Tag: 19th-century
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The forgotten High Dam at Cod Beck
In August 2021, in the aftermath of the Covid rules, I went on a guided walk led by a local historian to explore the history of Scarth Wood Moor. During the walk, the historian mentioned that the High Dam at Cod Beck had burst in 1857. According to my notes, a local farmer noticed the…
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W.T. Stead and the birth of tabloid journalism
On this day, April 10th, 1912, the luxurious liner Titanic embarked on its maiden voyage from Berth 44 at the White Star Line dock in Southampton, with the destination of New York. A total of 920 passengers were on board, comprising 179 First-Class, 247 Second-Class, and 494 Third-Class passengers. Among the First-Class passengers was William…
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Nan Hardwicke — Witch or Hare? The Folklore of Cleveland
There are very few Cleveland villages which, at one time or another, one of the inhabitants had not been stigmatised as a witch. More often than not, it was some lonely old woman, past her childbearing age, probably widowed but more than likely without any degree of patriarchal protection. The most celebrated of these witches…
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Butts and bullets: A bimble up Butt Lane
Walking up Butt Lane (right of centre in the photo), I couldn’t help but notice the “tree-mendous” (sorry) amount of felling that’s taken place in Guisborough Woods in recent years. And, lo and behold, I saw an obvious path leading upwards. I had never seen it before, which turned out to be the work of…
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Cock Howe and beyond — A bimble down Arnsgill
A day spent manning the last checkpoint on Cock Howe on the Bilsdale Fell Race. A long day, but I managed to have a bimble down Arnsgill beforehand. At the top of Arnsgill stands Head House, a remote farmhouse that dates from the late eighteenth century and heightened in the first half of the nineteenth…
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Skelton Tower
Corn Hill Point, a headland of a grassy plateau overlooking Newton Dale down which runs the North York Moors Railway. During the times of the Napoleonic wars, the plateau was ploughed up and used for growing crops, Hence the origin of the name. Perched on the tip are the ruins of Skelton Tower, a two-storey…
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The sight of low cloud from Bilsdale pouring over the cols in the Cleveland Hills always leaves me with wonder
This is looking down on Green Bank, a flattish ring contour rise marking the head of Raisdale, and separating Cringle or Cranimoor from the steep slope up Carlton Bank. The col is nowadays more commonly known as the ‘Lordstones‘ on account of the country park. On the 22nd December 1892, the Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough…
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Tis the season for burning
The annual burning of the heather moorland has begun — to the left of the house on the hill, up Badger Gill. Several of the tell-tale plumes could be seen on the way over into Bransdale. The house is Smout House, a mid-19th century farmstead, although until the 1952 edition of the O.S. map, the…
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Ward Nab (aka Cook’s Crags)
Ward Nab on the edge of Coate Moor is much beloved by local climbers who know it simply as Cook’s Crags. It overlooks the sleepy village of Kildale — the dale of Chil — and used to host a medieval market. Even in more recent times it had a pub, a post office, and a…
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One of the opportunities of winter is the reduction in tree cover
The woodland floor becomes airy and light. New vistas are opened up. Climbing up the steep path from the River Leven through Bleach Mill Intake my interest was piqued by a stack of dressed stones in the defile below. Although I don’t think the stones are in their original position they are evidence of the…