#aireyholme — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #aireyholme, aggregated by home.social.
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The Smell of Progress
A lone tractor crawls below Roseberry Topping, spreading muck across an upland field. The scent hits you before the sight does. This, believe it or not, is what civilisation smells like.
That machine is just the latest chapter in a very old and very smelly story. Centuries of farmers knew something we have mostly forgotten: the soil is not a given. It mu ... -
Solmōnaþ — Cake, Mud, and Lowered Hopes
It is Solmōnaþ. Cake Month. A rare cause for cheer in the damp gloom of February.
In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, Solmōnaþ sat where February is now. It marked a time when offerings were made to pagan gods, back when England was less Christian and more heathen. The idea was simple. Feed the gods and hop ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/2026/02/01/solmonath-cake-mud-and-lowered-hopes/
#Aireyholme #Gribdale #NorthYorkMoors #EarlyMedieval #history
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Letting Sheep Be Sheep
I cannot quite tell whether these sheep huddling under the gorse to dodge the sleet are tough old “moor” sheep or soft “lowland” types, but either way they carry the usual reputation. Sheep, like cows, belch methane, methane warms the planet, and that is that. Or so we thought. A study with the esoteric name “Forage for CH4nge”, carried out in ...
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The Silent Machine
A heavy plough stands sulking in a farmyard, built like a tank and already freckled with rust. It was made to tear into the ground and turn it over without mercy. Now it does nothing at all. You see this sort of thing everywhere. It stands as a quiet sign that our view of soil has changed, and not just a little.
For thousands of years the plough was the star ...
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A Path Marked Clearly, Only it Points Left
About twenty minutes today went on scrubbing the graffiti off the rock faces, as I posted yesterday. Fortunately, it was water-based. They are not perfect, their shadow still lingers if you squint. Still, it is a sight better than the mess that was there before. Progress, slow and steady, like pushing treacle uphill.
...http://www.fhithich.uk/2026/01/13/a-path-marked-clearly-only-it-points-left/
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Hiding the Snowbones
I woke to a fresh cover of snow and a wall of fog. One lifted the spirits, the other did its level best to flatten them. Ten minutes after leaving the house and starting the climb up Roseberry, the sky had a change of heart and slowly thinned to an azure blue. The temperature inversion gave up the fight, retreating into a thick band of white cloud that slid t ...
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Merry Mōdraniht
Christmas seems to arrive earlier every year. This Christmas Eve the summit was packed to the rafters. This view follows the line of the old ironstone tramway. Now labelled a Permissive Path, it runs alongside the Public Bridleway that is Aireyholme Lane and is largely ignored, so it feels like just a box-ticking exercise.
Long before Christmas muscled its way i ...
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Roseberry Watching Over Enclosed Land
The nearest field in today’s photograph marks the site of the old farmstead of Summerhill, born out of Great Ayton’s enclosure of the common land in 1658. At that time, the commons stretched all the way to the top of Roseberry, open and shared in a way that would soon vanish.
...
http://www.fhithich.uk/2025/12/17/roseberry-watching-over-enclosed-land/
#Aireyholme #AytonBank #GreatAyton #NorthYorkMoors #RoseberryTopping #17thcentury #history
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A Quarter Century of the Right to Roam, More or Less
Today brings a double milestone for those in England and Wales who find the open air rather more enticing than the sofa. It is twenty-five years since the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 marched through Parliament and twenty years since its promised free ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/2025/11/30/a-quarter-century-of-the-right-to-roam-more-or-less/
#Aireyholme #LittleRoseberry #NorthYorkMoors #20thCentury #AccessRights #history
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Down among the Thistles
The hedgerows are heavy with the spoils of summer. Blackberries shine darkly in the shade, crab apples blush among the leaves, and Rowan berries hang in bright clusters. Rosebay Willowherb releases its silky seeds to the wind, while the thistles too surrender their down, sending it drifting like smoke across the fields.
Thistles are cursed a ...
