Category: North York Moors
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On this Day in 1974 — When Health & Safety Went Mad
Just over fifty years ago, in 1974, I was into my first year of full-time work. Newly settled in North Yorkshire, it may have been then that I first looked down the short, wide dale of Greenhowe, maybe from this very spot, perhaps at this very season, when the ling is beginning to flare into…
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Dorothy’s Stone
Turkey Nab, near Ingleby Greenhow, is one of the steepest “road” climbs in Cleveland. The loose stony track that winds up it is not for the faint-hearted. Any driver attempting the ascent needs both patience and a steady nerve, for there is little room between the track and the sheer drop of the Nab’s edge.…
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The Windmills Are Winning
Ah yes, a truly legendary clash of minds and metal, as the supremely rational, astoundingly gifted Don Quixote—sharp as ever—heroically attacks a gang of… consults notes… windmills. Indeed. Definitely windmills. Not, say, wind turbines, or anything remotely threatening like giant knights in armour. From atop Roseberry Topping, the view is tragic. The frontline of windmills…
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Over Silton Church
Alfred J. Brown, that tireless chronicler of the North York Moors, once suggested the little church at Over Silton was tucked away in its hollow below the village to avoid the attention of marauding Scots. Given the long history of Scottish raids into northern England—starting as early as the 11th century under King Malcolm III—it…
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Reflections at Lonsdale Quarry
Lonsdale Quarry was fully operational during in 1874, run by a Mr Grievson. It was likely the source of stone for Christ Church in Great Ayton, opened in 1877. The quarry is now quiet, a place for solitude and reflection. But it also holds a bleak memory. One Monday in May 1874, quarryman James Smith…
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Seave Green: Through the Lens, Again
It is always a letdown to return home thinking the day’s photograph might be worth something, only to discover I have stood in the same spot, pointing the camera in precisely the same direction, years before. So it went with this view of Seave Green in Bilsdale. Today, Seave Green passes for a hamlet, though…
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Swifts on Roseberry, Silence on Easby Moor
It has been a while since I last stood on Roseberry, looking down on clouds. And even longer since I came up here on a Saturday. Most seemed to have taken the yellow thunderstorm warning as a cue to stay indoors. Easby Moor, with its pointed monument to Captain Cook, rose clean above the mist.…
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When the Beck Runs Dry: Hob Hole’s Ancient Ford Revealed
The word was that Baysdale Beck at Hob Hole Wath had dropped so low the old ford surface was showing. Thank you, Stephen. I could not resist. Hob Hole has drawn picnickers since the Edwardian age. The name alone — ‘hob’, likely from ‘hobgoblin’ — conjures something hidden and tricky, a haunt of creatures best…
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The Stone They Left Behind
A rough-cut sandstone block lies abandoned at the top of an old quarry on Ayton Bank. It first appears on the 1915 Ordnance Survey 25-inch map. One wonders what caused the sudden stop—tools downed, the block left where it was, after the time and effort it must have taken to cut it, shape it, and…
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Leven Vale and its Wayward River
The 1856 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map labels this ruin as a sheepfold. I remain unconvinced. It looks too small, for a start. But what would I know. This view looks down into Leven Vale, where the River Leven begins its oddly ambitious journey. It starts here in the upper reaches flowing east, then pulls off…