Category: Roseberry Topping
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The National Trust, 125 years old today
On this day in 1895 three Victorian philanthropists, Miss Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley met and founded the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. Octavia Hill had campaigned about the poor availability of open spaces for poor people and developments on suburban woodlands. She had helped to…
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Roseberry Ironstone Mine
The site of the Roseberry Ironstone Mine which operated from 1871 to 1926 although, in the early years, there is some doubt as to whether the mine actually produced any ore other than in the brief period from 1881 to 1883. By 1906, however, the mine was again a going concern and operated throughout the…
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Painted Rock
My heart sank when I came across this while descending Little Roseberry. Now call me a killjoy but is this really necessary in a National Park, “our most breath-taking and treasured landscapes”. It’s only a painted pebble left in a prominent place and asking finders to post photos to a Facebook page. A craze from…
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St. Nicholas’s âgold ballsâ
After the season’s festivities, the big cleanup begins. Roseberry is no different. A morning spent litter picking with the National Trust. The usual: cans, plastic bottles, little doggie presents. And plenty of orange peel scattered around, accompanied by the inevitable wet-wipe. What’s the big thing about oranges at Christmas? St. Nicholas’s âgold ballsâ. Of course,…
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Smart water
Inspired by the humble cloud. Water as pure as the first drop of rain. Northumbrian spring water Vaporised to remove impurities, Then condensed back to ⊠water. With mineral electrolytes added Potassium, calcium and magnesium. Replicating the water cycle. In a bottle of Polyethylene Terephthalate, Light and strong, Perfect for backpacking, Made from 30% of…
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Roseberry through Gribdale Gap
They say the Eskimos have 50 different words for snow but this is apparently a myth. The Swedes certainly have 25 but the top prize must go to the Scots who have had 421. From âMell-moorinâ, a fall of fine, drifting snow to “skelvie“, large flakes of softly falling snow. Now I don’t know what…
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Vae diei
Roseberry Topping A familiar homely view for a day of doom and gloom. To remind us that life goes on and all is not lost.
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Victorian Graffiti
The first of the morning sun highlights some Victorian graffiti on Roseberry. I am somewhat ambivalent about graffiti. Modern stuff is without a doubt hideously scarring but anything aged just a little bit becomes intriguing. When Mr Brodie carved this Queen Victoria was celebrating 33 years on the throne, Gladstone was Prime Minister and his…
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Ounsbury toppin hill
So Christopher Saxton annotated the hill in his Atlas of the Counties of England and Wales which he published in 1579. Commissioned by Elizabeth I, it was the first definitive map of England and Wales with each county being engraved on a separate copper plate on a scale of 1″ to 3â miles. Maps were…
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Roseberry and Black Bank
Odin’s hill from Ayton Bank. On the right is Little Roseberry with Black Bank almost clear-felled of its coniferous plantation. It’s barely ten years ago but I find it hard to remember what it was like. A tour of the escarpment on a glorious morning with blue skies. Lower down the fields are a bit…