New Marske Institute – 1875

Posted on January 27, 2012 by chris.twigg

On the wall of its 1966 replacement can be found some original stonework from the New Marske Institute.

The institute was built for the local ironstone miners by the Pease family, they were Quakers with a temperance policy, so no alcohol was available until 1925 after the mine closed.

It opened on August 5th 1876 and offered a reading room, library, billiard, smoking room and a Quoits pitch. Subscription was one shilling per quarter.

Some interesting photos of the original can be found on the Communigate site

Winkies Castle – Marske

Posted on January 27, 2012 by chris.twigg

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Winkies Castle is a Half Cruck Longhouse dating from the 17th Century, the new plaque was unveiled on 7th April 2011

The house was saved from demolition by Jack Anderson the cobbler in 1968, opened by him as a museum in 1975 and finally bequeathed to the council with over 6,000 local artefacts on his death.

The house opened as a folk museum run by the Friends of Winkies Castle in 2005, its well worth a visit when its open during the summer months.
‘Winkie’ is said to be the name of Jacks cat and has been adopted as the logo of the museum.

New Trains at SSI

Posted on January 26, 2012 by chris.twigg

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With the re-opening of SSI plant new trains have appeared on the site.
The trains are second-hand NSB Di8 models originally built by MaK in 1996–1997 for use in Norway.

Wikipedia points out that they had reliability problems, so perhaps someone should have searched the internet first ?
A Harsco RGH20C Rail Grinder is also on the site at the moment.

Saltburn Cliff Hoist

Posted on January 25, 2012 by chris.twigg

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Before its well known cliff lift, Saltburn had a cliff hoist between 1870 and 1883.

The wooden structure built by John Anderson of the Saltburn Improvement Company dropped people 120 feet to the pier level and must have been a pretty intimidating journey.

The new plaque to mark the location was unveiled by Councillor Vera Rider on Thursday July 28 2011.

Saltburn Mosaic Number 5

Posted on January 23, 2012 by chris.twigg

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The final installment in the series of 150th anniversary mosaics.

The main subject this time is the valley gardens and features the Prince Albert Memorial , section of the Halfpenny Bridge and Viaduct

The artists are Helen Gaunt and Derek Mosey with assistance from the people of Saltburn.

Memorial Drinking Fountain, Easington

Posted on January 22, 2012 by chris.twigg

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The fountain and troughs near the end of Grinkle Lane are a Grade II listed structure, although the sandstone is heavily eroded the 1873 date can still be seen although the rest of the wording is now difficult to read.

The initials “MGM” can be seen above the lions head, theres also “MLC”and “KLM” but there are heavily eroded now.

It was erected to the memory of Rev. Dr. Robert Morehead and Margaret his wife, by five sisters who were their grandaughters.

Rev. Dr. Morehead died at Easington Rectory on the 13th December 1842 aged 65. He produced much literary work, some of which can be found on Google Books He was born in Scotland as the 3rd laird of Herbertshire on 19 March 1777. Attended Balliol College at Oxford and became the Dean of Edinburgh. He married Margaret Wilson on 27 November 1804 and they had four sons: William Ambrose, Charles, Robert Archibald Alison, and George Jeffrey.

Bent Rigg Coastguard Lookout

Posted on January 19, 2012 by chris.twigg

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When built in 1935 this was designated as an Auxiliary Coastguard Watch Station

Between 1939 and 1945 it became a War Watch station, insulators on the rear of the building indicate its telephone connection to the adjacent Radar Station.
The building remained in use by the coastguard until 1972 and was rennovated in 1999 as part of the Heritage Coast Project.

It still commands excellent views over the coast.

Ravenscar Radar Station

Posted on January 18, 2012 by chris.twigg

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The radar station was constructed in 1941 as part of the Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low early warning system. It was designated site M47 and the original radar was mounted on top of the semi-circular transmitter and receiving hut as shown in the illustration.
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The site was later upgraded to be part of the Chain Home Extra Low system and was redesignated K47, with a new Transmitter and Receiving block.

There are two smaller buildings, one of which housed a generator and the other a fuel store.

At the other end of the field near the old railway, the bases of several accomodation blocks can be see, but none of the structure remains.

Whitaker Brick Company, Ravenscar

Posted on January 17, 2012 by chris.twigg

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This brickworks was setup in 1900 to provide bricks for the nearby Ravenscar development that never materialised, it is located inside an old Alum quarry.

The remains of the single large Hoffman Kiln are still to be found on the site.

Although heavily overgrown the outer doors can still be identified

Despite the failure of Ravenscar, the brickworks was next to the railway and found work supplying bricks to Scarbrorough until the 1930s. The chinmeys on the site remained in place until demolition in the 1960s.
A bridge nearby still stands that carried the abanboned Whitby to Scarborough line

Ravenscar Railway Tunnel

Posted on January 16, 2012 by chris.twigg

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The tunnel was buiilt around 1885 and stands on the abandoned Scarborough-Whitby line

The tunnel was cut so W.H. Hammond, the lord of Raven Hall, didn’t have to see the railway actually crossing his land.

The tunnel is only 279 yards long but has a sharp curve and with the gradient up to Ravenscar being 1-in-39 it proved troublesome for many trains.