Category: North York Moors
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Monument Mine
On this day, June 8th, in 1850, legend has it that John Vaughan and John Marley were out shooting rabbits on Eston Nab. Marley tripped over a burrow and as he sprawled on the ground, his hand landed on the purest ironstone he had ever seen, “Eureka!” he cried. He had discovered vast main seam…
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“Love, and look after it!”
I usually wake up to the Farming Today programme on Radio 4. On Saturdays, it is a bit of a compilation and 45 minutes later so I’m less philogrobolized than on a weekday. The first ten minutes or so this morning was about the trashing of the countryside that many of us have observed during…
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Roulston Scar
The southwestern corner of the North Yorkshire Moors. 900 feet above sea level. To the north, the Hambleton Hills extend to the summit of Black Hambleton, at an altitude of 1289 feet. To the east, the moorlands stretch to Rydale at Helmsley, moorlands that are now predominately cultivated or forested. Due west, across the Devil’s…
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The Roseberry Hoard
I’ve always tended to miss out Roseberry summit if I see it crowded, but I did bag the top today. Overcast but still clear enough for views to the Cleveland Hills, just a wisp of low cloud over Round Hill on Urra Moor. Upper left in the photo is Aireyholme Farm at the end of…
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When Roseberry Topping wears a cap …
You know the rest, I won’t bother repeating. So Cleveland didn’t have a clap, but a dreich day with proper rain. The first since this lockdown began. Yet Odin’s hill heaved a sigh of relief. Relief that the woods of oak and moors are finally watered. Relief in the reduced visitor footfall, the all too…
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Dry stone wall restoration in Sleddale
This chap has got his work cut out. It looks a well-organised job. But is he rebuilding the wall or selling the stones off for someone’s extension? No, that would be too cynical. More likely he’s working downhill and has completed the upper half of the wall. The laid-out wall doesn’t seem to have been…
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Hawnby
One from Sunday’s cycle ride through Ryedale. The charming village of Hawnby with its sandstone cottages and pantile roofs clustered around the mill. The uniform colour scheme of the doors indicates that this was, and probably still is an estate village. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Caydale ford
When I was into outdoor education when one of my younger charges got stung from nettles I used to tell them that Native Americans used to flail themselves with nettles to prolong their endurance during long buffalo hunts. I don’t know where I picked that snippet up, probably off the TV from someone like Ray…
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Roseberry from Cockshaw Quarry
What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full…
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Ravenscar from Stoup Brow
Stoup Brow Moor is rich in historic features, including round barrows, boundary markers and numerous neolithic rock carvings that were discovered after intensive moorland fires in 2003. But yet again these carved rocks proved elusive, buried by 17 years of heather growth. But turn your back to the moor, cast your eyes east and you…