Hidden Teesside

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.

The site of the last fresh water spring in Guisborough, unfortunately doesn’t run any more and is currently full of litter.

Near the end of Fountain Street, where there was a fountain and a lake in front of the original Guisborough Hall on Bow Street which was demolished in 1847.

This was an easy one for me as i’m now walking past it on my way into work every day at Corus Steel House.

The plaque has seen better days, but it says the 9 tonne block was extracted from the Eston mine in 1850 and stood outside the head offices of Bolckow & Vaughan until 1982.

Making sure to be aware of the tides, the trip between Staithes and Port Mulgrave is a good one, unfortunately I forgot the memory card in the camera, so only phone photos this time.
Old Nab has the remains of ‘bord and pillar’ working now clearly visible on the shore

Along much of the northern part of Brackenberry Wyke exposes the ‘Pecten’ Ironstone seam, with the fossil shells the seam is named after covering the area.

A large adit into ironstone seams is visible in the cliff at the north end of the Wyke, these workings once extended up to 1km inland although now they are collapsed after a very short distance, the cliff above is also very unstable with stones constantly falling.

A smaller collapsed adit is visible just a few meters south of the larger one

Much further to the south, just before the large landslip known as Sheepstones, there is another large adit.

However this is a good distance up the cliff and its impossible to tell if it travels from any distance, it would seem extremely unlikely given the fragile nature of all the cliffs in this area.

Though I had better make a quick post just to prove I wasn’t dead in a collapsed mine. Holidays, work and forgotten memory cards for camera have slowed postings in June/July.

Teesaurus Park is one of those places that many locals don’t even know exists. First opened in the late 70s with the T-Rex

Other were added in 1987, I think this is a bronotsaurus in the bushes.

If you want to split hairs the mammoth came about 65 million years after the dinosaurs.

The cheerful brachiasaurus

The stegosaurus

On top of the hill a triceratops family

The sculptures were built by workers on the government Youth and Employment Training Scheme, its a shame the council can’t see their way to giving them all a lick of paint a bit more often.

Two entrances to Jet workings are easily located next to a path alongside Bold Venture Gill. The workings extend perhaps 20m in a grid pattern.

The tunnels are large enough to stand upright in and have very few collapsed areas.

This second set of jet working located about 300m away are much more unstable, three holes surrounded by fencing have opened up. The floor inside is littered with collapses and it can only be a matter of time before they totally collapse.

This whole area of the woodland shows much evidence of collpases from jet workings just below the surface and many more must still exist.

A pair of pill boxes guard both side of Blacks Bridge between Marske and Redcar.

This level of defense is probably due to it being adjacent to the site of the Marske Aerodrome, now only referenced in road names such as Barnes Wallis Way.

Blink Bonny is apparently Norse for “nice view” and it certainly is (although not on the day I visited due to low cloud)

The drift was associated with the Ailesbury Mines to the north east, a collapsed drift can be seen in the hillside, with the tip in front now being home to a bench and viewpoint.

The are numerous other tips and collapses in the area at the same level as these working.

Calcining is the process of roasting iron ore making it more suitable from blast furnaces, these structures are similar to the larger and more obvious kilns in Rosedale.

The location can easily be approached through the woods to the North West along the old railway line which goes directly to the kilns. A large shale tip can be seen through the trees just before arriving.

A groove can be seen in the North West end, presumably it once housed a chute of some kind to load into waggons on the railway below.

The South East end also has brickwork standing approximately 10m high.

The back wall of the kilns are the majority of the remains, as the front wall and any dividers have collapsed into a large spread of rubble in front, some of the retaining fittings are still visible in this rubble.

Layers of firebricks burnt red by extreme heat and it places completely burnt away, can still be seen in position along the back wall.

The structure was surveyed in much more detail by John Owen and published in Cleveland Industrial Archaeologist No. 22.

The ROC post is situated at the top of Ruebury Hill

The hatch is not locked and the ladder still in place, i didn’t venture inside today but you can see pictures of that here

There are the remains of an aircraft post right next to the bunker.

Update May 2008 - Interior photos.

Sump pump and switches

Vintage newspaper and targets on bedframe

Original batteries (no mains) and chemical toilet

An entrance to extensive jet workings opened beside the footpath during forestry work in 2002 and was subsequently explored by the Moldywarps Speleo Group and Scarborough Cave Club. Nearly 1000m of passages were discovered, their investigation and mapping being covered in much details in Cleveland Industrial Archeology No. 30.
The entrance is now gated and locked, although looking down into an adjacent small collapse gives a good idea of the narrow and fragile passages through the shale.

