Saltburn Tramway celebrates its 125th birthday!

It's time to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Saltburns Cliff Lift, the oldest of its type in the world still in operation. I will be working with the guys at the lift this month on a great display. Documents recently acquired by Kirkleatham Museum will be available to view for the first time. As to the exact date when the lift became operational, well, that's a bit of a mystery at the moment but we're working on it ........The official date to celebrate this fantastic anniversary will hopefully be available soon.
During the Bank Holiday nearly 5,300 visitors used the lift. In times of recession Saltburn really needs to rely on the tourist industry to generate income, which in turn generates jobs.
Many thanks to the wonderful staff at Kirkleatham Museum and the GREAT STAFF at the cliff lift with whom I have had the pleasure of working on this great historical event.

Saltburn by the Sea 1874

The development of Saltburn by the Sea 1874

From left to right the buildings are Rokeby Villas, Balmoral Terrace, the Zetland Hotel and Britannia Terrace.

In the foreground we can see the Halfpenny Bridge and to the left of the image is the Albert Memorial which was once the portico of Barnard Castle Station. The paths are well laid out but clearly visible as the planting of the grounds is in its infancy.

Changing fashions.....

Fashions in gardening have changed and evolved over the centuries, and also in recent years. Simply the best for me is the inspiration of just walking freely amongst wooded glens and meadow land. Who wants a manicured garden, sterile lawn , flanked by clipped hedges and shrubs? Not me. You can successfully create the beauty of 'wildlife-friendly gardening' by trying a few new ideas. You might try:

• one or more tall trees
• a hedge
• well-stocked borders
• an area of lawn, part of which could be a flower meadow
• a nettle patch
• a compost heap
• a rock garden
• a pond
• a pile of rotted or rotting logs and branches

Discover wildflowers....

Discover Wildflowers! They are more important to you than you think.

Wildflowers are everywhere; sometimes we take them for granted or treat them as weeds but they have always played an important part in our lives. They were a vital medicine chest, food source and household essential for our ancestors and now modern medicine is discovering cures for serious illnesses like cancer in our hedgerows and woods.

Plants give a place its character and distinctiveness, different groups of plants growing better in different places. They also determine which animals you are likely to find as they are the start of the food chain and many animals only feed on one or two different species of plant.These may well be linked to just one habitat.

Rambsbotton.......

What do the place names Rambsbotton in Lancashire, Ramsden in Essex and Ramshott in Suffolk have in common? They are all places named after the ramson or 'wild garlic'. The plant itself has some rather unusual names, including gypsy's gibbles and gypsy's onions in Somerset, ramps in Lancashire and Cumberland, stink plant in Lincolnshire and rommy and roms in Yorkshire.

In Spring the woodland floors are covered with ramsons, their fresh green and white froth, and their incredible smell. Found in shady spots throughout the country the ramson is a key indicator to areas of ancient woodlands.

A carpet of azure.....

In Spring, the ground of a bluebell wood becomes a carpet of azure as the bluebells intermingle and become a carpet of blue.

As Peter Marren stated 'No woodland scene has the power to move the heart more than a bluebell in May'.
Spring is the season for the bluebell yielding the most glorious spectacle in the botanical world.
Bluebells are shade evaders, taking the chance to grow and flower before the trees are in full glory.
The Elizabethan herbalist Gerard knew it as the English Jacinth, or Blue Harebell, and believed the flowers had 'a strong sweet smell, somewhat stuffing to the head'. The pear-shaped bulbs once generated starch to stiffen Elizabethan ruffs, while the flower stalks were used as a glue for binding books or fixing arrows.
Take a visit this month to Nature's World and view their wonderful display.

A Day At Saltburn-By-The-Sea. Stockton Gazette and Middlesbro' Times of July 31st, 1863

' At one glance the eye takes in every variety of scene. Here is the ever-changing and beautiful sea, the yawning precipice, the cloud-capped mountain, there is the craggy peak, the wide - spreading somber moor, and quiet secluded vale. Here are long ridges of blue and undulating hills, whose rocky declivities are dotted with woods which for centuries have waved in the breeze. Such is, indeed, but a faint picture of the scenes in this garden of nature - scenes which, if once beheld, are impressed upon the mind for ever.'

The writer of this article is describing the scenery from the uppermost storey of the newly built Zetland Hotel, 1863.

