Category: North York Moors
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Kildale
The ‘village green’ at Kildale. Another glorious morning. And Michaelmas day to boot. St Michael’s Day, 29th September, the Feast of Michael and All Angels, one of the traditional four ‘quarter days’ in a year, the other being Lady Day (25th March), Midsummer (24th June), and Christmas (25th December). On these religious festivals, the agricultural…
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Sandstone Quarry, Easby Bank
A bit chilly but a lovely morning. This is an old sandstone or ‘freestone’ quarry on Easby Bank. A ‘bank’ is a Yorkshire term for “a steep hillside, often with a road taking a direct route from top to bottom”. But the Ordnance Survey on their Six-inch England and Wales, 1856 map annotated ‘Easby Bank’…
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Recent rockfall, Roseberry
Spotted this morning, it must be fairly recent. Nothing untoward, just part of the natural weathering process. Imperceivable then suddenly … My first thought was that the enigmatic carved face of Roseberry was lying face-down but it’s actually on the lower crag. An odd carving, not exactly a Michelangelo but somehow quite intriguing. The big…
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Bransdale
Lovely autumn sunshine today in Bransdale. Not so back in 1845, when the Preston Chronicle reported a ‘REMARKABLE OCCURRENCE IN THE DALES‘: On Tuesday, the 17th ult., the inhabitants of Bransdale and Farndale were much surprised, and even alarmed, by the appearance of a very dark cloud, from which depended something like an arm, or…
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St. Hilda’s Chapel, Kildale
My penultimate day at the archaeological dig in Kildale which I have been involved with all summer. The site will soon be winterised until next year. It is thought the stone walls are the remains of a medieval chapel dedicated to St. Hilda, which was located through detective work by members of the Hidden Valleys…
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Mine Rescue team
I came across a mine rescue team training on Roseberry today. An unreal sight, dressed in full PPE and carrying masks, helmets and oxygen packs, it must have been a very exhausting day for them. I assume this training in broad daylight is a preliminary exercise for kit familiarity. They belong to Triton Mines Rescue…
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The Wainstones
Pronounced ‘wean‘ or ‘wearn‘ in the local dialect. The familiar jumble of Bajocian sandstone crags and boulders at the western end of Hasty Bank. Much loved by the climbing fraternity and long distance walkers on the Coast-to-Coast, The Cleveland Way and the Lyke Wake Walk. Opposite the col, Garfitt Gap, is Cold Moor or ‘Caudmer‘.…
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Duck Bridge
I can’t believe I haven’t posted about this classic packhorse bridge before. But an otherwise dull overcast day did not provide much other opportunity for photography. Duck Bridge, although substantially rebuilt by George Duck in 1717, is considered to date from the 14th-century. It is though to be one of only about sixteen “largely unaltered”…
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Mesolithic Guisborough
I often stand on a viewpoint and wonder what the landscape before me was like in times past. What did our ancestors, standing on this same spot see? More often, my imagination struggles to extend beyond the past century. A millennium past and it becomes hazy and obscure. Eight millennia, I can only reach in…
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Track To Summer Hill
I’ve lived in the area for almost fifty years and there are still footpaths I’ve never trodden. I’ve known about this Right of Way but I’ve never bothered with it. For me, getting to the start would entail a kilometre or so of road running, it ends abruptly and doesn’t link up with over routes.…