Category: Kirby
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Donna Cross—from Medieval cross to a legal feud
On the col between Cold Moor and Cringle, one almost stumbles across the stump of Donna Cross hidden amidst the bracken. A boulder, rooted deep in the earth, serves as its natural base, with a socket in which a stone is wedged. This stone, however, is not believed to be a part of the original…
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Kirby Bank
Once a scene of industry, with an ‘alum house’ believed to be on the grassy tract on the right near the patch of gorse. The workings were higher up the bank, out of shot to the left, where the bridle way contours around the hillside. A wooden channel is thought to have carried the liquor…
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Kirby Bank
Kirby Bank looking luxuriant under a coat of fresh bracken, the bane of the moors. On 14 June 1932, the Daily Mail carried a somewhat brief report: Climbed 41 Peaks in 24 Hours Mr. Robert Graham, of Keswick, Cumberland, has created a 24-hours walking and climbing record in Lakeland by scaling 41 peaks in an…
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Kirby Trod
A swathe of bluebells parallel to the trod on Kirby Bank. I once read that the presence of bluebells on open ground is evidence that trees once provided the shade bluebells thrive on. Shade that in a week or so will be provided by the bracken. Perhaps a hedge once aligned this ancient trod from…
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Kirby Bank
Crossing Emerson’s fence on the climb up Kirby Bank from the Scout camp. I have already posted about the history of this fence before. A posting which although only from May this year, I had completely forgotten about. The fenceline was created as the result of a legal dispute in 1854 over potential ironstone mining…
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Kirby Bank
Playing with the panoramic function on my phone. This is looking back on the climb up Cringle Moor. A rather dull drizzly morning brightened by the fields of rape in the Vale of Cleveland. The fence has a bit of history. It is on the line of the old boundary between two Lords. James Emerson,…
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Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news
The good news is that it looks like the Traffic Regulation Order restricting off road motorbikes and vehicles from using the medieval trod that climbs Kirby Bank has finally been issued and is in force. The trod was part of a pannierway connecting Rievaulx Abbey in Bilsdale with the River Tees. Off road motorcycles have…
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Kirby Bank Trod
Part of a medieval pannierway connecting Rievaulx Abbey in Bilsdale with the River Tees. A major trade route, unique in North Yorkshire. Rievaulx had monastic granges at Normanby and Broughton supplying the needs of the abbey, and salt and fish were obtained from villages about the Tees estuary and along the coast. The route would have been well used by teams of…