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Of Brass Monkeys, May Blossoms and Other Perils
Growing up in Nottingham in the early 1960s, I shall never forget me mam barking “naer cast a clout till May is out” whenever I dared venture into the Spring air without full Arctic gear—duffle coat, string vest, probably a balacalva too. She assumed, and I dutifully followed, “May”meant ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/2025/05/05/of-brass-monkeys-may-blossoms-and-other-perils/
#Aireyholme #NorthYorkMoors #RoseberryTopping #flora #folklore
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A Nisly Day over Aireyholme
An old book of weather proverbs I own offers an array of predictions for March, ensuring that, whatever the weather, one can always find something vaguely reassuring within its pages. One such gem is a French proverb: “When March is like April, April will be like March.” How profound.
The notion of “April showers” stems from se ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/2025/03/14/a-nisly-day-over-aireyholme/
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4th February, 1921: Redundancies at Roseberry Ironstone Mine
His day began long before any sensible person would even consider waking. At 4:30 in the morning, he and his wife dragged themselves from their bed, greeted not by comfort but by the biting cold. The morning’s first ordeal was the outhouse—an unenviable journey in deep winter, where snow, ice, and the ever-present r ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=37378
#Aireyholme #NorthYorkMoors #RoseberryTopping #history #IronstoneMining
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Flocking Together: Hebridean Sheep and Sheepdog Training
I heard, through the ever-reliable grapevine, that this small flock of Hebridean sheep at Aireyholme Farm is being used to train a young sheepdog. Predictably, just before this photo was taken, the dog had had its lesson, and the sheep were beginning to calm down.
Hebridean sheep are apparently the darlings of the sheepdog train ...
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A Slog up Roseberry Topping and a Nod to Pagan Roots
I could claim it was a brisk dash up Roseberry Topping this morning, but in truth, it was more of a plodding trudge. Perhaps it only felt that way because I foolishly dressed for winter, not realising it would be unseasonably warm for Christmas Eve. This is the view from the summit, looking down on Aireyholme ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=37049
#Aireyholme #ClevelandHills #NorthYorkMoors #RoseberryTopping #EarlyMedieval #history
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The Miner’s Path: From Ironstone to Ypres
The constant rain has transformed Airyholme Lane into a stream, though it mercifully spills into the field before it reaches the farmyard. I cannot help but wonder what the weather was like on this day in 1917. The miners from Roseberry Ironstone Mine would have trudged along this track to and from their shifts. Did they feel fortunate, knowing th ...
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From Aireyholme to Hawaii — Captain Cook’s Legacy
On this day in 1776, Captain James Cook set sail from Plymouth aboard the Resolution, with the Discovery in his wake, on what would be his final voyage. His journey ended tragically in Hawaii three years later, when he met his death in an altercation with the indigenous people.
It seems fitting, therefore, to post a photo of Aireyholme ...
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Making Hay While the Sun Shines
Aireyholme Farm has been hard at work hay making.
The creation of dry hay is an elaborate process, involving a sequence of operations each requiring specialised machinery. These stages are: mowing, tedding, raking, and baling.The procedure begins with cutting the grass, which is then left in the field for several days, depending on the weather conditi ...
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Guardians of Aireyholme Farm
A gaggle of geese attempt at walking single file down a muddy track. Their military precision was disrupted by the temptation of murky puddles to wallow in.
The track leads to a gate into a green field. It's soggy and well-used, with tyre marks alongside the geese's footprints. At the top of the field there appears a curious shack, perhaps a weekend retreat, often noticed but ne ...
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Easby Moor from Roseberry Topping
The names Easby and Roseberry both derive from Old Scandinavian, but what did the Deiri tribe, nestled snugly between the Humber and the Tees rivers, call these places? Picture Deira as the precursor to Yorkshire, holding court in York.
But Deira wasn't a territorial area. It seems more like a robust dynasty. The exact genesis of this lineage has been lost ...
