Category: Bousdale Hill
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From Snow Flurries to a Water Syphon System and The Curious Case of Bousdale’s Meeting House
On a rather agreeable day upon Roseberry Common, I was engaged in the rather laborious task of thinning out the encroaching Rowan and Birch trees. The day could have been described as pleasant, but only when the snow wasn’t falling, and the sun decided to grace us with its presence. That ominous flurry you see…
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Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease’s Thoroughbred Hunters and Bousdale Farm
Bousdale Farm, perched on the plateau of Bousdale Hill, provides a splendid panoramic view of Guisborough and, in the distance, the North Sea. Although the farm was likely constructed in the early 1880s, it does not appear on the 1881 census. Apparently, the buildings were initially erected to accommodate Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease’s prized thoroughbred…
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Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la la la la!
It’s been a bumper year for all sorts of fruits and berries, and the holly is no exception. I was fascinated by this holly bush on Ryston Bank — the northern slope of Little Roseberry. Its branches are laden with bright red berries. In the distance is the flat topped Bousdale Hill with its fields…
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Lord of the Flies
Fields of barley on Bousdale Hill golding under the Summer sun. OK, I made that word up. Gilding? Goldening? I was trying to find a link with William Golding, Nobel Prize awardee in Literature in 1983, knighted in 1988, and fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, who died on this day, 19 June, 1993…
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Bousdale Hill Farm
Early morning jog up Roseberry. The day before the storm — Arwen, I hear it’s been named — a character from Lord of the Rings? A farm had been established on Bousdale Hill, the long spur extending northwards by Roseberry Common, by 1868. Prior to this it would have been rough upland pasture. The farm…
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A dismal day
I don’t usually moan about the weather. Just accept it as it comes. But today is indeed a dismal day. At least the Ancient Egyptian astrologers thought so. They calculated certain days of the year to be unlucky or evil, and today, 4th February, was one of them. There were 24 of them altogether, two…
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Play of the Weather
The god of rain took an early lead in the ageless battle to decide the British weather. And as I write this the day ends with the god of wind, Gareth, firmly dominant. This parallel was explored in John Heywood’s “Play of the Weather“: Amidst a mass of bickering, in-fighting, backstabbing and intrigue, the gods…