Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: medieval

  • St. Anne’s Church, Catterick

    St. Anne’s Church, Catterick

    I found myself in Catterick with ten minutes to spare. Grand plans of a leisurely stroll quickly shrank to a brisk glance around. The village tries very hard to be charming, with its oversized green and a stream obligingly flowing by. One would not expect such rural pretence given its awkward position—wedged between a military…

  • The Bishop’s Stones

    The Bishop’s Stones

    Up on the bleak moorlands of the North Pennines today, straddling the borders of Durham, Cumbria, and Northumberland. A landscape of peat groughs and bogs thick with sphagnum moss, stirring memories—not necessarily unpleasant, just good times when I was fit enough to fly over this stuff without hesitating. Judging by the abundance of medicated grit…

  • Beyond the Pale: The Lingering Echoes of Kildale’s Past

    Beyond the Pale: The Lingering Echoes of Kildale’s Past

    The sky was an unnervingly perfect shade of cerulean this morning, while overnight frost clung on stubbornly in the shadows. This is the view from Percy Rigg towards Coate Moor, the back of Captain Cook’s, the monument making a feeble attempt at visibility—you will need to squint or zoom in if you are truly desperate…

  • Locky, de Eure, and the Mystery of the Weathered Effigies

    Locky, de Eure, and the Mystery of the Weathered Effigies

    Kirkby-in-Cleveland (or Kirby, for those who prefer brevity) is an ancient settlement, though that much is obvious. The name could either come from old Scandinavian, meaning “the farm by the church,” or from Adam de Kirkby, a Norman baron who once lived in the village and generously handed over land to Guisborough Priory. According to…

  • Hinderwell’s Holy Well and the Legacy of St. Hilda

    Hinderwell’s Holy Well and the Legacy of St. Hilda

    Storm Éowyn made it rather wild on Roseberry this morning, so let me take refuge in recent memories and revisit Wednesday’s more gentle jaunt to the Yorkshire Coast instead. This is the Holy Well in the churchyard at Hinderwell, once the village’s sole water supply. Apparently, the waters were deemed miraculous, curing eye diseases and…

  • Jackson’s Bank—Medieval Trod

    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…

  • Reeth Revisited—Memories of the Aftermath of the 2019 Flood

    Reeth Revisited—Memories of the Aftermath of the 2019 Flood

    A day in Swaledale, that picturesque valley of the Yorkshire Dales, seemed promising enough, though the weather was somewhat overcast. I climbed High Harker Hill, naturally, as one does, to gain some view of the world. But coming down, there was that undeniable charm of Reeth—a place name clinging on to its roots with a…

  • From a Templars’ Retreat to a Cobbler’s Last Stand: The Many Lives of Brathwatte

    From a Templars’ Retreat to a Cobbler’s Last Stand: The Many Lives of Brathwatte

    I see a rock outcrop on the crest of a hill and feel a maddening urge to investigate. So, naturally, I ended up on Tor Hill Crags, gazing down over Westerdale. Or, perhaps, that should be Camisedale—a name found in the Domesday Book, while Westerdale, notably, is not. The general presumption is that they are,…

  • Ruins on the Promontory: Borve Castle

    Ruins on the Promontory: Borve Castle

    Borve Castle, a relic of medieval intrigue, draws attention today with its storied past. Tradition holds that it was built by Torquill, a Norwegian, and later became the residence of the MacKays of Farr. The castle met its fate in 1544, 1565, or 1655—dates vary—when it was besieged and demolished by the Earl of Sutherland.…

  • St Abb’s Head

    St Abb’s Head

    This is St Abb’s Head, a rugged headland in the Scottish Borders, renowned for its bustling seabird sanctuary, boasting a population of over 60,000 winged residents. Among its craggy stacks, guillemots and razorbills establish their nests, while the majestic kittiwakes favour the towering cliff faces. Yet, amidst this natural spectacle, I later discovered a historical…