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Plough Monday
The Monday after Epiphany used to be a day off for ploughmen up North. You’d enter a village and come across these agricultural labourers, all decked out in ribbons and those pristine white smocks, dragging the Fool-plough through the streets. It was their way of saying, ‘Hey, don’t forget, your bread depends on us pushing these…
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Ayton Banks Ironstone Mine — its legacy
Playing with my new tripod, a Christmas goodie. I do like the motion blur effect of long exposures. The water is draining from the Ayton Banks ironstone mine, the stone of which turned out to be poor-quality, leading to the mine’s brief existence. It had opened in the first decade of the 20th-century but closed…
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Patches of blue, reflections and a spanking new gate—Highcliff Gate this morning
In her dotage, my dog exhibits a distinct lack of enthusiasm for upland walks. This now renders the crudely painted “DOGS ON LEADS” sign on the wooden rail of no matter to me. A threat for sure, yet not a command. A “PLEASE”, though, would have aided in conveying the message in a less intimidating…
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Twelfth Night — Vessel Cuppers and Rabbit Skins
Shipwrecked twins, a lovesick duke, and fools making merry, Twelfth Night spins a tale of romance, laughter, mistaken identities into a midwinter’s dream. But long before Shakespeare penned his whimsical play, there was an age-old tradition associated with Twelfth Night, rooted in pagan customs and echoed across Britain for centuries – wassailing. The purpose is…
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Standing Stone, Old Wife’s Stones Way
A leisurely saunter into the morning sunshine across the ancient expanse of Danby Rigg on the Old Wife’s Stones Way. A timely shower to the west served as a fitting backdrop to this squat yet impressive standing stone. The route, considered no older than medieval times, is lined with tall, slender standing stones, save for…
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Smoke Signals from Great Ayton: A Meteorological Puzzle
I took this photograph of the large square-cut recess in the sandstone cap atop Roseberry summit. Clearly crafted by human hands, in my imagination, I’ve had it down as the likely spot for the hermitage and smith’s forge mentioned in a 17th-century letter. However, I might be wildly off the mark, considering the extensive quarrying…
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Nature’s Canvas on Whorlton Moor
Of all the boulders on the North York Moors, this is perhaps my favourite. It rests nestled in the heather on Stony Ridge on Whorlton Moor, but back in the last ice age, it would’ve been getting a good washing from the waves along the shore of Lake Scugdale. Now, in places where fungi and…
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Brathay Hall — “Mr. Law’s White palace – a bitch!”
Brathay Trust is based in an elegant 18th Century Georgian country house. It was built by George Law, the son of an Attorney who was involved in Backbarrow ironworks. On his death, in the West Indies in 1802, the house passed to his son Henry, who rented it to John Harden, a gentleman with connections…
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Galava
Borrans Field, at the northern end of Lake Windermere near Ambleside, is the site of the Roman fort of Galava. Today, the field was flooded, despite the lake being a good two metres below its 2009 watermark. One can only hope the Romans knew what they were doing, building on a floodplain. This fort, in…
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Rydal’s Rainy Reflections
Not a day fit for photography, thanks to the never-ending rain. I managed to grab this photo while perched on Lanty Scar, the northeastern ridge of Loughrigg Fell. Across Rydal Water, cars on the A591 sport their headlights. Rydal is supposed to be a contraction of Rothay-dale, and is actually placed in a narrow gorge,…
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