Monument on Easby Moor. On the left is the village of Great Ayton and further away the wind turbines between Seamer and Hilton. The bush with the white flowers is Blackthorn which fruit is used in Sloe Gin. Blackthorn flowers appear before the leaves. The leaves of the Hawthorn on…
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Alum Clamp, Ayton Bank
The small knoll in the photo is an alum clamp, a relic of an 18c chemical industry to produce alum. Alum had many uses: medicinal, in tanning to make leather supple and durable, as a mordant in dyeing cloth. It does occur naturally and is known to have been used by the Greeks but on Ayton Bank and in other parts of…
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Great Ayton Bridge
Didn’t venture far today, after my exertions of yesterday. Spanning the River Leven, Great Ayton bridge was built in 1909, replacing an earlier one. The word “Ayton” on the parapet was removed during the Second World War so as not to aid German paratroopers should we have been invaded.
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Daffs by the River Leven
My first “wild” daffs of the year. I’ve seen the odd one in sheltered gardens in the village. I don’t get out into the low lands much. This is by the River Leven half way between Stokesley and Great Ayton. I had to drop off a minibus in Stokesley so took the opportunity of running back…
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Save School Farm
The penultimate day of the School Farm Development Appeal. The tenant farmers Mark and Kath had the chance to have their say today so I took the trip down to Northallerton in way of supporting them. If the appeal succeeds and the the development of School Farm for 113 houses goes ahead it will have…
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High Green, Great Ayton
Walked into the village this morning. Felt like spring.
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Aireyholme Farm
Where the young James Cook lived and where his farther was a farm labourer. Although there is a local belief that the Cook family actual cottage was a little distance away from the main farm. Next month there is to be a geophysical survey to try to identify the site of this cottage. Cook senior’s…
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Great Ayton’s Gents Urinal
Is this the smallest Grade II listed building? A cast iron Victorian gents’ urinal. Originally one of three in the village, this one was situated on Station Road and was relocated in Waterfall Park in 1998. It’s sealed up so it can’t be used.
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Kip, Cliff Rigg Incline
The ruined wall is the top of the self acting incline used to haul wagons of ironstone down the escarpment at the Cliff Rigg end of Newton Wood. It is known as a “kip”; the snow accentuates the profile. A rake of wagons full of iron ore was lowered down the incline by a steel rope wrapped around a…
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Ayton Banks Ironstone Mine
Of the three ironstone mines in the Great Ayton area, Ayton Banks Mine had the most difficult access. An aerial cableway had to be constructed to carry the ore the 1½ miles down to the North Eastern Railway. The mine was in operation for only sixteen years, from 1910 to 1926. First by the Tees Furnace Company then Burton & Sons.…