Hidden Teesside

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

I’ve not been able to find out much about this concrete structure on Wileycat Beck
 

Its been suggested to me it was used to pump water to Guisborough during shortages, although I would be keen to hear any further details anyone may have.

Its been a long time since I added any new features, but I thought an alphabetic list of all the posts on the site might be useful rather than having to navigate through all the posts chronologically or by category.

http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/sitemap/

The Wesleyen Chapel built in 1839 is next to the footpath which crosses the Esk via the stepping stones

If you look over the wall there next to the side door, there are a series of levels carved into the wall showing the heights of large floods.

The 1930 flood washed away bridges at Egton and Glasdale.

On the day I visited the Esk was swollen with melting snow and the stepping stones were covered, but the chapel is still 50m from the water which shows the extent of those floods.

Some people say this is a First World War jetty, it may well have been reused / rebuilt then but the 1894 OS maps already shows a tramway running from the powder wharf in the direction of the gare, joining up with the tramway on which sail bogies were also known to run. This would tie in nicely with 1880’s submarine mine loading complex on the gare which presumably needed a supply of explosives.
   

The small inlet immediately to the south east is known as Powder Hole.

This mosaic by Derek Mosey, Helen Gaunt and the village community depicts various aspects of Skinningrove such as the mine and the “merman” legened, it was erected during 2009

The small park also contains the Sylvania Anchor, which was used to help refloat a ship stranded at Skinningrove for six months, it was retrieved from the sea in 2001 after spending 100 years buried.

‘Mare et Ferro’ - Sea and Iron, granted 10th October 1922 (Coatham Enclosure was built in the 1930s)

The heavily eroded parts at the top are iron ingots and a blast furnace, they can be seen better in this printed version

One very unusual artifact in the Whitby Museum is a Hand of Glory.

Reputed to be the hand of a hanged man which gives the owner the powers of a master thief.
I’ll leave the detailed descriptions of the item and its magical powers to the museum and wikipedia

The “Docks” are actually a set of six water troughs beside the road

The origin of their name is unclear, the only explanation around seems to be that a “wag” named them that (not the footballers wife type)

Widely considered to be a whipping post, but I have heard it suggested it may be nothing more than an old sign post.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

Nearby are some reconstructions of an ironstone tub and kibble.

The Wainstones are a huge natural rock formation, very popular with climbers

There are vast formations such as one resembling a Sphinx head (note climber in for scale to the bottom right of the photo below right)

There are inscriptions all over the rocks, from very modern graffiti to much older beautifully carved names and dates.

There is an inscription somewhere which I failed to find and photograph that was alleged by antiquarians to be a memorial inscription to a slain Danish chieftain, although other explanations were later given that sounds a lot more plausible.

This attractive packhorse bridge crosses the Esk near Glaisdale

The structure bears the date 1619 and the initials T.F. for Thomas Ferris

There are a couple of stories about the bridge, so just choose the one you prefer.

Lost love and the Spanish Armada  or less fancifully a tramp

The Cliff Lift itself is hardly “hidden” being one of the well known and unique features of Saltburn, opened in 1884 this is the oldest remaining water-balance cliff lift in Britain.

Next to the upper station of the lift is a winding wheel that was replaced in 1998

Now that getting out on evenings is once again an option, I hope to be posting a bit more on the site.

I’ve also added a new feature that allows you to see all the sites listed in Google Earth if you have it installed.

Currently the plaque says :-

“In the early nineteenth century Mr Joseph Brown piped water from this spring to a reservoir in the grounds of Whitby Abbey, to provide a clean and reliable water supply to the east side of Whitby”

Apparently a few years ago there was a different plaque. which read.

T’awd Abba Well
Also known as the old Boiling Well

Lang centuries aback
This wor’t awd Abba Well
Saint Hilda veiled i’ black
Lang centuries aback
Supped frey it an no lack
All t sisterhood as well
Lang centuries aback
This wor’t awd Abba Well

Not the best photos in the world, as I only had a mobile phone with me.

Update January 2009

Sheila Welch has kindly provided some slides of the well taken in the 1970s by her father George Towndrow, these show the original plaque still in place.

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.

A short series of posts inspired by looking through my older printed photos, before going digital and before this website existed.

The few remains of a burnt out fire engine are located just South East of the Blue Man-i’-th’-Moss standing stone.

I believe it was caught trying to put out a moorland fire some time in the 1970s.

Duck Bridge was originally known as Danby Castle Bridge (the remains of which are 500m away)

It is probably medieval in original and was rebuilt in 1717 by George Duck of Danby. It was possible to drive across until a ford was built a few years ago.

The Neville Coat of Arms can be seen on the parapet, and a set of stepping stones run beside the bridge.

One of a number of iron gas lamps that can still be spotted around town, I imagine they will all still be around long after the present round of new street lights are gone too.