Ayton Banks Wood

A view taken from the top of Cliff Rigg, the farm on the right is Rye Hill, which was on the south-eastern boundary of the ancient open field system known as ‘Wood Field’. Beyond was the common land, formerly ‘Dikes’. Just a hawthorn hedge, probably dating from the time of enclosure in 1658, separates the two.

A distant view of Captain Cook’s Monument from the footpath to Cliff Ridge Wood.

Footpath number 10.92/5 at the approach to a footbridge close to Little Ayton.

The Leven is a curious little river, seemingly unable to decide which way to go. The headwaters head north east as if to join the becks that run into the Esk, but this way is blocked by glacial debris, so it turns west to flow through Great Ayton, Stokesley and Hutton Rudby, at which point it is only a short distance from waters heading into the Wiske and eventually the Swale. At the last moment the Leven makes up its mind and carves a deep valley to meet the Tees below Yarm.

Bridleway number 10.92/1 approaching Brookside Farm where there is a farm shop, cafe and several rather small goats.

This looks like a steep descent, but it's only a short descent before levelling out through the forest on Coate Moor.

An easy stretch across near level moorland, but on this occasion the fierce NW headwind made progress difficult.

A heavily used path that is part of the Cleveland Way and is also the easiest way to the Captain Cook monument from the road. Much less litter [particularly doggy poo bags slung into trees] than on my last visit. No doubt some clearing up by public spirited people.

This is footpath number 10.57/001, which I suspected might have been on the line of an old tramway, but I was wrong. There were old tramways serving mines in this area, but this wasn't one of them. Plenty of new tree saplings in evidence, with the area to the left pockmarked by old mine drifts and spoil heaps.

Something of a guessing game here. Are these from old alum mines, jet workings or iron mines? Mick Garratt is the local expert and a similar photo by him describes the tips as from the old Ayton Banks iron ore mine. I'm not so sure, as old 6" OS maps from between the 1850's and 1920's show various mining activities on this hillside. Those highest up are from Alum mines, which produce a lot of shale, but they were higher than this and probably long abandoned. The old maps show several small tips running in a line along the hillside at this level from old jet workings, and I suspect these tips are from those workings. The iron mine was a little further south in the adjoining square, so I don't think these tips are to do with the iron mining industry.

The initial thought is that these must have been erected for miners in the local iron ore mine or even for the jet mining, but the dates don't seem to match. The terrace first appears on the 1913 OS map, and it seems that they were for quarrymen working in the Whinstone quarry further down the hill. The whinstone follows the long thin line of the Cleveland Dyke which runs across much of the North York Moors from Great Ayton towards Robin Hood's Bay with the best deposits at this western end. Quarrying for whinstone, largely used in road construction, carried on in this area until the 1960's.

I thought I would have a look around the Ayton Banks Ironstone Mine before the summer vegetation growth takes hold, only to find when I got home that I have already posted a photo of the old drift entrance. But that was an eternity ago, in January 2015. Ayton Banks Ironstone Mine was the smallest of the three mines around Great Ayton, containing about 1½ million tons of rather poor quality ironstone. It was completely surrounded by the workings of the Pease & Partners’ Ayton Mine — that’s its official name which must have led to some confusion and probably one of the reasons why locally that was called ‘Monument Mine’. To give some comparison, in 1917, Ayton Banks Mine was producing 1,500 tons per week whereas Monument Mine was 2,100 per week. Ayton Banks was operated by the Tees Furnace Company, which at the time also ran the Roseberry Mine. The mine is pretty unique in that due to its constricted surface works, there was no room below the mine entrance to dump spoil below the drift entrance and so had to be transported up the slope. Another difficulty, which Ayton Banks shared with Monument Mine, is that the whinstone dyke had to be penetrated in order to access the ore to the north of it. Initially a branch line provided a connection to the whinstone quarry’s narrow gauge railway and thence onto the mainline sidings, but soon an aerial ropeway was constructed connecting with sidings near the foot of Cliff Rigg. The bases for these ropeway towers can be seen today in Cliff Rigg Wood. The featured image shows a concrete bunker and behind a chute where the ironstone was tipped into the ropeway tubs. In the cutting I counted at least three bases, possibly for the ropeway or engine or boiler foundations. One photo shows a group of boy miners with their ponies at Ayton Banks mine. Left to Right: Harold Robinson; Henry Hogben; George Williamson; George Haswell; Robert Bennison; George Bailey; Marvin Porritt. In the photo, George Williamson seems happy, the others stare tentatively into the Edwardian camera unsure whether to smile. The ponies look quite comical under their skull caps. The 1911 census records that Williamson was born in 1900, Hogben 1902 and Haswell 1899. So I guess the photo was taken about the mid-1910s. In 1913, another pony boy, John Garbutt, aged just 14 so would have been born in the same year as Haswell, was killed in Ayton Banks Mine, crushed by a wagon. At the inquiry it was found that Garbutt was killed as “the result of his own improper conduct” presumably absolving the company of all responsibility. Perhaps the lads were thinking of their lost friend. The mine had a short operational life. From 1909, at the height of the boom years to the post-war depression in 1921. For links, references and supplementary photo, see my blog Link

The relatively small patch of heather moorland around Captain Cook’s Monument has recently been strip mowed. This photo is technically of a strip on Little Ayton Moor, north of the parish boundary wall, but the area surrounding the monument, Easby Moor, also has at least two parallel strips. The moors are technically dry upland heath, a habitat dominated by dwarf shrubs, especially heather. It should support a particular variety of plants and animals, including rare and scarce species of plants, birds and invertebrates. But it has to be maintained to keep it such. On larger areas of moorland which are intensively managed for grouse shooting, a diverse range of heather ages will undoubtably benefit grouse. The chicks need young heather shoots for feeding while nesting in the taller, older heather. This diversity of heather is traditionally achieved by rotational burning, a season which lasts from 1 October to 15 April. It is a process which also damages rough grass, gorse, bracken and species such as bilberries. Anything which does not benefit the grouse. Local extinctions of reptiles, insects and small mammals must be a severe risk. Of course, some birds do benefit from the same environment as maximises grouse numbers: Curlew, Lapwing, Golden Plover and Merlin, and these are often cited by gamekeepers as justification for their management techniques. I guess the aims behind this strip mowing of heather on Little Ayton and Easby moors are two fold. Firstly. to increase diversity of heather age and secondly as a firebreak. I can’t honestly see anyone trying to shoot grouse on Capt. Cook’s Monument so I guess that creation of firebreaks is the main consideration. Firebreaks can provide important habitats for reptiles such as Common Lizards and adders which bask in the open areas which are created. What it shows is that habitats such as upland heath can be achieved by mowing rather than rotational burning.

One of the many small stations on the Esk Valley Line between Middlesbrough and Whitby. This section of railway was opened in 1864, and remarkably escaped the Beeching Cuts a century later.

Monument erected on Easby Moor in memory of local lad, Captain James Cook - the celebrated 18th Century navigator and explorer. The Cleveland Way takes an abrupt right turn at the obelisk, to head due north.

The Cleveland Way takes to dark plantation between Kildale and Roseberry Topping.

The National Trail heading into the forest on Coate Moor