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Celebrating Capt. James Cook
Well there goes another February 14th. Evenings of whimsical sighs, chinking champagne glasses, and adoring compliments across the Pacific as indigenous folks send their thanks out to the Hawaiian cousins that took care of business, and finally put an end to the diseased, kidnapping, murderous, thieving invader called Captain James Cook.
So wrote Tina Ngata (Ngati Porou), a Māo ... -
Silent Symphony of Sheep
Head down against the driving rain, I sensed unseen eyes upon me. The fleeces of these Aireyholme sheep appeared as fresh as a perm, even after, or more likely because of, the overnight deluge.
Despite dwindling numbers, sheep remain the predominant livestock on North York Moors farms. In 2016, the National Park boasted a staggering 296,000 sheep, outnumbering cattle fivefold. This ...
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Roseberry Ironstone Mine — A Miner’s Day Begins
A significant anniversary in the history of Roseberry Ironstone Mine. It was on this day in 1921 that the men at the mine received notice to cease work with the mine due to be made idle at the end of the period of notice. In fact, output fell gradually until, in 1924, it stopped completely and a 'skeleton' maintenance employed until ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=34488
#Aireyholme #NorthYorkMoors #RoseberryTopping #IronstoneMining
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The Great Ayton Scallywags
A certain topic that has occupied my thoughts for some time is an Auxiliary Unit Patrol that was stationed in Great Ayton during World War II. This covert unit differed significantly from the stereotypical 'Dad's Army.' I recall hearing at some point that, in the event of a German invasion, the anticipated life expectancy for these men, should they be deployed ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=34333
#Aireyholme #CliffRidgeWood #GreatAyton #NorthYorkMoors #WW2
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A Boxing Day Tradition — The Hunt
I chanced upon the Great Ayton Boxing Day Hunt today. A traditional affair, you know. Had completely slipped my mind.
Christmas, a season steeped in tradition, yet this one leaves a sour taste.
Every Boxing Day, the hunt assembles at the High Green in Great Ayton. Same old spectacle of well-appointed riders, splendid horses, and charming hounds. Granted, I ...
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Aireyholme Lane — A trade route of the past?
Descending Aireyholme Lane to the farm was like being part of a time-honoured ritual, with the sheep gracefully separating like the biblical Moses parting the Red Sea. The scene held an air of timelessness, as if this track had been used since the dawn of time. But one couldn't help but wonder, when exactly was that?
It appears likely that thi ...
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Winter’s last stand?
The brief return to Winter didn’t last long, but the last stubborn snow patches are hanging on for dear life on the fields of Aireyholme. But Roseberry Topping’s sandstone cap is clear, anxious to let go of winter fashion.
Ah, Roseberry Topping, the hill that thinks it's a volcano. With its unique shape, it's the diva of the Cleveland hills, always demanding attenti ... -
An echo of the past silenced as hawthorn trees are felled — a loss for nature and history
Three years ago I lamented on the felling of a patch of semi-open woodland on the southern flank of Roseberry Topping.
It was a parcel of scattered trees, mostly Hawthorn, the felling of which was a significant loss, not only in terms of its wild beauty but also its ecological importance. Hawthorn t ...
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A lesson for us all: beware of the tallyman
A few scattered hawthorn trees mark the vestiges of an old hedgerow. Little Roseberry and Black Bank in the distance.
The massive credit facility needed by our former Prime Minister has been making the headlines recently. A lifestyle that demands this amount of money 'on tick' is incomprehensible to me.
At the turn of the ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=31396
#Aireyholme #LittleRoseberry #NorthYorkMoors #20thCentury #socialhistory
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On this day in 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor, the head of the German government
A short wander up Cliff Rigg this, reflecting on happenings 90 years ago today,
Then, the elderly Weimar President, Paul von Hindenburg, was persuaded by the conservative elite to appoint Hitler as chancellor, the head of the German government. An appointment that was entirely legal and constitut ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=31387
#Aireyholme #NorthYorkMoors #RoseberryTopping #OnThisDay #OTD