Category: North Yorkshire
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Runswick Bay Rescue Boat
While a number of fishermen were on the look-out during the height of the storm at Runswick Bay on Saturday afternoon, a large laden vessel was seen drifting towards the shore. So enormous were the waves that at times only the tops of the masts were visible. Just outside the broken water a huge wave…
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Nunnington Hall
This National Trust property is tranquilly situated on the banks of the River Rye. Built on the site of a Saxon homestead it’s a place that oozes history. The earliest part of the south-facing house dates from the mid-16th-century but most is 17th-century work carried out for Richard Graham, first Viscount Preston and Master of…
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River Leven at Stokesley
Simple structures intended to slow the flow of the river by making it more wiggly. Centuries of canalisation of the river and an over-enthusiastic flood prevention scheme built in the 1970s have resulted in a poor aquatic environment. The barriers have been built in conjunction with major improvements to flood alleviation upstream which should allow…
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River Leven, Low Green, Great Ayton
I remember the day when the government U-turned on their proposal to allow privatised water companies to continue the routine dumping of raw sewage into our rivers and our beaches, after a public outcry and a rebellion by 22 Tory MPs, an amendment to the environment bill that would have provided some safeguards was voted…
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Battle of Inkerman
Remember, remember the 5th of November … Not because of “the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions”, but because it is also the anniversary of the Battle of Inkerman in 1854 when the allied armies of Britain and France defeated the Imperial Russian Army during the Crimean war. 635 British soldiers, 175 French…
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Sandsend and The Maharajah of Mulgrave Castle
In the decade following the death of Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1839, the Punjab was thrown into turmoil with several successions to the throne and a threat of annexation by the British East India Company. In 1843, Duleep Singh, just five years old, was crowned King of the Punjab and head of the Sikh nation.…
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“Who is the Murderer? Was there a Murder!”
A view from Tanton Lane across the undulating farmland between Stokesley and the village of Seamer towards the distant Cleveland Hills. It is basically the watershed of the River Tame, a tributary of the River Leven, although drainage has been improved over the centuries by the digging of ditches or stells. But I’ll return to…
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Easby Wesleyan Methodist Chapel
I’ve had my eye on this Grade II listed building for some time but there always seems to have been a car or two parked in front. It’s a simple building of local stone with a Welsh slate roof, and ‘probably’ dates from the 18th century. It seems an odd site for a chapel. Easby…
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Whitbread Memorial Bridge
One for posterity, tomorrow work begins on replacement of the Whitbread Memorial Bridge. The High Street is due to be closed for 5 days while the work is carried out. The existing footbridge over the River Leven into Waterfall Park is a war memorial. It was presented in 1919 by the Under-Manager of the Ayton…
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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 ……