Category: Roseberry Topping
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The “Roseberry Stag”, a local exponent of pedestrianism
The “Roseberry Stag” was the nom de guerre assumed by Thomas Glasper of Stokesley. He was a “Ped”, an exponent of competitive walking or pedestrianism. He seemed to have had a short lived career. In April 1848, he ran against “T. Kitching of Yarm over 120 yards, for Ā£5 a side … at the Nelson…
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Newton Wood Bluebells
Bluebells are supposedly an early flowerer drawing on the energy stored in their bulbs. Three weeks ago they had yet to reach their peak, now they are rapidly losing their brilliance. This year, they seemed a little late. British bluebells, Hyacinthoides nonscripta, are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which means…
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Daffs on Little Roseberry
I came across this little clump of daffodils on Little Roseberry. Way off the path. Curious to know how they got there. Seems an arbitrary place to have been planted. But how would the seeds have got up here? I have often wondered if our pre-historic ancestors climbed Roseberry. It must be assumed they did…
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Mayday, Mayday, Mayday
And we’re into May. From the Latin ‘Maius’, the Italic goddess, daughter of Faunus and wife of Vulcan. Mayday was a traditional day in Yorkshire farming practices when agricultural tenancies were changed, “the spring crops being likewise sown by the outgoing tenant, and valued with the wheat“, and “stock are turned into pasture grounds ……
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“Its’ t’biggest Mountain in oll Yorkshire”
Roseberry made an appearance in a play once, in a farce of two acts called ‘The Registry-Office’ by Stockton-on-Tees born Joseph Reed. It was staged at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in 1761 and received the attentions of the Lord Chamberlain’s office because of its profanity and double entendres. An 18th-century ‘Registry Office’ was…
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“At our feet lay the little village of Newton …”
In 1887, an account of one person’s ascent of Roseberry Topping appeared in the Leeds Mercury. Unfortunately the identity of the correspondent is unreadable: “… After a brief survey of the ruins [Guisborough Priory] we proceeded to Pinchinthorpe, whence we had a pleasant walk to the village of Newton, and leaving the village green and…
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Prehistoric Roseberry
I wrote the other day that the name Airyholme (the farm in the centre of the photograph) derives from the Old Norse ƦĢrgum meaning āat the shielingsā. That’s the seventh and eighth centuries, but what of earlier times? The Romans seem to have had Cleveland under control, perhaps they felt the Brigantes, the local tribe,…
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On the 1st April 1933 …
… the Nazis carried out their very first nationwide, planned action against the Jewish people, an economic boycott of Jewish businesses (although large employers were exempted). It was the first openly anti-Semitic act of Hitlerās new government and was ostensively in response to international protests, notably in America, in support of the Jews but also…
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What’s in a name?
It must be at least a week since I’ve posted a photo of Roseberry Topping. My inference, a few days ago, that the name ‘Roseberry’ was derived from a personal name (well, OK, the name of a god) was challenged. I thought it common knowledge, perhaps it needs an explanation. It was put to me…
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Orange peel
“It is a sober commentary on the British way of life that the National Trust has to spend Ā£250 a year picking up litter on its properties in the Lake District. People presumably visit these places to drink in the especial beauty of the scene, but apparently they leave them more or less covered in…