Category: Guisborough
-
Belman Bank Quarry
Recent tree felling in Guisborough Woods, ok maybe not that recent, might be a couple of years now, have exposed the outline of the large alum quarry at Belman Bank south of Guisborough. For many years any evidence of the quarry has been lost under the canopy of commercial forestry. A couple of weeks ago…
-
Alum Rock Quarry
Another fine day in the Cleveland Hills. This is the view that will greet walkers on the Cleveland Way as they begin the steep descend around the huge bowl of Alum Rock Quarry into Slapewath. It could be said that here was the start of Teesside chemical industry for at the turn of the 17th-century…
-
Ruthergate
One for the Guisborians, Ruthergate, an ancient trackway heading south out of Guisborough, diagonally climbing Kemplah Bank up onto Hill Plains and the high moors beyond. For the past half century or so the deep hollow way of the track has been hidden by forestry but dog walkers and mountain bikes have returned following recent clear felling.…
-
Hutton Hall
Only appreciated in its wooded grounds from this height on Kemplah Bank. Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, Bart, M.P., had Hutton Hall built as his country pile in 1866 which even included its own private railway station on the North Eastern Railway at Hutton Gate. The Pease money came from the railways, coal and iron, built…
-
Highcliff Nab
From Bousdale Wood, near Pinchinthorp. A sandstone crag overlooking the town of Guisborough. On the northern edge of the North York Moors and a popular climbing venue, first ‘discovered’ for climbing in the 1930s. There is a Mesolithic site just beyond the summit. The Nab must have made a fine lookout for the hunters over…
-
Quakers' Causeway
One of the best preserved pannierways on the North York Moors. It crosses Commondale Moor in a south westerly direction to White Cross. Its true purpose is not known. And difficult to date with any degree of confidence. Perhaps it is one of the pannierways mentioned in the foundation document of Guisborough Priory in the 12th…
-
Spawood Mine Powder House
Even in the bright summer sunshine it’s dark beneath the tree canopy of Spawood near Slapewath. The powder house stored black powder, the explosive used in the ironstone mines. To minimise potential damage in the advent of an explosion, the building was substantially made with thick walls buried within the hillside some distance from the mine buildings. Spawood Mine was leased by the Weardale, Coal…
-
Rhododendron ponticum
It is generally accepted that Rhododendrons are native to the shores around the Black Sea and were introduced to Britain in the mid 18th century for its a blaze of colour during early summer but the shrub was actually part of the British flora before the last ice year. In my posting a few days ago about…
-
Belmont Ironstone Mine
Why is it that runners always think of biking as an easy option? An active rest day. My own bike ride today enabled me to get into Guisborough Woods which looked green and lush with vicious nettles on the floor and the sycamores not yet dense enough to keep out the light. I was surprised to…
-
The Six Stoups
Inspired by the Tour de Yorkshire (see Friday’s post) I took the road bike out for spin. Fourth time this year, am I turning into a cyclist? After climbing Birk Brow (which must be about the worst road surface in the North of England I spotted these stones on the freewheel down to Lockwood Beck. One had…