Tag: 19th-century
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Crime, Concealment, and Moral Panic in Newton-under-Roseberry
On the 6th of November, 1847, the Yorkshire Gazette regaled its readers with a dark tale from the village of Newton-under-Roseberry. âConcealment of Child Birth. â On Saturday last, the body of a newly born female child was found in a privy, in the village of Newton-under-Roseberry, by a person named Jackson, who nailed fast…
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Armouth Wath: âHere Coal was Expectedâ
In March of 1803, a notice in the York Courant trumpeted the forthcoming sale by auction of the âMANOR and DEMESNE of BASEDALE ABBEY,â an estate furnished with a âCOALMINE supposed very considerable.â One imagines that the allure of a rich seam of coal lent the whole sale a dash of speculative glamour. The âconsiderableâ…
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The Baysdale Barn That Time Forgot
Ah, the approach to the decaying edificeâotherwise known as a barnâfamiliar to anyone who has spent time wandering this remote part of Baysdale. Here I am, hurrying along a bridleway on the northern side of the dale, with the tantalising memory of veering off and subjecting myself to the rigours of climbing over into the…
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Echoes of the Leven: A Riverâs Memory
A quick photo before raindrops splattered the camera lens. The River Leven is high, a few determined souls brave the weather, and the paths are mostly puddles. I have taken a photo from this spot before, though I only realised that after I got home. My computer, as ever, has a far better memory than…
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From Widheris to Wether House: A Farmsteadâs History
On Wetherhouse Moor, nature is quietly concealing the remains of a post-medieval farmstead beneath the watchful eye of a solitary sycamore. Of the original three ranges, little can be discerned now, save for a crumbling gable end of a barn. It has, for more than a century, since the last tenants left, been steadily yielding…
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Mauley Cross: Linking Ancient Ritual with Regency Enterprise
Mauley Cross, that modest monument to the caprices of the de Mauley family, likely served as a marker of their grazing rights or, if we are to believe the National Parkâs heritage record, a humble wayside guide for those wandering the moors. It could, of course, have been both, though neither role saved it from…
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The Forgotten Rebellion: Winter Hillâs Mass Trespass of 1896
Another delightfully dreich day on the North York Moors. In the murk, we stumbled upon two workers labouring away on the new footpath up Roseberry. The path, prepared to its subsoil, resembles some sort of glutinous purgatory, offering a walking experience only slightly less pleasurable than a swim in wet cement. The workers mentioned the…
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The British School of Great Ayton: A Historical Walkthrough
It’s pretty rare to get a clear view of any of Great Ayton’s old buildings without some car or other parked in the way. Take the village library, for exampleânow known as the Discovery Centre since the community took it over. Originally, this building was the British School, set up to educate the poorer children…
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A Stone in the Heather
While the heather is in full bloom, it seems absurd not to be up on the moors. This boundary stone, standing proud over the heather, is marked on its Bilsdale side with the inscription “FEVERSHAM 1848,” a name requiring little introduction. It refers, of course, to William Duncombe, the 2nd Baron Feversham, whose seat was…
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Echoes of Disaster: The Kettleness Landslide
Kettle Ness, as seen in the photograph across Runswick Bay, presents a grim and barren face, stripped of vegetation. I have read that, with care and a sharp eye, one might discern the dark line of the jet seam, beneath which lies the greyer alum shale, and lower still, just above the wave line, two…