Tag: 18th-century

  • Salisbury Crags

    Salisbury Crags

    A line of crags of igneous rock formed 342 million years ago, when lava erupted at Arthur’s Seat through the underlying sedimentary rock. The crags are famous in the world of geology because it is where James Hutton (1726 – 1797), ‘the father of modern geology‘, concluded that the magma intruding into the existing rock…

  • The Dunn’s Charity for the Benefit of the Poor of Kildale

    The Dunn’s Charity for the Benefit of the Poor of Kildale

    In the churchyard at Kildale is an 18th-century chest tomb, which is a Listed Monument in its own right. The inscription is weathered and covered with moss and lichen so very hard to read but Cedric Anthony provides a transcript in his book ‘Glimpses of Kildale History‘: Here lyeth the body of Joseph Dunn who…

  • Spite Hall

    Spite Hall

    There’s an old dialect word ‘gongoozle‘ which I rather like. It means to “leisurely watch the passage of boats, from the bank of a canal, lock or bridge”. Exactly which dialect is unclear. Some say Lincolnshire, some say the Lake District, some say Cockney. It is first recorded in 1904 in the “Glossary of Canal…

  • Turkey Nab

    Turkey Nab

    Turkey Nab with a backdrop of Carr Ridge and White Hill. A gloomy over cast day, which doesn’t do credit to probably the best view of the Cleveland Hills and the fertile plain below. The stiff, steep climb of Turkey Nab, a favourite for off-road enthusiasts, is an ancient track over the dark moors to…

  • Side-tracked by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

    Side-tracked by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

    I am slowly getting around every boundary stone on these northern moors. This one is inscribed “RY 1752”, identical to the stone 600m or so to the south west. Ralph Yoward must have had a bulk buy. 1752 — George II was on the throne; the 11 days between 3rd and 13th September inclusive were…

  • Cliff Rigg and Great Ayton from Roseberry

    Cliff Rigg and Great Ayton from Roseberry

    We are informed from Great Ayton near Gisborough, in Yorkshire; that a mad Cat has lately bit two Women, a Horse, and also several other Creatures at some Miles Distance from the Place it belonged to. As it is found by Experience, this Malady (which is much more terrible in the Human Species than Death…

  • Nova Scotia Farm and Ladhill Gill

    Nova Scotia Farm and Ladhill Gill

    A view north-east from Hawnby Hill. A view with several interesting features. Bumper Hagg, on the far side of Ladhill Gill, contains an abundance of pre-historic features. Cairns, and linear earthworks. In the distance, seemingly on the highest point of Bumper Moor, is Wethercote Farm. This was one of the main sheep-rearing farms of Rievaulx…

  • Warren Moor Ironstone Mine

    Warren Moor Ironstone Mine

    The unusual yet familiar chimney that dominates the site of the failed Warren Moor Mine, a short lived enterprise that hoped to capitalise on the 1860s ironstone boom. The architecture of the chimney is in contrast to the utilitarian style later in the century. No expense seemed to have been spared, with decorative polychromatic banding,…

  • Codhill Farm and Bold Venture

    Codhill Farm and Bold Venture

    It’s not the most obvious place to site a farm, on the col between Highcliff Nab and Great Ayton Moor. A col unsheltered from both northerly and southerly winds. The col was formed as a spillway to the south from lakes formed between the north-facing escarpment of the Cleveland Hills and the glacier flowing along…