Ironstone
Cleveland ironstone was mined and quarried from around 500BC, as evidenced by an ancient bloomery site (where malleable iron is produced directly from iron ore) on Levisham Moor. Large-scale working didn’t commence until around 1850, when coastal and moorland locations, such as Skinningrove and Rosedale, were exploited. As the steelworks developed, the tiny coastal village of Skinningrove became known as the Iron Valley. Ironstone from Rosedale was transported over the moors by rail to the blast furnaces in Middlesbrough. Huge quantities of coal had to be shipped to the area, as industry and commerce were hungry for the iron that was produced. The last local ironstone mine, at North Skelton, closed in 1964. The number of steelworks in Middlesbrough has greatly reduced, while Skinningrove only just manages to remain in production.
The Rosedale Ironstone Railway seen at the top of Rosedale Chimney Bank (Walk 30)
Fishing and whaling
The coastal towns and villages thrived on fishing, especially herring fishing, until stocks dwindled. In Whitby, mainly from the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries, the fishing fleets turned their attention to whaling. Whalers often spent months at sea and didn’t always return with a catch, but when they did, regular catches would bring great wealth to the town. Whale blubber was rendered for its oil, which was highly prized because when it burned it gave a bright and fairly soot-free light. Whenever the fishing settlements fell on hard times, smuggling provided an alternative form of employment, most notably at Robin Hood’s Bay.
Grouse shooting
Some visitors imagine that the moors have always been there and represent the true wilderness qualities of the area, but this is untrue. The moors have been man-managed over a long period of time and will only continue to exist with year-round maintenance. The uniform heather moorlands are largely a 19th-century creation, managed entirely for the sport of grouse shooting.
The red grouse, essentially a British bird, is tied to the heather moorlands on which it depends for food and shelter. Walkers know it for its heart-stopping habit of breaking cover from beneath their feet, then flying low while calling, ‘go back, go back, go back’. It is a wonderfully camouflaged bird, spending all its time in the heather. Grouse graze on young heather shoots but need deep heather for shelter. Natural moorlands present a mosaic of vegetation types, but as the sport of grouse shooting developed in the 19th century, it became clear that a uniform heather habitat, which favours the grouse above all other species, would result in much greater numbers of birds to shoot.
Moorland management required vegetation to be burnt periodically, and as heather seeds are more fire-resistant than other seeds, heather cover quickly became dominant. Drainage ditches were also dug to dry out boggy ground and encourage further heather growth. Heather was burnt and regrown in rotation to provide short heather for feeding and deep ‘leggy’ heather for shelter. Gamekeepers were employed to shoot or trap ‘vermin’, so that grouse could flourish free of predators; however, it remains difficult to control intestinal parasites that often result in the birds being in poor condition. Harsh winters and cold wet springs can also cause devastating losses among the grouse population. What’s more, old paths used by shooting parties have been widened for vehicular use, sometimes rather insensitively.
Come the Glorious Twelfth, or 12 August, the grouse-shooting season opens with teams of beaters driving the grouse towards the shooters, who station themselves behind shooting butts. Some moorlands charge very high prices for a day’s shooting, and shoots are very much a social occasion. Walkers who despise blood sports should, nevertheless, bear in mind that without grouse shooting the moors would not be managed and would revert to scrub. A lot of moorland has been lost to forestry and agriculture, and managing the moors for shooting prevents further loss. What remains today is England’s greatest unbroken expanse of heather moorland, and most visitors are keen to see it preserved.
Boulder-studded heather on the lower slopes of Easterside Hill (Walk 10)
North York Moors today
The North York Moors National Park Authority maintains an up-to-date website full of current contact information, events information and a comprehensive wealth of notes that go well beyond the scope of this guidebook. Be sure to check it in advance of any visit at www.northyorkmoors.org.uk
Getting to the North York Moors
By air and sea
The nearest practical airports to the North York Moors are Leeds/Bradford and Teeside, although good rail connections allow ready access from the London airports and Manchester Airport. The nearest practical ferry ports are Hull and Newcastle.
By rail
Good rail connections from around the country serve the busy tourist resort of Scarborough throughout the day. To a lesser extent, Whitby can be reached by direct rail services from Middlesbrough, which would suit most travellers from the north-east. Other railway stations to consider include Malton, on account of its summer weekend Moorsbus services, and Saltburn, which connects with regular Arriva bus services. Check the National Rail website to plan journeys to and from the area, www.nationalrail.co.uk tel 03457 484950.
By bus
Daily National Express buses run to Scarborough and Whitby – www.nationalexpress.com. Daily Yorkshire Coastliner buses run from Leeds and York to Scarborough and Whitby – www.yorkbus.co.uk. Daily Arriva bus services from the north-east run to Guisborough, Whitby and Scarborough – www.arrivabus.co.uk/north-east. Daily East Yorkshire Motor Services buses run from Hull and the surrounding area to Scarborough – www.eyms.co.uk.
Getting around the North York Moors
Moorsbus
The Moorsbus is a network of special low-cost bus services, often tying in with other bus and rail services to link some of the more popular little towns and villages with some of the more remote parts of the national park. Walkers who wish to make use of Moorsbus services should obtain a current timetable either from the national park authority or from tourist information centres. Timetables and places served tend to change each year, but as a general rule, services operate on summer Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays. It is essential to obtain up-to-date information, starting with the Moorsbus website, www.moorsbus.org
Moorsbus services link the towns with dales and remote moors
Buses
Other bus services are also available in the national park. Arriva buses run excellent regular daily services around the northern part of the North York Moors, as well as along the coast from Staithes to Whitby and Scarborough – www.arrivabus.co.uk/north-east. Scarborough & District buses cover the southern parts of the North York Moors, between Scarborough and Helmsley, and along the coast from Scarborough to Ravenscar, www.eyms.co.uk. Other operators include Transdev, which serves Helmsley from York,