Category: Basedale
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St. Helen’s Day, the Rowan tree, and their connection to warding off witches
Wikipedia says St Helen’s Day — Helena, mother of Constantine I — is honoured in the Church of England on 21st May but in the Episcopal Church on 22nd May. The Rev. R.C. Atkinson, however, suggests it falls on the 2nd May. So who’s right? Yer pays yer money … It matters if you wish […]
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Coal Mining in Baysdale: success or failure?
The North York Moors might not be the first place you think of when it comes to coal mining, but it was actually a thriving industry at the end of the 18th century. Most of the mining areas were located along the high watershed to the south of the Esk valley, like Rudland Rigg and […]
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The old road to Westerdale
The moors are filled with standing stones that span across different periods in history. You can find prehistoric monoliths, medieval structures, and even contemporary edifices scattered throughout the vast terrain. According to the 1853 6″ O.S. map, there is a boundary stone labelled Stockesley Cross located near the ruins of a supposed smugglers’ hideout called […]
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In Baysdale Beck
Two stoops or gateposts mark a long-lost crossing of Baysdale Beck about 275 metres upstream of the modern-day ford at Hob Hole. The width between the post suggests a passage on foot and for pack horses only. “Ploughman“, writing in 1908, observed that “the supports of an ancient bridge is still preserved, by the interweaving […]
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Some days photographic opportunities are few and far between
Today was such a day. Rain, drizzle, a brief interlude of bright sunshine, then more drizzle, followed by a touch of rain. I was on the bridleway mapped as Skinner Howe Cross Path crossing Great Hograh Moor when the sun made one of its brief appearances. This is looking north-west across Baysdale, look closely and […]
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The Wicked Squire of Basedale
A photo of Baysdale to accompany this story I came across by Richard Blakeborough in the Northern Weekly Gazette from 1912 It’s a cracking story, which I fear would be diminshed if I attempted to trim it down. I am therefore repeating it in full which makes this my longest post ever (which I’ve split […]
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The Cheese Stones’ rock fonts
Elgee suggests the name Cheese Stones , “probably” originates because the rock was used in local cheese presses. Now that may be the case but I do not understand why rock from this particular outcrop should be used for pressing cheeses. In the same article, appearing in the Northern Weekly Gazette in 1902, the future […]
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Baysdale Abbey
Very little remains of the 12th-century Cistercian nunnery; a large farmhouse now occupying the site. The farmhouse probably dates from the 17th-century although I read it has a date of 1822 above the date. A priory was founded in 1162 at Hutton Lowcross, near Guisborough; but soon the nuns were removed to the village of […]
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Chequerboard moorland
I suppose it would be petty of me to whine about this anthropogenic change to the moors created by mowing of the heather moorland. I should be thankful that this moor is no longer being burn and great plumes of smoke waft across the skyline but I fear the random patches of the old black […]
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The Wishing Stone
This has been on my to-do list since the spring after reading a blog post on the Arcanum web-site. It’s a large, deep, circular basin on a boulder on Ingleby Moor that is speculated to have be manmade and used for ritual purposes: the making of wishes or prayers, or curses and so on. As […]