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A bit of a wet morning. This was the best of the dozen or so photos I took.
It’s rare to find Osmotherley, or ‘Ossy’ as the village is commonly known, deserted and free of visitors and cars. The name derives from Asmundr, a Scandinavian who settled in a ‘leah‘ here, the Old English word for a clearing. Forget the old myth that Prince Oswy was buried here next to his grieving mother…
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Concerning the ghost of a man of Ayton in Cleveland
I’ve been saving this little story up hoping to come across a suitable image to accompany it. It came back to me today, and finding inspiration, I have given up waiting. But first, the featured image is, of course, of Roseberry Topping, “t’ biggest hill i’ all Yorkshur” that overlooks the village of Great Ayton.…
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Marske Sands, do we want a healthy marine ecology or a free Enterprise Zone?
“In many respects the most notable feature of any integrated iron and steel works, whether operational or non-operational, a blast furnace is an impressive example of industrial architecture at its best. Located at the northern end of the development, at the boundary between the North Industrial Zone and Coastal Community Zone Redcar Blast Furnace is…
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Another magicial day
The temperature inversion was not quite as dramatic as yesterday. But tomorrow is looking wet so best appreciate the day. The autumnal colours are particularly good this year with the fallowing of the oaks and beeches. Even the ubiquitous larch is looking splendid. I came across this old use of the word ‘fallow’ the other…
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A brilliant day on Easby Moor for the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team’s Remembrance Sunday gathering
The gathering took place at the memorial to the aircrew who died when their Lockheed Hudson aircraft crashed into the hill on 11th February 1940. The aircraft took off from Thornaby-on-Tees at 04:10 and failed to gain suffient height due to ice forming on the wings. It clipped the escarpment, ploughing on through a drystone…
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A day which started with me looking for a Medieval Cross and ended up uncovering a gruesome Victorian murder
Had a wander around Roppa Moor, north of Helmsley. The cross turned out to be a little disappointing, just the recessed base and a piece of the shaft. This is actually the northernmost of the remains of two wayside crosses (360m apart) that located alongside the supposed medieval ‘pæth‘ that ran south from the junction…
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On this day in 1853, the Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway was opened with great fanfare to transport ironstone from Joseph Pease’s mines at Codhill to the smelting furnances of the nascent Teesside
The York Herald reported the event. This line was opened for mineral traffic on Friday, the 11th inst. The day being highly propitious, several hundred people assembled to do honour to the occasion. Long before the hour specified, masses of human beings might be seen wending their way to the far-famed Codhill, where the ironstone…
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Volunteering with the National Trust in Bransdale
Barker Plantation is a reasonably sized larch plantation covering Scot Ridge, the hill between Hodge Beck and Shaw Beck. The plantation is due to be felled, and to do this, a contractor will be brought in, but the amongst the conifers there are many birch, oaks and Scots Pine which the Trust want to retain…
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Super autumnal lighting before what seems like an impending storm
But although it turned dark and winding with a bit of a drizzle I managed to get back to the car dry. I am on Cringle Moor, or Cringley Moor as it used to be called. This was pronounced in the vernacular ‘Creenay‘, which I guess why it was often written as Cranimoor. According to…
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The colourful life of Lord Ernest Vane Tempest
In spite of occupying the prime spot overlooking Saltburn Sands, Britannia Terrace is architectually dominated by Henry Pease’s Zetland Hotel, described in 1867 as “one of the most magnificent and commodious Marine Edifices in the Kingdom,” commanding “a splendid Prospect of the Sea and the finest Mountain Scenery in England“. I love it when I…
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