Kettleness Mysteries (one solved)
I really have no idea what this short tunnel/shelter just below the cliff top is for, it seems too neat and too short to be mine related. To me it gives the impression of being a shelter from where the view can be admired. It looks to have been cut by hand.
Does anyone have any idea of its age and purpose ?
Just a short distance away to the north, this unusual item is visible by the side of the Cleveland Way, the metal part still freely rotates and there appear to be the remain of powerful springs attached.
It is some distance away from both the Sandsend and Kettleness tunnels.
UPDATE : Dave Richardson has kindly come up with an answer for the second one, its a Motley Mount for Twin Vickers “K” Machine Guns for light anti aircraft defense, there were originally four as the Goldsborough Cliff Radar Station was here from 1940 to 1945.
The pictures here and here backup the point, cheers Dave.
May 13th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Have slept in the shelter a few times and have played with the pit thing many a time while trying to think what its use was but i cant find anything on them.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
If there’s any WWII defences in the area, then the first one could be an old ammo store or something. Don’t have a clue about the second one.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
There is no mention on the Defence of Britain site of there being anything defensive in that immediate area. Certainly not of that vintage.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
I think the nearest WWII defenses are the Bunker on Runswick Sands and the one at the bottom of Sandsend Beach under the former Railway Station.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Okay, then I suppose I don’t have a clue as to what the first one is either. Oh well, a bit of mystery keeps life interesting.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
There are however plenty of rumours of ghosts in that area particularly over the edge onto Seaveybog Hill.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Rumours of Ghosts, please tell.
The next time i see a farmer near the area ill ask a bout the pit.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
On a more whimsical note there is a local legend about the Kettleness bogles, a community of hobs or goblins who lived in caves thereabouts. The locals would cower in fear at the ominous sound as the bogles would beat their washing with thick wooden batons called battledores.
I Wonder how the legend came about.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I believe it could be a hand windlass. If used in conjuction with an elaborate but sturdy pulley system then livestock or smaller catagories of children could be both lowered and raised from the foreshore.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
It might have been nothing more than a protected look out connected with the AA site above, but this seems a bit too mundane.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:26 am
this was known locally as the “old hermits cave” I seem to remember that years ago it had two notches at the top either side of the entrance. I allways believed that a wooden beam of sorts was here that held a cover over the entrance.. I thought it was some sort of religious cell were “monks” were sent to contemplate. I havent been for about twenty years or so, but it seemed hand hewn to me not modern at all.