Tag: history
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The Bernera Riot of 1874
An idyllic beach yet hiding a dark history. In 1874, crofters defied a tyrannical factor, faced eviction, marched in protest, and won. It was the beginning of the fight for land reform in the Hebrides.
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Taigh aâ Bheannaich
A ruined chapel, vanishing huts, and a handful of monks who chose isolation on the edge of the Atlantic. Taigh a’ Bheannaich is where faith met the wind and held fast for 1,400 years.
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A Day Among Norse Horizontal Mills
A day of water-millsâhorizontal ones, no less. We visited eight, or so I believe; one quickly loses count. It took me some time to grasp how they worked. The water wheel sits flat in a channel, its blades catching the water and spinning the millstone directly above. No gears, just force and gravity. The mills…
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Hulne Abbey: Where Friars Once Prayed, now a Nice Little Earner
It begins, as it so often does, with a memory. A passing mention of Robin Hood: Prince of Thievesâwas it truly only yesterday?âand already the location scouts of fate have dragged us to another of its sites, like an ear-worm in your head. Hulne Abbey. Founded in the 13th century by Carmelite friars in search…
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The Forgotten Incline of Ingleby Moor
I had heard the National Park was up to something on the old railway incline up Ingleby Moor, so I went to see what the fuss was about. This is not the famous incline that once carried ironstone from Rosedale. It is one that runs roughly 350 metres to the south, leading to the Ingleby…
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VE Day: 80 Years On
Eighty years have passed since Victory in Europe Day, a moment etched in the collective memory by black-and-white newsreels showing ecstatic crowds flooding the streets of London and other major cities. But away from the capital, in the quieter corners of Cleveland and North Yorkshire, the mood was more restrained â though no less meaningful,…
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The Terminal Moraine at Kildale: Elgee Revisited
An early morning climb up Park Nab before the dayâs work began at the Kildale chapel archaeological dig (Out & About passim). I shall wait until later in the season to write properly about thatâwhen we have found something to write about. Instead, as I looked out over the valley, I found myself returning to…
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How to Dress in the WaterâEdwardian Advice from the Shoreline
Cattersty Sands looked perfect this morning. The sun was out, the beach was almost empty, and the North Sea glittered like it wanted to be inviting. It was not. Nobody so much as dipped a toe in. I had half expected to see someone bobbing about in neopreneâopen-water swimming being all the rage now. Not…
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A Boundary Stone on Great Ayton Moor
The weather has finally turned, quite refreshing from the stifling heat we have suffered over the past week. I found myself traversing Great Ayton Moor again, a route so familiar I could walk it blindfolded, past the same early 19th-century boundary stone I have already photographed more times than sense would justify. The gamekeepers, in…
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When War Came to Teesside: The Night the Zeppelins Roared
On the night of 2nd May 1916, the New Moon cast an eerie darkness over the coastal towns and villages of the Yorkshire Coast. As the tranquil evening unfolded, an unsettling noise gradually erupted from the sky, until it echoed like the roar of an express train. Moments later, a series of random explosions were…