#gisboroughmoor — Public Fediverse posts

Tidkinhow Moor: A Puzzle Written in Fading Ink

The other day, while wandering the web as one does when sense has taken the afternoon off, I found a digitised photocopy of a 1982 legal decision about Tidkinhow Moor. The page is mottled with foxing, stained by time, and the typewriter ink has faded like an old promise. It looked interesting to say the ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/2026/02/18/tidkinhow-moor-a-puzzle-written-in-fading-ink/

#GisboroughMoor #NorthYorkMoors #Skelton #history

The Government’s Proposals to Curb Heather Burning

Gisborough Moor, from across Sleddale, is marked by neat, rectangular patches of scorched heather. These are “swiddens,” the product of controlled burning, a practice designed to create the perfect environment for grouse. The idea is simple: burn the old heather, let fre ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/2025/03/31/the-governments-proposals-to-curb-heather-burning/

#GisboroughMoor #NorthYorkMoors #Sleddale #ecology #GrouseMoorManagement

Sinister Relics at Penrod Spring

Two years ago, during one of my habitual wanderings, I stumbled upon a peculiar structure concealed within a 19th-century walled enclosure at the so-called Penrod Spring. I say “so-called” because there was no trace of water.

Buried in its crumbling remains was a sinister wooden contraption, shaped like a ‘T’—reminisce ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/2025/03/12/sinister-relics-at-penrod-spring/

#GisboroughMoor #NorthYorkMoors #GrouseMoorManagement

Westworth Reservoir: Gorse and Other Triumphs of Nature

In my Guisborough days, I would often run a circuit round Westworth Reservoir. This morning, in a fit of nostalgia, I returned to that old stomping ground. How changed it is. The former reservoir bed has given way to a jungle of gorse, now sprawling with abandon, save for a dank, overgrown marsh clinging feebly to the old ove ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=36707

#GisboroughMoor #Guisborough #NorthYorkMoors #20thCentury #history

From spoil to… What will this heap become?

I stumbled upon an intriguing new feature in the Cleveland Hills today. Gazing westward, Highcliff Nab stands prominent in the background. A vast expanse of Guisborough Forest had been clear-felled and replanted with conifer seedlings. Amidst this scene, someone had built a conical mound of earth, about three metres high with a flat top. But why?
Initiall ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=35728

#GisboroughMoor #HighcliffNab #NorthYorkMoors

No wheeple from this whaup

No plaintive cry echoed through the air. It was the silhouette that gave it away: that lengthy and slender bill that bent downward. I casually approached at an oblique angle, yearning for a better shot. Amidst the heather, its speckled brown feathers made spotting it quite a challenge. Alas, my audacious closeness prompted it to soar away, departing in silen ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=34709

#CodhillHeights #GisboroughMoor #NorthYorkMoors #curlew #fauna

Three Howes — Heritage in flames

I felt a deep sadness upon coming across this recent burning on a bowl barrow on Gisborough Moor. These bowl barrows are historical landmarks, and government regulations explicitly state that burning “must not … damage important monuments”.

I suppose those responsible might argue that the burning was a “cool burn”, not reaching the pe ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=33540

#GisboroughMoor #NorthYorkMoors #BronzeAge #GrouseMoorManagement #neolithic

Codhill Quarry—A 19th-Century Legacy

Here on Codhill, on Gisborough Moors, is one of a pair of small sandstone quarries. Probably 19th-century. It couldn't have produced any significant amount of rock, likely used for some dry stone walling over at Sleddale Farm. Really, there is not much else to say about this feature.

Now, the day started off all hot and muggy, with yesterday's m ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=33091

#CodhillHeights #GisboroughMoor #NorthYorkMoors #19thcentury

The Weird Mystery of the Moor — A Guisborough Legend

Here's another story by Richard Blakeborough, published in the Whitby Gazette on May 5th, 1905. I'm not sure if they're too long to share on this blog, but I'm really interested in them, especially the ones about places I know such as this one about Guisborough Moor where I can picture the landscapes.

Some of the c ...

http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=32778

#GisboroughMoor #Guisborough #NorthYorkMoors #folklore #RichardBlakeborough