Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Category: Kildale

  • A view across Kildale to the side valley of Lonsdale.

    A view across Kildale to the side valley of Lonsdale.

    In the right distance is ‘New Row’, a terrace of six single story cottages built by the Lonsdale Mining Company in 1865-7, and added to by six 2-story houses for the Whinstone miners. In front of New Row is the Kildale Sports Field, newly decked out for the forthcoming football season. In the late 1970s, […]

  • Was this the site of the stronghold of the de Percys?

    Was this the site of the stronghold of the de Percys?

    On the Ordnance Survey map this raised mound is annotated as a ‘motte‘, a flat-topped mound normally associated with a motte-and-bailey castle.  John Walker Ord cites the Elizabethan antiquarian William Camden as being the only mention of a ‘castle’ at Kildale. it is now thought the mound is a naturally occuring knoll and the site […]

  • Kildale

    Kildale

    An autumnal morning. Once the cloud had dissipated, the top of Park Nab opened up a full view of this interesting valley once flooded, dammed up by the Tees ice sheet. The slight high ground on the valley floor to the left is a terminal moraine and the furthest extent of the glacier. Here marks […]

  • River Leven at Kildale

    River Leven at Kildale

    In spite of yesterday’s rain the River Leven looks very tranquil. Unlike the state it would have been on the 21st July, 1840, when heavy rain caused the Kildale fish pond to burst causing flooding downstream and washing away Kildale Mill and two stone bridges.

  • Lower Lonsdale with Kildale beyond

    Lower Lonsdale with Kildale beyond

    Before the Norman Conquest Kildale was held by Orme, a thane of the king, who also seems to have been associated with Ormesby. When the church was rebuilt in 1868, several Scandinavian skeletons were discovered along with old swords, daggers. etc., all dating from the 9th-century. Perhaps one of these was Killi, from whom Kildale […]

  • Unfinished millstone on Kildale Moor

    Unfinished millstone on Kildale Moor

    A short excursion to look at the unfinished millstone just off the Baysdale road. I’ve been before but the same old questions remain. Why was it abandoned? Who abandoned it? And when? The NYM Historic Environment Record dates it to “post medieval” which is anytime between 1540 and 1799. The bedrock at this location is […]

  • Park Nab

    Park Nab

    The Northern Weekly Gazette was published in Stockton-on-Tees between 1895 and 1932. Its byline was “A Home Journal Written by the People for the People“. The price in 1913 was one old penny. One of the regular sections was the “Children’s Circle — Conducted by Daddy” in which letters written by children were published. On […]

  • The Dunn’s Charity for the Benefit of the Poor of Kildale

    The Dunn’s Charity for the Benefit of the Poor of Kildale

    In the churchyard at Kildale is an 18th-century chest tomb, which is a Listed Monument in its own right. The inscription is weathered and covered with moss and lichen so very hard to read but Cedric Anthony provides a transcript in his book ‘Glimpses of Kildale History‘: Here lyeth the body of Joseph Dunn who […]

  • Ward Nab, Kildale

    Ward Nab, Kildale

    I’m actually quite glad the Jubilee is over even though it’s likely to be the last one we’ll have for a while. Public outpouring of sentiment is not my scene. The Last Jubilee. I guess I’m a reluctant monarchist, but I really don’t care. Neither do I care for Republicanism. What is the alternative? Whether […]

  • Kildale Chapel Site

    Kildale Chapel Site

    The archaelogical dig at Kildale is well into its second season. One trench has been extended and a new trench opened. Pottery sherds continue to be found although not as many as last year. The multiple walls are an enigma suggesting several phases of building. The site is believed to be a private medieval chapel […]