Commondale and the Forgotten Potters of the Home Front
Commondale is a quiet village now, the sort that seems still half asleep by mid-morning. It was not always like this. The arrival of the railway changed everything. A brickworks followed, then a pottery, turning out objects of real quality. When pottery declined, production shifted again. Sanitary w ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/2025/12/16/commondale-and-the-forgotten-potters-of-the-home-front/
The Northernmost Kilns: Commondale’s Forgotten Industry
A view up the narrow valley of Commondale, taken from the weathered lime kilns that still cling to the slopes above Coble Hall. Crumbling and defiant, I reckon they must be the most northerly kilns in the North York Moors, silent witnesses to a brief and curious chapter of i ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/2025/11/10/the-northernmost-kilns-commondales-forgotten-industry/
Tornado in Commondale
This locomotive racing up Commondale may look like a relic of steam’s golden age, but it is in fact a modern creation.
It is the Tornado. Built not in the age of steam, but in 2008. A replica of the Peppercorn Class A1 Pacific, a type once common on Britain’s railways. All of the originals had been scrapped by 1966. Tornado is the only one of its kind to exist. ...
Colmán’s Legacy: From Lindisfarne to Inishbofin (Possibly via Commondale?)
Today marks the anniversary of the death of Colmán of Lindisfarne in the year 675. A fine excuse, I thought, to wander over to Commondale, a place supposedly named after the saint. At least, that is what Tom Scott Burns claimed in The Walker’s Guide to the Cleveland Hills. But, as with most things, it is n ...
http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=37479
#Commondale #NorthYorkMoors #EarlyMedieval #history #prehistoric
Smugglers of the North York Moors
For some inexplicable reason, I find myself riveted by this ruined barn overlooking above the Esk Valley railway. I have taken to photographing it with a slavish devotion, each time I pass, but usually something with more interest has turned up.
This barn, apparently, is recorded on the North York Moors historical monuments database, albeit only with the vagu ...
Fierce Climbs and Fervent Crowds: A Tour of Britain Reflection
A fine day indeed, following Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain. As dusk descends, I find myself utterly depleted, drained not by the event itself, but by the sheer spectacle of enthusiasm displayed by the crowds, who, not unsurprisingly, chose to congregate at the top of the brutal ascent out of Commondale and later thronged Saltburn ba ...
Bigod’s Rebellion and Nicholas Cockerell’s Loyalty Test in Commondale
This morning I was awakened to find a reminder in my calendar. It told me that on this very day back in 1536, King Henry VIII got tough on the Pilgrimage of Grace rebels a hard time. Now, naturally, I pondered where I could saunter off to today that might have a smidgen of relevance to that dusty tidbit. My choice landed on Sk ...
Commondale, or should that be Sleddale?
From Three Howes Rigg, if you look westward, you might've thought you are seeing into Commondale, or maybe Sleddale? Those fields of green let their waters drain into Sleddale Beck. The village of Commondale is tucked away in the dale.
Back in its heyday, that Guisborough Priory was a big landowner in the north of England. It was Robert de Brus from Skelton Castle, ...
Mick Garratt
Dave Tansley
