Category: Newton Moor
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âTwas frost and thro leet wid a oâ greymin snawâ
Oh, it was but the gentlest sprinkle, a mere whisper of winterâa âgreymin,â they used to call itâscarcely enough to cover the tops of these two boundary stones on Newton Moor. The snow flurry arrived just as I was striding along the edge of the moor. There is nothing quite so invigorating as being caught…
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After the Rain: Life on Newton Moor
A sky of blue is like a breath of fresh air after the dreary weather weâve been enduring for the past week. It lifts the spirits, reminding us that sunlight still exists. It is not every day that one sees standing water on Newton Moor. While the ground is often damp and there are always…
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It were a bit barren on t’moors like, nowt much to see!
A view along the Cleveland Way as it traverses Newton Moor, with the elusive Highcliffe Nab shrouded in mist. The cartulary concerning the founding of Gisborough Priory records a significant route named Melegate, extending from a point on the Percy Cross track, known as Molecros, to Roseberry Common. The Cleveland Way here likely follows the…
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Freeport Fearfulness
Even though this photo of Ryston Bank on Newton Moor was taken right within the North York Moors National Park, every square inch captured, right up to the North Sea in the distance, lies within the Teesport âFreeport outer boundaryâ, an arbitrary demarcation unmistakably drawn by some bureaucrat armed with nothing more than a pair…
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Following the feetings
A âfeetinâ is a North Yorkshire word for a footprint, “a mark or impression left by the foot“. In East Anglian a variation, âfeetingsâ, is used specifically for the tracks of creatures in the snow. I do like this use of the word. Newton Moor had feetings in abundance this morning. Mostly Grouse, occasionally ending…
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The bleak moor under a sprinkling of snow
Overnight rain fell as snow on the high moor transforming the drab winter colours of the heather. The question is did the snow fall after midnight or before â in which case we will have had a white Christmas. The stone is the 19th-century boundary stone atop the round cairn on Newton Moor. It marks…
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“Lay pretty long in bed, and then rose, leaving my wife desirous to sleep, …
“… having sat up till four this morning seeing her mayds make mince-pies.” 356 years ago, the Pepyses may have had a lie-in, but we were up and about on Little Roseberry taking in the fresh air and blue skies. Samuel Pepys went on to complete his diary entry:â “I to church, where our parson…
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Why?
All acts of vandalism are just mindless and irresponsible but some defy any sort of explanation whatsoever. Look closely to the right of the seat and you can see a patch of wall that has been repaired. I reported this to the National Trust just last week and they have promptly been up and repaired…
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Black Bank
The eastern edge of Newton Moor, still showing signs of the devastation left after felling some twenty years or so ago. I wonder how long will the old tree stumps take to decay. This sandstone outcrop is shown as a quarry on the 1856 O.S. map. But no access track is shown, nor is there…
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Witches’ Knickers
A dreich day, witness my photo of Roseberry not quite smothered by mist. ‘Witches’ Knickers’ is an Irish epithet for the poly bags that attach themselves to shrubs and trees, and barbed wire as here on Newton Moor, slowing shredding in the wind. I keep meaning to clean it up but put that fiddly job…