The area of surrounding woodland is littered with collapses relating to the workings, some of the larger ones very dangerous due to ground cover, depth and collapsing sides.

In fields to the south west, three parallel collapses are visible and a large shale tip still scars the hillside. These show up particularly well if you click the “Show On Map” link at the top of this post.

At the site of the old Portrack Incinerator, now a nature reserve

Children from High Clarence, Tilery & Norton Primary Schools in Stockton worked with local artist Andrew McKeown to design the artwork.

Warren Moor has the only standing chimney of any ironstone mine in the area, dating from the 1860s

A completely flooded 220ft downcast shaft can be seen from the path.

Between the two shafts are the foundations of a winding engine.

A vaulted roof leads from the foundations of a pumping house to the upcast shaft.

The upcast shaft is estimated to be 150ft deep, not reaching the Main Seam ironstone and not connected to the downcast hence the differing water levels in each.

A number of surface drifts can be seen on the hillside to the north east which worked the Top Seam.

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.

Any ideas ?

As with the nearby cementstone mine at Kettleness, these are also positioned at the top of a quarry just below the sandstone cap, making for a pretty tricky scramble.

Three adjacent entrances can be found, all appear to have suffered collapses from the loose shale roof so exploration isn’t the best idea.

The leftmost tunnel slopes steeply downwards, i’m unsure if they were built dug this way or whether its just successive heaped up roof collapses leading down to the level of the original drift.

Access to the central tunnel is tighter, although a similar flat area at the bottom of the slope could be seen when I stuck the camera over the top.

 The rightmost entrance has totally collapsed and only a small gap is left.

Another entrance is visible high on a ledge to the north, but access to that looks to be virtually impossible without climbing gear.

Due to its position just below the sandstone cap, this is thought to be a trial drift for cementstone, post-dating the end of quarrying in 1871. A cement works at Sandsend stayed open until 1935.

The adit only appear to be about 10m long, but the roof was flaking shale and I didn’t fancy exploring too deeply.

Alum production occurred at Kettleness from 1727 until 1871. This has radically altered the appearance of the area.

The original Alum house at beach level was destroyed by a huge landslide in 1829, what now appear to be cliffs are the face of the quarry where the sandstone over the shale has been removed.

The remains of the second alum house are on a flat area on the west side of the works, foundations remain and jet mines can be found under the platform which holds the building. The whole area is covered is loose blown shale where little grows.
 

The foundations of another building can be seen on the eastern edge of the site.

To the south of the building are a number of steeping pits which are slowly being lost over the cliff edge.

The remains of stone conduits used to transport liquids are also visible in the south east.

To the north of the steeping pits is the top of a cistern, again collapsing over the cliff edge.

There are a huge number of features around the site although they are often difficult to interpret due to being buried by the constantly shifting shale, they are however extensively covered in English Heritage survey AI/24/2003

There are numerous photos of this structure being unearthed by the York University Cave and Pothole Club back in 2006. They called it a mine and while there are jet mines below the Alum House, this is at a much higher level.

To me the construction looks more like some sort of storage tank and it appears to end with a wall rather than a collapse. Also the suspended wooden planks which would allow access above the liquid below.

Some time between my last photos on 20/04/08 and 05/05/08 the portal of the tunnel completely collapsed as the metal bracing seem to have finally snapped. Just glad I wasn’t underneath taking a photo at the time !

Access is still possible although there are still a few dangerous stones overhanging.

A long overdue return with a decent torch and decent camera.

The Kettleness portal is looking much closer to collapse than ever before, with a large amount of soil falling through from above and large stones hanging.

Although once inside this end of the tunnel constructed from large blocks still looks very solid, although there was some bowing of the walls and collapsed layers of brick in certain areas towards the brick-built Sandsend end.

There are four ventilation shafts along the length of the tunnel, which seem to come in large and small varieties. All are capped, with fallen bricks and water cascading down them.

There are two escape shafts which run from the bottom of air shafts, although both looked extremely muddy due to the water from the shafts so we didn’t venture down them.

There are some impressive mineral formations lining the walls of the tunnel.

Also stalactites growing from the roof.

Dozens of alcoves line the full length of the tunnel, with the occasional bit of amusing graffiti.

Exiting at the Sandsend portal is a small climb, although once you’re jumped over the wall there’s no easy way to go back.