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Recent deforestation of Thimberby bank has unveiled stunning vistas of the Vale of Mowbray
To the north, the honeypot village of Osmotherley, lies snuggly between the Hambleton Hills and the Cleveland Hills. The name, Osmotherley, is derived from ‘ley‘, a clearing, belonging to ‘Asmund’ or ‘Osmund’. Its title was recorded in the Domesday Book as ‘Asmundrelac’, before being transformed to ‘Osmundeslay’ and ‘Osmonderlay’. Yet, there is also a legendary…
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Sarkless Kitty
In 2015, I posted ‘The Sad Tale of Sarkless Kitty‘, a harrowing story of a woman from Gillamoor who, allegedly having been romanced and forsaken by a farmer from Hutton-le-Hole, was supposed to have ended her own life in the shallow waters of the ford that crosses the River Dove while carrying his unborn child.…
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Cod Beck Reservoir — a view from Swinestye lane
Opened in 1953, the 115 million gallon reservoir has grown in popularity since it was first opened to the public in 1989 after Yorkshire Water was privatised. The surrounding woodland, planted soon afterwards, is now being cleared, and it won’t be too long before the ruins of the two old farms once again see the…
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Bransdale — again
Second visit this week. Appropiate this day because on 12 January, 1895, the National Trust was incorporated by three Victorian philanthropists — Miss Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. Bransdale is of course a National Trust property, predominately comprising the dale farms, which was transferred to the Trust through the National Land…
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I set out this morning intending to take a photo on the route that Dalton Taylor would have taken on his last day at work at Roseberry Ironstone Mine from his lodgings in Ayton
He would have climbed this path, probably before dawn, in 1913. I thought it was on this day, 110 years ago, he died from a roof collapse but have since found out that Taylor was actually killed a week earlier, on the 4th January, 1913. It was reported in the Darlington and Stockton Times on…
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Everytime I go up to Capt. Cook’s Monument I find another area of clear felling
This is on Little Ayton Moor, above Hunter’s Scar — note to self: have a look at this feature — revealing a view of the whole of the short valley between Roseberry Topping, Black Bank and Great Ayton Moor. A view that has not been seen for perhaps half a century. To me, a view…
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I have been in Bransdale many times mostly volunteering with the National Trust …
… but those visits have been very localised, coming and going in the back of a pick-up. Today I had the opportunity for a walk around the dale accompanied by a resident and seeing views and places I’ve never before noticed. Plus the weather was kind to us. The featured photo is a view west…
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George Watson inscription
A chance to return to Ravensgill Beck to search for the memorial inscription on a rock to George Watson, an employee at the brickworks who, in 1872, took his own life “in a state of temporary insanity“, to use the language of the time. I had failed on my previous visit. It was further up the…
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Sunset from Cliff Rigg
A very wet run this morning over the Cleveland Hills. And after lunch, the sun came out. Blue skies. So I dragged the dog up to Cliff Rigg for the sunset. And she repaid me by thorough belching — I made that phrase up, inspired by the 18th-century expression of a ‘thorough-cough‘ which is coughing…
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The Hanging Stone
Overlooking the heavily forested Hutton Lowcross, the sandstone outcrop at the end of Ryston Nab is well known as the Hanging Stone, presumably because it ‘hangs’ over the valley, rather than it being a site of execution. Ryston Nab, the nose on which it’s on, has a more interesting etymology. It survives from the 14th-century…
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