Wandering around the Nab

Cross Keys – Barnaby Side – Upsall Wood – Upsall Intake – Normanby Intake – Eston Moor – Oxen Hill – Lighthouse Fields – Moorgate Bog – Osborne Rush

Eston

Astun(e) 1086

Eston(a) 1160-72

v. east, tun. Eston is in the east of the parish

An incantation to accompany a dead person into the grave

In Askrigg, Mad Martha of Muker used to sing the following words over every new filled grave

Ancram, Sancram, Ah say Aneran,

rue an’ sorrow weeds binnds mah bru.

A corpse glow leights ma, wick wraiths greet ma.

Neean hears what Ah hears,

neean kens what Ah kens.

Shout Roller.

Marvels, Magic & Witchcraft. David Naitby’s Bedale Treasury. David Kirby. Summerfield Press. 2005

Wandering around Hexham Abbey

We took a trip up to Hexham, I spent half an hour wandering around the Abbey. As you walk into the Abbey you are faced with a Roman Tombstone, discovered in 1881, it is a memorial to Flavinus, a standard bearer. The carving depicts Flavinus riding over, what I presume is, a native Briton, the victors boot planted on his victims backside. The triumphs of past conquests are often displayed our churches, it is rare to see a memorial depicting our own islands conquest and defeat.

The original Saxon church was built using stone from nearby Roman sites. The church has been attacked many times during raids by the Vikings and later the Scots.

To the left of the High Altar is the Leschman Chantry Chapel, containing the tomb of Rowland Leschman, Prior of the Abbey from 1480 to 1491. The carvings on the tomb are an absolute joy.

Kettleness

A coastal walk with Graeme Chappell

Kettleness – Cat Beck – Randy Bell End – Hob Holes – Runswick Sands – White Stones – Redscar Hole – Hill Stones – Kettleness Sand – Kettleness Scar – Wind Hole – Long Sand – White Shoot – Maiden Wyke – Lucky Dogs Hole – Kettleness Alum Works

The Fairies long gone, the sound of Claymoor battledores no long ring over Runswick shores.

Hob has flit, kink coughs go untreated.

A whale lays headless and rotting on the rocks at White Stones. The stench of death and decay is all around, even the gulls avoid this place. We push on, scrambling over rocks, mouth breathing.

17th of December 1829. The village and Alum Works of Kettleness slid down the cliff to the sea. No lives were lost. The village and works were swiftly rebuilt.

Ore was gathered from these beaches when Teesside furnaces were still an idle dream.

Iron returns to its source, the sea reclaims its own

Shap Granite, batholith born, ice borne.

The sun is shining, we are bold.





We wade through whin following a cliff-top path to the Alum Works, we watch Gannets. A very good day.

Middlesbrough Pictorial & Industrial – Harold Hood

Published in 1926 by photographer and commercial printer, Harold Hood, Middlesbrough Pictorial & Industrial is Hoods love letter to Middlesbrough. Hood photographed the town, its people, buildings and industry. He quotes one critic as saying, If they felt about it as I do they would make a bonfire of the place tomorrow, and pitch the statues of its creators head-most into the flames..

This book was his response.