Tag: history
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Bridestones Moor: The Burden of an Ancient Earthwork
A return to Bridestones Moor for the annual task of clearing the Scheduled Ancient Monument — the prehistoric dyke — of bracken and self-seeded saplings. Without this, roots and undergrowth would soon begin to damage what little remains of it. The dyke, a double bank and ditch nearly a kilometre long, is thought to date…
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Kentmere: The Tarn That Industry Remade
I looked at the map and wondered where the real Kentmere was, the “mere,” or water, of the River Kent. There is the reservoir, high in the dale, and there is Kentmere Tarn, a long, tranquil pool screened by trees, looking for all the world like untouched nature. In truth, nature had its turn ten…
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Along the Old Hambleton Drove Road
Looking south along the old Hambleton Street drove road, the route from Yarm to York that stretches across the landscape. I have just cycled north along this track, though three hundred years ago I would have been met by an entirely different scene. Then, before the coming of the railways, the way would have been…
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Clearing the Past: The Lost Drumhouse of Newton Wood
A morning with the National Trust, cutting back the summer growth from around the brick and stone remains known as the Kip, at the Cliff Rigg end of Newton Wood. The Kip is the remains of the head of a narrow-gauge tramway incline. Ore from Roseberry Ironstone Mine once hurtled down here under its own…
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On this Day in 1974 — When Health & Safety Went Mad
Just over fifty years ago, in 1974, I was into my first year of full-time work. Newly settled in North Yorkshire, it may have been then that I first looked down the short, wide dale of Greenhowe, maybe from this very spot, perhaps at this very season, when the ling is beginning to flare into…
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From Thornborough Henges to the Marmion Tower
A visit to the Thornborough Henges, a trio of massive Neolithic earthworks near the River Ure, offered little for ground photography. Though the banks rise up to four metres, their layout is best seen from the air, so I have linked to this Wikipedia image. Once standing above wetlands, the site is now surrounded by…
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Upleatham’s Old Church
This tiny church at Upleatham is believed to be the second on this site and is often claimed to be the smallest in England—just 18 feet long and 15 feet wide. Though “smallest” is a loose term, depending on what one measures—floor space, pews, or whether it still hosts services—this particular church no longer does.…
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The Enigma of Elizabeth Caroline Brown
I had a few minutes to kill before a meeting at Ormesby Hall, so I wandered over to the nearby church. There I found the elaborate grave of one Elizabeth Caroline Brown (1834–1905), set among the usual Victorian gravestones. On Church Lane, not far away, stood a stone cross, neglected and rather out of place.…
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Kirby Knowle: A Castle with Two Names and One Too Many Stories
Towering above the western edge of the quiet village of Kirby Knowle, this brooding grand house is marked on Ordnance Survey maps as “Newbuilding.” The estate agents, less taken with that name, now refer to it in brochures as plain Kirby Knowle. The asking price is £7 million, in case you are tempted. The “New…
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Over Silton Church
Alfred J. Brown, that tireless chronicler of the North York Moors, once suggested the little church at Over Silton was tucked away in its hollow below the village to avoid the attention of marauding Scots. Given the long history of Scottish raids into northern England—starting as early as the 11th century under King Malcolm III—it…