Category: Guisborough
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The Slow Decay of Belmont Mine
It is disheartening to see the old mine buildings at Belmont Ironstone Mine partially collapsed. Built around 1909, they may not be the grandest examples of industrial architecture, but they are likely the most intact surface remains of any ironstone mine in the Cleveland area. Remarkably, some sections are still used as stables. In the…
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The Priory Gatehouse: Overshadowed but Not Forgotten
I had reason to visit Guisborough today and took the chance to walk around the old priory. I have posted before of its great east wallâimpressive as it is, it remains only a fragment of what must once have been a formidable complex. The priory met its end in 1540 with the Dissolution. Ten years…
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Temperature Inversions and Timetable Errors
A glorious morning on the hills south of Guisborough, the so-called top of Belmangate. While the town wallowed in cold and damp misery, those above the temperature inversion were treated to the breathtaking sight of Eston Nab and Airy Hill rising like islands from the clouds, with a diffused Brocken spectre thrown in for good…
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A Dreary Day, a Doubtful Saint, and Too Much Christmas
A dreary, cold day, though mercifully not freezing, but with rain looming. St. Thomasâ Day Eveâdedicated to the patron saint of doubtâdrapes itself in the sort of gloom that makes you wonder why you bothered to look out the window. That housing estate west of Guisborough in todayâs photo? I had been blind to its…
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Where Birch Meets Rust: A Forgotten Landmark
Descending from Highcliff Nab to Guisborough, I felt a sudden urge to revisit a landmark I often passed on my runs around these woods many years ago. This viewpoint, on top of a spoil heap from the Belmont Ironstone Mine, was mercifully spared the blight of commercial conifersâperhaps because even saplings had standards and found…
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Highcliff Nab: A Crusty Puzzle
Highcliff Nab today, and an enduring puzzle on its crag face. Nearly the entire surface is smothered in light green lichen, except for one striking vertical band where the rock is inexplicably bare, as though the lichens collectively decided this spot was beneath them. Lichens, those delightful symbiotic oddities born of desperation between fungi and…
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Highcliff Nab and Autumnâs Troubling Showstopper
The woodlands are ablaze with reds, oranges, and yellows in what I might call a âdazzling display,â if I were given to such enthusiasms. Recent rain has kept the trees hydrated, and unseasonably warm weather has delayed their annual shedding. How quaint. I am on my way to Guisborough, following the forest track through Hutton…
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Westworth Reservoir: Gorse and Other Triumphs of Nature
In my Guisborough days, I would often run a circuit round Westworth Reservoir. This morning, in a fit of nostalgia, I returned to that old stomping ground. How changed it is. The former reservoir bed has given way to a jungle of gorse, now sprawling with abandon, save for a dank, overgrown marsh clinging feebly…
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“Take Me To The Forest”
In a move that is sure to leave the squirrels bewildered, the National Portfolio Organisationsâ Wild Rumpus and Festival of Thrift have unveiled their grand plan to transform the tranquil forests of Guisborough into a festival of organised anarchy. They are calling it “Take Me To The Forest,” a spectacle destined to overwhelm the senses…
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1939: When Guisborough Welcomed Middlesbroughâs Evacuees
Highcliffe Nab, that well-known sandstone crag that dominates the view from Guisborough, has been the subject of these posts many times. But Kemplah, which sits in its shadow, doesn’t get nearly enough attention. The old settlers clearly thought this promontory was important since there’s evidence of both early British and Roman activity there. The name…