The Forbes Buildings were built around 1900 for John Forbes as a bakery with shops and stables.
Forbes came from Aberdeen in 1875 and ended up being mayor of Middlesbrough in 1904, he also had some involvement in the Ironopolis football club.
The Birger was the vessel that collided with Victoria Pier on 18th October 1898.
13 of the 15 crew lost their lives so the anchor which was recovered in 1999 by the Cleveland Divers Club is now used as a memorial to mariners.
The new sculpture of an ironstone miner by J. Godbold of Egton (who seems to be getting a lot of work in the ironstone area at the moment) was unveiled by Mr G Clark of Boulby Potash on 21st July 2010.
It is set back a few feet from the old marker for the Boosbeck Shaft
During the great depression between 1929 and 1933 many of the Cleveland ironstone mines closed which lead to unemployment rates of up to 91%. Major James Pennyman the owner of Ormesby Hall bought land near the mining communities of Margrove Park, Boosbeck and Lingdale. This land was cultivated as a work camp to provide alternative employment for the miners and their families.
The list of people involved in the scheme is astonishing.
Sir Michael Tippet was involved in staging the Beggars Opera and his own work Robin Hood at Boosbeck church hall. Boosbeck Industies was also formed which manufactured furniture for about four years.
Local legend has it that William Joyce who became better known as Lord Haw Haw was present at the sixth work camp in April 1935.
Theres a very interesting book on the subject by Malcolm Chase and Mark Whyman
Seven Red Plaice by David Kemp was unveiled on Wednesday October 16th 2002 when the Regents Walk development was completed.
Samuel Plimsoll devised the Plimsoll Line (not just the pub on he High Street) to indicate the maximum legal limit to which a ship could be loaded, it became law in 1876 after a long strggle including Plimsoll calling members of the House of Commons ”villains” and shaking his fist in the Speaker’s face
The plaque on marks the location of the house in which he stayed when visiting Redcar.
This carved marker stone is located at the top of the short climb up from the Ship Inn in Saltburn onto the cliffs
This sculpture of the hospital with a nurse and miner was unveiled in June 2010
It was made by blacksmiths James Godbold of Egton for the Eston Residents Association, it is located on the site of hospital which closed in 1980 and has since been demolished.
Update 17/8/2010 - Hardly two months gone and the sculpture has been already been vandalised
An archaeological dig around 1911 / 1912 investigated the remains of a Roman signal station probably constructed in AD 367 and used until AD 390. A chain of these existed along the North Yorkshire coast to warn of coastal attack.
A well was uncovered with the remains of 13 bodies inside, some artifacts from the dig are currently in the Whitby museum.
All traces of the site have now disappeared over the cliff due to erosion, and it doesn’t look like the information board will last much longer either.
Cliffe was a small ironstone mine worked from 1866 to 1887. Virtually nothing remains on the site except depressions and discolorations in a field which mark the locations of the shafts.
A railway siding which runs to the shafts and parallel to the current live railway can be identified.
Some remains of the base on which a Fowler traction engine was mounted exist, but I was unable to locate them in the long summer grass.
Anyone who has read the “Cleveland Mining Incidents” series of books will know the injuries sustained underground could be horrific.
Bulmers directory of 1890 list the following staff
Miners’ Hospital - Messrs. Merryweather & Dunn, medical officers
Kellys directory of 1909 lists the following staff
Skelton Cottage Miners Hospital - John Thorner. LRCP Edin, Surgeon.
Skelton Cottage Miners Hospital - Frederick P Wigfield MB, Surgeon.
Skelton Cottage Miners Hospital - Miss Clara Baldwin, Matron.
The hospital built in 1883 is now a private residence.
I’m back, after a few technical gremlins with the site.
An old hand-painted sign for a local surveyors office can be found on the corner of Knights restaurant on Fountain Street
This little gem is hidden away in nettles at the top of Lawns Gill, the spring was the water supply for Skelton Castle. Old OS maps call it Spring Head.
The inscription reads :-
Leap from thy cavern’d mossy bed,
Hither thy prattling waters bring
Blandusia’s Muse shall crown thy head
And make thee too a sacred spring
Some attribute the words to John Hall Stevenson eccentric playboy owner of Skelton Castle, it is said the “Crazy Castle” in his “Crazy Tales” is Skelton. The are numerous tales of his exploits such as not getting out of bed when the wind was blowing from the east and racing roman chariots on Saltburn beach. His group of friends knows as the “Demoniacs” sounds like an interesting bunch with names such as Rev. “Panty” Lascelles and Zachary Moore
Other attribute the words directly to Stevensons friend and fellow “Demoniac” Laurence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy in the 1760s. There are other Sterne links as just to the North East of Skelton Castle are areas known as Sterne’s Seat and Mount Shandy.
“Blandusia” is a corruption of Bandusia which was an ancient Roman spring
Apart from the very obvious Guibal Fanhouse closer investigation of the site reveals some more details.
Running due east from the fanhouse is a culvert with a metal pipe inside, it runs for nearly 200 feet and remains of a building can be seen on the surface where it ends.
Further east again in the undergrowth appears to be the base of a chimney (or the base of a privvy depending on your personal interpretation)
Slightly to the north of that a stone engine base can also be found hidden in the undergrowth.
In the stream are the footings for a rail bridge which connected Waterfall Ironstone mine to the branch for Skelton Park and Skelton Shaft mines.
A number of rails presumably originally from the bridge appear to have been reused to strengthen the bank on the right.
I can’t find an specifics about this one, but strongly suspect its by local favourite Andrew McKeown
Originally a corn mill, the building was converted for the manufacture of Roman Cement around 1811 (a hydraulic cement which can set underwater) , a drying kiln can be seem to the rear of the building.
The Anish Kapoor sculpture Temenos is nearing completion
A few facts a figures on the scupture.
The original tower was built by John Middleton in 1847, only three sides of the clock tower have a face because they were erected by subscription and its said the businesses on the blank side didn’t want their workers clockwatching.
After numerous redesigns of the docks, the current tower is said to date from around 1870, it doubled as a water tower to maintaining water pressure in the dock gates.
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