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Kildale
Where is Kildale? It seems such a vague place. The village is well known but where exactly is Killi’s dale. Generally, the parish encloses the upper reaches of the River Leven but it also extends into the watershed of the River Esk with Sleddale Beck and Baysdale Beck forming the boundary. Most, but not all…
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Helmsley Castle
Not inspired by a wind-blasting on the high moors I headed to Rievaulx and a sheltered bimble along the Rye valley. For 900 years Helmsley Castle, standing on its rocky outcrop on the north bank of the Rye, has dominated the town to the west. Castles are almost entirely absent from the bleak upland plateau…
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29th February – Leap Day
According to tradition, on Leap Day women were allowed to propose to men. This is common across many cultures. If the man refuses, he is obliged to buy her a dress or a pair of gloves supposing to hide her embarrassment of not having a ring. But why do we need to go through this malarky…
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Ravenscar WW2 Radar Station
Just off the Cleveland way, south of Ravenscar are the remains of the coastal defence radar system for the protection of the UK during the Second World War. It was one of a chain of stations built along the east coast during 1941 to detect approaching aircraft. There are four buildings, nearest is a fuel…
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Cockmoor Hall Earthworks
The Tabular Hills have a high concentration of Neolithic or Bronze Age earthworks: linear boundaries in the form of ditches and earthbank and round barrows and at the head of Wy Dale, before Stainton Lane descends steeply into Toutsdale, is an extensive area of a confusing mixture of prehistoric earthworks overlain by medieval. Only a…
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Finally a sunny morning and an escape from the mud
Looking down from Cockle Scar onto the village of Newton-under-Roseberry. A cold morning with just enough frost to harden the clarty paths. In the shade of the north-west slope, it’ll be a couple of hours yet before it’s warmed by the winter sun. At the western end of the village, the roof of the National…
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Commondale from the south
The quiet village of Commondale, once a hive of industrial activity. Best known is the brickworks of the Cleveland Fire Brick and Pottery Company which occupied the small dale behind old school and St Peter’s Church built with its distinctive red bricks. This was started in 1860 by John Slater Pratt, a printer from Stokesley,…
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Little Roseberry
Falling Foss was the aim but overnight snow had closed the Whitby road at Birk Brow and Gerrick. Drove for an hour and ended up back in Guisborough. A couple of hours later and the snow was rapidly disappearing off the Cleveland Hills. Quickly come quickly go. Suddenly a reminder that spring is just around…
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Saltburn darkening
Down to Saltburn for the end of the day. And so busy for a Sunday evening with the fish and chip shop doing a good trade in spite of Il Duce’s flying visit during the last election. Quickly forgotten. But oh so cold. Cold enough to freeze the tail, nose, ears and other parts of…
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Former workshops and stables, Belmont Ironstone mine
Around the back of the impressive range of buildings used for stabling the ponies that were used underground in the Belmont Ironstone Mine. They are probably the best-preserved surface remains of mine buildings in Cleveland and have found use once again for stables. In the 1970s I remember them being used for housing pigs. Or…
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