History Siskiyou County Harry Beck

The North Yorkshire Moors National Park is one of the most gorgeous and scenic areas of this country. Its ever altering scenery, with the seasons of the year, warrants spectacular views all year round.

In late July until early September, the moors give the aspect of being masked in pink/purple velvet, by the beauteous flowers of the moorland heather. There are in fact, three dissimilar types of heather, Erica tetralix – a cross leaved heath, Erica onrea – bell heather, and Calluna vulgaris, normally called ‘ling’. The moors comprise and sustain an abundance of wildlife. The North Yorkshire Moors in particular, is home to the Red Grouse. Grouse shooting plays an indispensable role in the economy of the area, as it impacts on the farmers, the local people by way of ‘beating’ etc., and the accommodation suppliers in the local vicinity.

The revenue from the Grouse shooting enables the management of the moors by the farmers, including regular burning off of the old course heather, to make way for the younger shoots providing feed for the young grouse and the moorland sheep. There are a number of dissimilar varieties of birds present here including merlin and lapwings, and a good deal of not so pleasant wildlife in the form of adders and grass snakes!

There are a good deal of picturesque villages within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, which have benefited with the elaboration of tourism to the area. The most well known of the moorland villages is Goathland. This village has come to the fore, primarily due to the television production of ‘Heartbeat’. This beautiful village has a history dating back to the Vikings. Sheep freely wander along the village keeping the greens conservatively manicured, pausing to beg titbits from visitors (don’t feed them, they become a nuisance). They have a mutual right granted by the Duchy of Lancaster, to graze the village greens and the surrounding moorland.

The station at Goathland is served by the North Yorks Moors Railway. Little seems to have changed here since it was in ordinary use with the introduction of the Whitby – Pickering railway in the 1830s. It was the setting of Hogsmeade Station in the primary Harry Potter movie. The station itself was closed in 1965 but in 1968 the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust Ltd. helped by galore volunteers, formed a group to operate the railway amongst Grosmont and Pickering and the primary passenger service commenced in 1973.

Village life changed dramatically in 1991 when a film crew arrived to film ‘Heartbeat’, a television series set in the 1960′s depicting a fabricated local police station in the village of Aidensfield (Goathland). This popular television series continued to film in and around the area until 2010 when the series was axed. A local hotel became the Aidensfield Arms (Aiden – after a local saint), the local garage became Scripps Garage and funeral directors, and the village store became Aidensfield Stores. Visitors to the village would many times find filming taking place in and around the area, the double yellow road lines ofttimes being covered up for authenticity. The village store and post office are without delay recognisable, as is the war memorial erected on the village green in 1922 which is a reproduction of the Lilla Cross. Goathland Exhibition Centre is magnificent for finding out regarding the local area and traditions and a priceless source of info with regards to walks etc.

There are a lot of pretty waterfalls in the prompt area, the Mallyan Spout is a 60 – 70 feet high waterfall most spectacular after heavy rainfall. The path to the waterfall is accessed by a riverside walk starting near the Mallyan Spout Hotel. Part of the walk is through some woods and will take you up to the Spout itself and, in fact, beneath it! Walker Mill Foss and Nelly Ayre Foss are likewise worth a visit.

Not far from Goathland is a pretty little hamlet called Beckhole. In the early 1830′s when the Whitby to Pickering Railway was being constructed through the valley, the incline at Beckhole meant that the carriages (horse drawn initially and consisting of stage coaches placed on top of bogies) had to be hauled by a perplexed scheme of wire ropes, pulleys and water filled tanks. Steam was introduced in 1845 but still they had to be hauled up the incline. Charles Dickens was an early passenger and thought the route ‘hair-raising’. Many accidents occurred and, after a fatality in 1864, it was decisive that an substitute route be made. In 1865 such a route was made by blasting through solid rock. Around the 1850′s Beckhole was involved in the excavation of iron ore and in 1857 two blast furnaces were constructed by the river, but this was shortlived. By 1867 the mines had closed and the furnaces dismantled.

The village pub, The Birch Hall Inn, was granted a licence to trade beer and cider, and it was not until 1960 that a full licence to trade spirits was granted. An old and quaint building consisting of two cottages, it has an strange sign outside, an oil painting of a waterfall and the moors which was painted by Algernon Newton RA. There are two bars, the ‘big bar’, with seating, fireplace and a serving hatch to order through, and the ‘small bar’which has direct access to the outside, and in amid a little shop selling sweets, ice-creams etc. The bars amongst them could accommodate regarding 30 persons!! It is a welcome stop for the galore hikers who trek the North Yorkshire Moors. There are a lot of walks around this area well documented in respective publications.

