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Percy Cross Rigg
Without looking at the map, I would have said the track along Percy Cross Rigg, or to use its Medieval name, Ernaldsti, on its journey south across Great Ayton and Kildale Moors, and on to Westerdale follows a pretty straight route. But this telescopic photo shows just how sinuous it actually is. The name is…
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Aireyholme Farm, Cliff Rigg and Great Ayton village
Wednesday, the 26th of September, 1917. William Arthur Trembath opens his eyes and blinks as they adjust to the hazy morning sun. It’s silent yet he is vaguely aware all around him is a frenzy of activity. The Battalion is consolidating their newly gained positions, connecting and deepening shell holes to form new trenches. He…
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Suart’s Reservoir
A busy weekend near Staveley in the Kent valley, “gateway to the Lakes”. Yesterday saw a return to Gurnal Dubs which visited in 2016 during the supervision of a DoE expedition. Today Suart’s Reservoir which is on the south side of the valley in the parish of Nether Staveley. It is entirely on farmland with…
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Mell-suppers and mell-acts, a long lost tradition of the harvest
A fine view of Roseberry and Black Bank. Today is the autumnal equinox and a reminder that from now on the hours of darkness will exceed that of daylight. By now harvest should be largely over. In our modern society harvest passes us by with hardly a notice. The day before yesterday I wrote about…
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Young Ralph Cross
A breather after riding up from Westerdale. Not the highest part of the Moors — that falls to Round Hill on Urra Moor — but it certainly has that feel about it. Young Ralph Cross has stood for centuries guiding and reassuring the weary traveller. Nowadays, most folk don’t stop on the busy Castleton to…
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The Maid of the Golden Shoon
The featured photo shows Turkey Nab overlooking the tiny village of Ingleby Greenhow, Ingleby is the scene of a charming folk tale from the pen of Richard Blakeborough featuring witches, fairies, maidens fair, knights in shining armour, dragons, along with baby snatching and cross dressing, and much, much more if you read between the lines.…
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Spawood Mine Switch House
I think this is an old switch house to the Spawood Ironstone Mine — I must admit I am relying on a map produced by the last operators of the mine, Dorman, Long & Co. Limited reprinted in Simon Chapman’s booklet “Guisborough District Mines”. The mine, the drift of which was off to the right,…
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Not the Queen’s funeral
Plenty of folks taking advantage of the extra bank holiday and preferring not to be glued to the telly watching wall-to-wall coverage of Her Majesty’s funeral. I notice the trig. point hasn’t escaped adornment by Elizabethan themed graffiti. Which places the National Trust with a bit of a dilemma: how long to leave it up.…
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Fryup Dale
Or more strictly, Great Fryup Dale, since the dale is generally said to comprise two parallel steep sided u-shaped valleys: Little and Great Fryup Dale, connected by a col, Fairy Cross Plain. Both dales are broad and flat with steep rims of scrub and patches of ancient deciduous woodland. In searching the history of the…
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The Farndale Hob
I realised the other day that I don’t know upper Farndale at all. I’ve skirted around the skyline on the Rudland Rigg or the track of the old mineral railway to Rosedale many, many times. I do remember crossing the dale once in the Cleveland Survival Race. But I can’t say I’ve ever been to…
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