Tag: 20th Century
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Jackson’s Bank—Medieval Trod
As you reach the top of Jackson’s Bank, it is hard not to imagine that, at the turn of the last century, weary walkers resting upon these boulders were serenaded by the rather pastoral sounds of iron-laden trucks grinding, screeching, and clattering their way down that incline on the opposite side of Greenhow Botton. This…
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Westworth Reservoir: Gorse and Other Triumphs of Nature
In my Guisborough days, I would often run a circuit round Westworth Reservoir. This morning, in a fit of nostalgia, I returned to that old stomping ground. How changed it is. The former reservoir bed has given way to a jungle of gorse, now sprawling with abandon, save for a dank, overgrown marsh clinging feebly…
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Ellen Wilkinson: The Fiery Reformer of Middlesbrough East
It has been some time since I was last on Eston Nab, that famed vantage point over Teesside, whose views—oh, those familiar scenes—shift and churn like the Tees itself in flood, eternally restless, rarely still. Come with me, back to this day, 29 October, 100 years ago, 1924. The British people were trudging to the…
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Echoes of the Leven: A River’s 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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The Rise and Fall of Cod Beck Reservoir
Given the recent weather, I was quite taken aback to find Cod Beck Reservoir so low, although this is by no means unprecedented. I have a sneaking suspicion that Yorkshire Water has intentionally carried out a water release, perhaps as part of a scour test or some other enigmatic plan. I’ll resist from drawing any…
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1939: When Guisborough Welcomed Middlesbrough’s Evacuees
Highcliffe Nab, that well-known sandstone crag that dominates the view from Guisborough, has been the subject of these posts many times. But Kemplah, which sits in its shadow, doesn’t get nearly enough attention. The old settlers clearly thought this promontory was important since there’s evidence of both early British and Roman activity there. The name…
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The White Flint Legacy of Castleton
At the crest of an old tramway incline from the former silica quarries, once the workings of the Sheffield-based firm J. Grayson Lowood & Co. Ltd., one gazes across the Esk valley. Just off-centre in the distance lies the looming hump of Castleton Rigg, climbing to the highest point of the “Fat Moors.” The village…
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Osmotherley Show, Thimbleby Hall and the Barwick Lineage
Among my most popular posts this year is ‘From Barbados to Morrisons—The history of Thimbleby and its owners.’ An observant reader noted that I had overlooked a significant chapter in this chronicle.Today, Thimbleby Hall opened its grounds for the Osmotherley Show, allowing the fell race to Black Hambleton and back. And an opportunity for me…
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Flashback to the 1912 Olympics and Guisborough’s own Willie Applegarth
Last night I endured the grandiose parade that was the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympiad in Paris. While it was undeniably an astounding spectacle on the Seine, it left me rather underwhelmed. An extraordinary production to be sure, but it dragged on interminably, with scenes so obscure they might have been devised by a…
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Spring Forward, Fall Back—The Enduring Legacy of William Willett
It certainly felt like spring has sprung this morning. I guess my regular readers will not have a problem in recognising the hill in today’s photo. Plenty making the ascent on this Easter Saturday. Anyhow, we’re on the brink of transitioning to British Summer Time (BST), heralding the arrival of lighter evenings! And darker mornings!…