A mile or so west of Beckhole is the finelooking picturesque Randy Mere Reservoir, which was the last place in England for commercially accumulated leeches. Apparently they are still there! Thomason Foss located on the Ellerbeck on the approach to Beckhole is one of the very a great deal of waterfalls in the area. With a height of 10 feet the water falls into a deep pool with overhanging rocks and branches. The stone bridge next to the Birch Hall Inn was built in 1873 to replace the wooden footbridge alongside an old fording point over Eller Beck.

Along the route of the old Whitby – Pickering Railway there is the village of Grosmont. The setting up of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Trust has ensured that a finelooking stretch of railway amid here and Pickering has been held open. The station is like a scene from times past, in truth the NYMR holds ‘wartime weekends’, whereupon galore members of the public dress in the style of the wartime years. The station is wheelchair accessible. Further along the line, the engine sheds are of outstanding interest as a lot of volunteers are renovating the old engines and carriages etc. These may be viewed by the pathway running alongside.

In the early part of the 19th century along with the neighbouring villages, Grosmont was primarily involved in the mining and smelting of iron ore. There were quarries and clay pits used for making the widely known and esteemed ‘Grosmont’bricks. A high quality red brick employed in the building of some houses in Whitby and surrounding areas. Once again there is little left of this former industrial history.

Another village playing an indispensable role in the iron-ore industry and helping to establish nearby Middlesbrough as a major steel -producing town was Glaisdale, Blast furnaces operated here from 1866 to 1876 but there is now little proof remaining of that or in truth of the thriving weaving trade in the 16th and 17th century. Today it is a gorgeous rural village of stone built houses and cottages where a great deal of walks may be found. A station is here for the Esk Valley Line. The main village of Glaisdale is approximately a mile away. Beggar’s Bridge was built over Glaisdale Beck in 1619 by Thomas Ferries son of a local moorland farmer.

He was considered unsuitable by the father of Agnes Richardson, the daughter of a wealty Glaisdale landowner. Legend has it that Tom was called upon to join the English Fleet, but the river was in flood and he was unable to cross the river to let Agnes recognise he was going. He fought alongside Drake and in the long run made his fortune whereupon he returned to Glaisdale a wealthy man. Agnes’s father accorded to the marriage and they married and went to Hull where he became Mayor. It is said he built the bridge as a memorial to his wife so that other lovers could cross the river in safety and not be parted.’

The most eminent point on the North Yorkshire Moors is just past Saltersgate on the Whitby Pickering road. It is here that the widely known and esteemed Hole of Horcum may be viewed. It is a natural amphitheatre, a quarter of a mile wide, a mile long and 600 feet deep. Commonly known as the ‘Devil’s Punch Bowl’ it is a fist shaped valley formed by the action of springs along a boundary of two rock layers. Springs and rainwater seep through porous rocks, and the water gradually erodes the sides of the ‘hole’ and enlarges it over a heap of thousands of years.

The Hole of Horcum is percentage of the Newtondale Valley, occasionally called the Grand Canyon of England, formed from a glacial lake. These tabular hills are the southern boundary of the North Yorkshire Moors, from the holiday resort town of Scarborough in the east to Hambleton in the west. Legend has it that the giant Wade and his wife Bell who lived in the castle at Mulgrave near Sandsend, had a massive argument and in temper he picked a fistful of soil (The Hole of Horcum) and then threw it at his wife, missing her it landed and formed Blakey Ridge.

The North Yorkshire Moors are well worth a visit whatsoever time of year. There is so much to see and do. Walking, cycling, fishing, sightseeing, orienteering, the list is endless. For a holiday visit, the numerous villages provide an assortment of accommodation from hotels and guest houses to self-catering cottages and houses.

History Siskiyou County Harry Beck Image

History Siskiyou County Harry Beck Image

History Siskiyou County Harry Beck Picture

History Siskiyou County Harry Beck Image

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
The History of CRAIGHEAD COUNTY Arkansas
By A
This is an splendid book for geneology buffs that was written by a Craighead County native and copyrighted in 1930. It covers the time amount of time before Arkansas was a state and includes subdivisions of Craighead County history that include the people who settled and formulated this region up until the time that he wrote the book.

This book likewise holds chapters of info regarding the growth of the region and when it comes to towns and villages, cemeteries, churches, schools, civil and world wars plus some other informing and funny stories when it comes to Craighead County.

It is an splendid source of data for historians and persons searching their ancestry. It likewise includes a “Who’s Who” section of prominent citizens and also has an splendid index that was added in 1977 that allows for more comfortable exploration of names.

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