Category: Bransdale
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Two-stoop yate
‘Gate’, as in Westgate and Belmangate of Guisborough, is an old Scandinavian word meaning a ‘way’ or ‘road’. This is etymologically different to the modern useage of the word, which stems from the Old English word ‘geat‘ for a “door, opening, passage, or hinged framework barrier”. In Yorkshire though, we say ‘yate’, ‘yat’ or ‘yet’.…
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The unmistakable silhouette of Scots Pine …
… ‘haloed‘ by the National Trust to give a breathing space and a chance to harden up before the remaining larch plantation is felled next winter. These trees are on a ridge called, quite coincidentally I think Scot Ridge, in Bransdale in the heart of the North York Moors. Barker Plantation is shown on the…
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Volunteering with the National Trust in Bransdale
Barker Plantation is a reasonably sized larch plantation covering Scot Ridge, the hill between Hodge Beck and Shaw Beck. The plantation is due to be felled, and to do this, a contractor will be brought in, but the amongst the conifers there are many birch, oaks and Scots Pine which the Trust want to retain…
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John Scarth, a “well-to-do” Bransdale farmer
A lovely view of St Nicholas Church appearing through a window in the autumnal canopy from a field near to Bransdale Mill where the National Trust are creating a wildflower meadow. The little church at Cockayne was built about 1800, so it would have been very familiar to John Scarth, a well-to-do farmer who was…
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Bransdale Mill
Another view of the rear of Bransdale Mill but from a different viewpoint standing on the wall of the mill-race. The first record of a mill in Bransdale is a late 13th century will, when the Mill was included in the estate of the Lady de Stuteville, who left her estate to her son Baldwin…
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Flashback to 1948: ‘Yorkshire dale to begin new life’
Bransdale Eastside and the farmsteads of Smout House (formerly Loft House and now the National Trust’s office and stores), Toad Hole, and Cow Sike. I came across an interesting article in the Yorkshire Post dated 27 November 1948, which gives a very good insight of what life was like in Bransdale in the first half…
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I love it when I can get to somewhere new
Even to see a different view of a familiar place. This is Bloworth Slack, the easternmost fork of upper Bransdale. There is no peace and quiet though — contractors were felling the coniferous plantation on the left with their heavy machinery. Bransdale is perhaps the remotest dale in the North York Moors. It’s hard to…
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Bloworth Crossing
Or Blawith, as I’ve seen it written. Or Blowith. Many names, but a well-known feature on several long-distance path over the moors. Where the Rosedale mineral railway crossed the ancient track along Rudland Rigg, a track which, in 1934. Alec E. F. Wright described as a “grass road” and “exhilarating”. In the 21st-century, the Rudland…
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A Snowdrift
I can’t claim these are the first snowdrops I’ve seen this year but they are certainly the most impressive. This drift is behind the little church at the head of Bransdale, along a beck with no name. In a month’s time, the bank will be dominated by daffodils, only to be overtaken by bluebells a…
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Bransdale
From a snowstorm to bright sunshine, Bransdale felt all seasons today. I have been doing some repairs to dry-stone walling on the west side of the dale. It’s quite rare to view Bransdale from this angle. The nearest farm is Colt House, and, across the valley, are Cow Sike and Toad House. Between them, hidden…