Category: Warren Moor
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Maiden Hair: From Dye to Deficiency
While the day was still fresh, as I wandered across Warren Moor, a vivid expanse of orange-yellow caught my eye. The bog asphodel, with its star-like blooms, presented a scene of rare splendour. Singularly, these flowers might escape notice, but en masse, they transform the landscape. Never before have I witnessed such a display on…
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Source of the Leven
A rarely seen view of the upper reaches of the River Leven, that tributary of the Tees, before it begins its winding journey through the lowlands south of Middlesbrough. Beginning high on Warren Moor at the edge of Cleveland Hills, this river is unique as the only one north of the Humber that flows westward…
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The carved stone of the Park Pale
Someone asked me to show them a carved stone on Warren Moor. Many years have slipped by since I last saw it, so I figured it’d be wise to retrace my steps and locate it again – can’t have my memory playing tricks on me. The stone didn’t put up much of a fight to…
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An encounter with the gamekeeper
The North York Moors Historic Enviroment Record describes this ruin as a “post medieval sheep fold identified from historic mapping with slight structural remains,” but the dressed stones to me point to a more substantial building. I am on Warren Moor looking down on the secluded Leven Vale. Now, the “field” beyond that fence isn’t…
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Warren Moor Ironstone Mine
The unusual yet familiar chimney that dominates the site of the failed Warren Moor Mine, a short lived enterprise that hoped to capitalise on the 1860s ironstone boom. The architecture of the chimney is in contrast to the utilitarian style later in the century. No expense seemed to have been spared, with decorative polychromatic banding,…
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Shooting Butt No. 2 on Warren Moor
I will call this a ruined grouse butt although I suspect it is still in use. Anyway above the ‘2’ is a stone with a carved grouse dated, I think, 1975. I have it in mind that this was carved by Roland S. Close (1908-1978), the amateur archaeologist and an estate worker at Kildale. If…
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Warren Moor Ironstone Mine
I can’t believe it is almost five years since I posted a photo of the elaborate Victorian chimney in the upper reaches of the Leven valley. Back then the site was well fenced off, with inquisitive visitors made unwelcome. Since then, there has been much conservation work carried out. A gate and information board now…
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18th-Century Privy
A fine example of vernacular architecture at its best, the outside toilet or privy at the bottom of the garden of Warren House in Kildale. The privy is a Listed Building Grade II in its own right. Rubblestone walls with a pantile roof with, apparently, the wooden-seated privy still inside. I didn’t sneak a look…
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Source of the Leven
Went searching for the spring marked on the OS map as the Source of the Leven on Warren Moor. This is the highest point water was flowing. Behind me was 50m of bog. The River Leven flows through the villages of Great Ayton, Stokesley and Hutton Rudby before discharging into the Tees just downstream of…