Category: Tabular Hills
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Joseph Foord: The man who brought water to Fadmoor and Gillamoor
This is Sleighthome Dale, which is drained by Hodge Beck. Bransdale is upstream and Kirkdale is downstream, but it’s unclear where one dale ends and the other begins. Across the dale, there’s a limestone plateau called Boon Hill, with the twin villages of Fadmoor and Gillamoor. In the 18th century, both villages had no easy…
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Old Byland, a pretty little village in the Tabular Hills
When you enter the village of Old Byland, you’ll be greeted by charming pale yellow-grey cottages made of ooidal limestone surrounding a spacious village green. Getting there is a bit of a journey — we climbed up the long, dry valley of High Gill. But the effort was worth it, as it felt like a…
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Black Hambleton
The glooming mass of the flat-topped Black Hambleton, the northern end of the calcareous Tabular Hills that range from Roulston Scar in the south. Climbing up to its right is Hambleton Street, part of the drover’s road that once extended from Scotland along which cattle were driven to be sold at the markets of York,…
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Whitestone Cliff or White Mare Crag
The pride of the Tabular Hills. Not really white, but a pale-buff-colouring. Comprised of limey sandstone and oolitic limestones, it’s alternative name is supposed to come from a tempermental thoroughbred racehorse which galloped from the training ground on the plateau and leapt down the crag with her rider. The rock looks friable and the base…
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Osmotherley with Hambleton End in the distance
“Osmotherley is an endearing village on the fringe of the Hambletons and the Clevelands. It lies about a mile and a half to the east of the main Thirsk – Yarm road, but it is most accessible from Northallerton. The King’s Head hotel at Clack Lane End points the way to the village. It is…
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Dovedale
In the south of the Moors. It’s been over eighteen months since I was last here. The rich grassland of Dovedale is part of the National Trust’s Bridestones property. Prior to 2015, the dale was heavily infested with bracken, but since then the Trust has carried out annual cutting, by hand usually in two sessions.…
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Mount Snever Observatory
To modern ears, the word ‘observatory’ is associated with telescopes and distant stars but the Mount Snever Observatory was built with the intention of viewing nature in all its glory. The 35 feet high belvedere tower is a somewhat austere structure, built in 1838 by John Wormald of Oldstead Hall to commemorate Queen Victoria’s coronation…
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The Hackness Shame
I had a look around the Forge Valley near Scarborough, a place I’ve always wanted to see but never had the opportunity. I must admit, I wasn’t that overwhelmed. A dense tree canopy and lots of mud. Still, it’s good to explore somewhere new. Hackness Hall was impressive though and with a colourful bit of…
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Kepwick limestone quarry incline
The name of the old inn, Limekiln House, on the Hambleton Drovers’ Road, gives a clue to the industry which dominated the Tabular Hills escarpment above Kepwick. For it catered for the quarrymen as well as the drovers. Limestone has much used since pre-history as a building material, the Great Pyramid of Giza had facing…
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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…