Category: North York Moors
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Bell Heather
One of three types of heather found in the UK, the others being Cross Leaved Heather and the very common Ling. Bell Heather, or Erica cinerea to give it its Latin name, flowers much earlier than Ling and a much richer colour. It favours drier conditions like cling to this sandstone crag in and old quarry on Great…
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Sunshine and Grey Skies
An ugly scar across the heather moor of Carlton Moor, the yellow sandstone of the track accentuated by the threatening skies. The track is typical of estate roads all over the North York Moors providing easy access for the shooting parties. This track though was probably built by the glider station which used to operate on Carlton…
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Tom's Bransdale Fell Race
A 12km running race dreamt up by Tom Watson, a surveyor for the National Trust, and in whose memory the race is now held and organised by his friends and colleagues. The race is largely off road and involves 400m of climbing. It starts from the Trust’s Bransdale Mill, a charming spot in a charming dale. The photo was taken…
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Horse Tails
Horse Tails has been described as a living fossil. It is the only surviving member of the class of plants known as Equisetopsida which dominated the forests 360 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. At a time when the dinosaurs still had to evolve Equisetopsida for 100 million years grew up to a height of 30m during which our coal…
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Kettleness Alum Works
The alum works at Kettleness has completely transformed the promontory jutting out into the North Sea. It resembles a moonscape where nothing much grows even after the 150 years since the last alum was produced. Work started in the early 18th century. There are few remains. Much have been lost to the sea. It is only a…
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High Baring Cottages
Why is it, I thought as I was driving over Rosedale Head, that every time I head into Rosedale it’s damp and it’s foggy. A truly miserable morning. The plan had been to park high on the east side, cross the dale and have a look at the kilns on the west side. Dropping out of…
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Hasty Bank
A view west from Carr Ridge towards Hasty Bank. Whether the gulley is natural or man made, a holloway created by the centuries of use, is uncertain. The track is certainly of antinquity, an old way called Haggesgate which linked the market town of Stokesley to the Thurkilsti road heading south along Bransdale Rigg to Welburn. In parts of Yorkshire,…
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Capt. Cooks’ Cottage Archaelogical Dig
That’s it. That’s as far as we go. The archaeological excavation at Aireyholme Farm, near Great Ayton, is done. Today has been spent tidying and cleaning for photographing and recording. Going on the evidence of oral tradition of the farmer at Aireyholme that the boyhood home of Capt. James Cook was within a stand of…
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Black Hambleton
The Tabular Hills make up most of the southern half of the North York Moors. Hills with a hard limestone cap. At 1,308 feet Black Hambleton is the highest point making it, for hill bagging enthusiasts, both a Hump and a Tump. A Hump stands for HUndred Metre Prominence and is defined as a hill with a drop…
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Aireyholme
This made me smile. From the top of Roseberry. It could almost be described as art but I doubt that is what the farmer at Aireyholme intended. A question for the intellectuals amongst you: does there have to be intent to create a work of art? The teardrop island and the squat peninsular closest are where the ground is broken.…