Mick Garratt

The Ancient Hollow-Way to Nowhere in Particular

The Public Bridleway from the hamlet of Urra winds its way up to another Right of Way that follows Billy’s Dyke, that Bronze Age boundary fortification of earth and stone. This grand construction supposedly gets its name from Billy Norman, better known elsewhere as William the Conqueror, ...

fhithich.uk/2025/04/03/the-anc

#Bilsdale #NorthYorkMoors #Urra #etymology #history #mediaeval

Mick Garratt

The Nuns’ Well: The Last Remains of St Andrews Priory

The so-called Nuns’ Well in Ryedale is a peculiar sight, sitting incongruously among the trees. A perfect circle, 2.4 metres across, with a stepped stone base and sides, it is thought to be medieval. Its water, fed by springs, is clear enough to impress those easily impressed by such things. It lies due north of the site of the Benedictine ...

fhithich.uk/?p=37422

#Hawnby #NorthYorkMoors #Ryedale #history #mediaeval

Mick Garratt

A Dreary Day, a Doubtful Saint, and Too Much Christmas

A dreary, cold day, though mercifully not freezing, but with rain looming. St. Thomas’ Day Eve—dedicated to the patron saint of doubt—drapes itself in the sort of gloom that makes you wonder why you bothered to look out the window. That housing estate west of Guisborough in today’s photo? I had been blind to its charms until no ...

fhithich.uk/?p=37025

#Guisborough #HuttonLowcross #NorthYorkMoors #folklore #mediaeval

Mick Garratt

From Leprosy to Ropewalks: The Forgotten History of Spital Beck

A tired old fishing boat, its hull a faded patchwork of blue and white, sits abandoned on the shingles at Whitby harbour, marooned by the tide and neglect. It has not tasted the sea in years. This sad tableau, no doubt, repeats itself in harbours all around our coast. In the background, a jumble of red-tiled buildings line the shore, framed by ...

fhithich.uk/?p=36989

#whitby #18thcentury #history #mediaeval

Mick Garratt

The Aiggin Stone: a Resilient Guidepost of Blackstone Edge

On a damp, somewhat joyless morning, we embarked on a foray up Blackstone Edge, detouring briefly from the misery of the M62 to scale this Pennine hill. Past the summit trig. point and “Robin Hood’s Bed”—an erratic boulder unceremoniously perched there as though in mockery—we came upon the Aiggin Stone, a relic with pretensions of history that some mig ...

fhithich.uk/?p=36681

#BlackstoneEdge #Pennines #mediaeval

Mick Garratt

Kildale’s Wet Dig

And so the rains came to St. Hilda’s chapel, bringing a somewhat damp close to the archaeological dig season in picturesque Kildale. What mysteries lie behind those enigmatic stone footings — which bear more than a passing resemblance to a garden feature than to any sacred structure — must now remain hidden for yet another year. The grandly dubbed ‘cloisters,’ a few len ...

fhithich.uk/?p=36467

#Kildale #NorthYorkMoors #Archaeology #history #mediaeval

Mick Garratt

From Widheris to Wether House: A Farmstead’s History

On Wetherhouse Moor, nature is quietly concealing the remains of a post-medieval farmstead beneath the watchful eye of a solitary sycamore. Of the original three ranges, little can be discerned now, save for a crumbling gable end of a barn. It has, for more than a century, since the last tenants left, been steadily yield ...

fhithich.uk/?p=36328

#Bilsdale #FangdaleBeck #NorthYorkMoors #19thcentury #history #mediaeval

From Widheris to Wether House: A Farmstead’s History

On Wetherhouse Moor, nature is quietly concealing the…

Out & About ...
Mick Garratt

An Echo of Grosmont Priory

The Grandmontine Priory of Grosmont was established around 1200 at a site overlooking the River Esk. It was one Joan de Turnham who granted the site to the monks, and according to the deed of gift, a "mansion house" already existed there. Its surrounding fields, covering about 200 acres, were already in cultivation, evidenced by the use of the word "l ...

fhithich.uk/?p=35925

#Grosmont #NorthYorkMoors #RiverEsk #19thcentury #mediaeval #monastic

Mick Garratt

A Path up Little Roseberry, Everything has a History

On the hills and moors lie many landscape features, their origins lost in the mists of time. Contemplating their history evokes me with a sense of curiosity. Take, for instance, the path ascending towards the deep notch in the Little Roseberry spur—it stands as a prime example.

