Category: Hutton Lowcross
-
The fields of Hutton Lowcross
A blue sky first thing this morning. Enough to momentarily forget our troubles. Plenty of runners and dog walkers. The hills are still open, they’re not in lockdown. Yet. Lockdown, an American word first recorded in 1973 meaning the temporary confinement of prisoners to their cells for all of the day. Quarantine, on the other…
-
Dawn over Guisborough
High on my bucket list of the places to visit is Iceland but since it’s become the de rigueur tourist destination it’s probably dropped down a bit. But I am still very interested in all things Icelandic. “Þetta reddast” is an Icelandic phrase which google translates as “it will all work out”. Living in a…
-
Hutton Lowcross Woods
The autumnal colours are really striking at the moment. I have always known these as Hutton Lowcross Woods. The Ordnance Survey map says so. But Forest England refers to all the contiguous woods from Roseberry Common to Slapewath as Guisborough Forest. They form a backdrop to the town of Guisborough, the “ancient capital of Cleveland”.…
-
Blue Lake
Originally known as Hanging Stone Dam it became known as Blue Lake because of the blueish tinge it had from salts washing out of the alum shales. But after a day’s rain, there was no sign of any blue tonight. It was built in 1880 by Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease to provide water power for…
-
Play of the Weather
The god of rain took an early lead in the ageless battle to decide the British weather. And as I write this the day ends with the god of wind, Gareth, firmly dominant. This parallel was explored in John Heywood’s “Play of the Weather“: Amidst a mass of bickering, in-fighting, backstabbing and intrigue, the gods…
-
Clear Felling, Hutton Lowcross Woods
Recent felling, new vistas. I know it’s just a crop – in, get the job done, and out but I wish it wasn’t left in such a mess. The path is there somewhere. Below Hanging Stone on Ryston Nab. Highcliff Nab in the distance. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
-
Blue Lake
Not really a lake and definitely not blue, more of a mucky brown. It is, of course, a small dam and the blue refers to the blue colour it was said to be because of the salts of alum that leached into the water. It was built in 1880 by Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease to…
-
Hanging Stone, Ryston Nab
Hanging Stone, overlooking Hutton Lowcross. one of the many Deltaic sandstone outcrops along the scarp of the moors.The name is pretty common, presumably because like other crags from below it appears to hang over the valley. Ryston Nab, the nose on which its on, has a more interesting name being documented in the 14th century…
-
Witch’s Brooms
Harry Potter had a Nimbus 2000 but what Hutton Lowcross lacks in quality, it makes up for in quantity of Witch’s Brooms. This mature birch tree in Bousdale Wood has an abundance of them. Not broomsticks of course but galls, deformities caused from an invasion by another organism. This might be a fungus, insect, virus…
-
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…