The erosion scored into the slope su ...

fhithich.uk/?p=35096

#LittleRoseberry #NorthYorkMoors #RoseberryCommon #RoseberryTopping #mediaeval

A Path up Little Roseberry, Everything has a History

On the hills and moors lie many landscape features,…

Out & About ...
Mick Garratt

Parvus Othensberg

Many will be aware with the old name for Roseberry Topping as "Othenesberg," dating back to a 12th-century medieval charter. The initial element, a relic of Old Norse, traces its origins to the personal name Óthinn or Authunn. The subsequent constituent, also Old Norse, derives from "bjarg," meaning a rock, thereby bequeathing the toponym "Óthinn's rock." "Topping," comes from the York ...

fhithich.uk/?p=33895

#NorthYorkMoors #RoseberryCommon #mediaeval

Helen Pugh

Preparing for upcoming talks about my book Unsung Women in Somerset and realising I now need to know how to pronounce these Anglo-Saxon names! 🤣

#history #anglosaxon #medieval #mediaeval #histodon

Louise Locock

Only in #Italy does a local cake festival merit a full historical costume parade with band and flag throwers. #Mantua #Mantova #Sbrisolona #Mediaeval

Bríd McGrath

Delighted to have this great book on #mediaeval & #earlyModern #Kilkenny. Another lovely publication from @FourCourtsPress. It gave me a chance to explore how the city’s #MPs used #parliament to protect themselves & civic autonomy at a time of great political pressure.

Mick Garratt

The carved stone of the Park Pale

Someone asked me to show them a carved stone on Warren Moor. Many years have slipped by since I last saw it, so I figured it'd be wise to retrace my steps and locate it again – can't have my memory playing tricks on me.

The stone didn't put up much of a fight to remain hidden. Nestled along a stretch of weathered dry-stone wall, perched atop an earthwork bank ...

fhithich.uk/?p=32844

#Kildale #NorthYorkMoors #WarrenMoor #mediaeval

Peter Ravn Rasmussen

Happy #Lammastide, to all who celebrate!

[Image from the Oscott Psalter, c. 1265-1270, in the British Library, f.4v]

#mediaeval #illumination #13thcentury #harvest #middleages #history #seasons

Richard III Society of Canada

Tewkesbury Abbey: An old postcard. The Abbey was near the site of the battle in 1471 and several Lancastrians sought sanctuary there after the battle. However, since it was not an official place of sanctuary, King Edward IV had the men dragged out and killed. #Medieval #Mediaeval #WarsoftheRoses

Peter Ravn Rasmussen

War #elephant, #illustration in a late 12th century #English #bestiary.

The accompanying #Latin text quotes Gaius Julius #Solinus (early 3rd century compiler, commonly known as Solinus Polyhistor), himself quoting the description of elephants in the "Naturalis Historia" of #Pliny the Elder (23/24 CE - 79 CE).

In the #British #Library, #manuscript Add MS 11283, f.4r.

#mediaeval #art #illumination #12thCentury #animal

Mick Garratt

Hunter’s Sty Bridge

The River Esk has a few single-arched bridges, but the best one is probably the Hunter's Sty Bridge. It's located at the bottom of Huntersty, the 'steep path of the hunters,' just past the northern end of Westerdale village.

Hunter's Sty Bridge was most likely built in the late 13th century to provide access to the Royal Forest of Pickering, although some believe t ...

fhithich.uk/?p=31840

#NorthYorkMoors #RiverEsk #Westerdale #history #mediaeval

Mick Garratt

Black Hambleton

The glooming mass of the flat-topped Black Hambleton, the northern end of the calcareous Tabular Hills that range from Roulston Scar in the south.

Climbing up to its right is Hambleton Street, part of the drover’s road that once extended from Scotland along which cattle were driven to be sold at the markets of York, Malton and beyond. The trade was established i ...

fhithich.uk/?p=31592

#BlackHambleton #NorthYorkMoors #TabularHills #folklore #mediaeval

Black Hambleton

The glooming mass of the flat-topped Black Hambleton,…

Fhithich
Archaeoptics

This is a #3d #laserscan of a knight from Rosslyn Chapel
near #Edinburgh. The scan is from 2001 and was done with our first Polhemus3D scanner.

We also scanned some masons marks and other bits and pieces whilst there. #mediaeval #archaeology