The Walled Garden - Paradise

The earliest known Walled Garden dates from around 500BC, when Cyrus the Great, King of Persia ordered the construction of a Paridaida at Pasargadae. The Paridaida was conceived and constructed as a series of palaces and pavillions placed among geometrically designed gardens, parterres and meticulously hewn dressed stone water-courses, set in a large formal park containing numerous flora and fauna.

The Old Persian Paridaida and Median Peridaiza both mean 'Walled-Around, or Walled Garden'. 'The Greeks translated this into Paradeisoi, then into the Latin Paradisus. From there it entered European languages as Paradis in French and Paradise in English.

Paradise reclaimed......

Paradise reclaimed. Heaven on earth. Why not visit and spend a glorious day at Helmsley Walled Gardens. What could be more relaxing than sun and the beauty of the restored gardens whilst reading Frances Hodgson Burnett's 'The Secret Garden'.
Yesterday I bathed in it's full glory.
Set in the grounds of Duncombe Park the gardens are gradually being restored to their former glory.
Check their website for further details.

Saltburn Cliff Lift

Great website. Check it out!

Yorkshire Post re Saltburn Pier of the Year

All credit to the Friends of Saltburn Pier. What a great achievement we should all celebrate. Norman Bainbridge would have been proud. Founder member and Chairman of the Society he led a formidable campaign for funding to restore the pier, now one of Saltburns main attractions.

UK National Mills Weekend 9th-10th May

During National Mills Weekend, a large number of the UK's remaining windmill and watermills, are open to the public.
Why not visit Tockett's Watermill, nr Guisborough on Sunday the 9th May? (Open between 11am and 4pm)
A 4 storey corn mill built in the 18th Century. Completly restored in the 1990's, with an 18-ft pitchback waterwheel, three pairs of stones and a full set of ancillary machinery. A fully operational mill, producing flour available at Saltburn's health food shop. The flour makes a wonderful loaf.

Seaside tails

Come be my love

Come sit with me

Come be my love

Beside the sea

For I am always with you

In everything you do

I'll be there through adversity

I'm taking care of you

Feel me

Touch me

Smell my hazy ways

Love me

Hold me

And in my eyes to gaze

8th May, Helston Floral Day

Sir Benjamin Stone, 'Helston "Flora Day". The early morning "Furry Dance" through the Town. 1901'

The town of Helston, in Cornwall, maintains what must be the most famous traditional dance customs in Britain. Couples dance through the town, in and out of shops and houses, to a lively tune played by the town's silver band. The dance takes place four times during the day, each time involving a different section of the town's population.

Court Leets

An English criminal court for the punishment of small offences. The use of the word leet, denoting a territorial and a jurisdictional area, spread throughout England in the 14th century, and the term court leet came to mean a court in which a private lord assumed, for his own profit, jurisdiction that had previously been experienced by the sheriff.

Encyclopedia Britannia.

Penny Hedge

Also known as Horngarth this is believed to be the oldest surviving custom in Britain. An annual custom, unique in its continuity, it involves the Hutton family who rent farm land at Fylingdales near Whitby.

Complaints about unreasonable amounts of wood being sold in 1315 seem to have led to the ritual.
At 9am on the eve of Ascention Day stakes are driven with an ancient mallet into the foreshore below the high tide mark near Boyes Staithe in Whitby harbour. Then osiers are woven among the steaks to form a 'hedge' strong enough to withstand three tides. This done, the baliff of the Court Leet of Fyling blows the horn and shouts 'out upon ye, out upon ye'. The penance 'hedge' is a token, but the belief is that if the hedge is swept away by the tides, the tenancy will be lost.

Ever wondered why ... we eat fish and chips at the seaside?

Ever wondered why fish and chips is the classic British take-away meal?

There really is nothing more British than fish and chips with salt and vinegar. It is one of our Great British Institutions.

The spread of the railways in the late 1800's meant that low cost fish - previously thrown back into the sea because it had no market - could be rapidly carried inland. Cheap fried fish became a staple food of the working classes. They looked for it when on holiday too, and soon there were 'chippies' in every holiday resort.

Where did the combination of fish and chips eaten together originate? Do we really know?

It was the French who invented chips or 'pommes de terre a la mode' from the humble potato believed to have been brought to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 17th century. In 1839 Charles Dickens refers to a 'fried fish warehouse' in Oliver Twist.

In 1860 Joseph Malin opened a shop in Cleveland Street, Bow, east London, combining Franco-Belgic-Irish chips with fish fried in a style popularised by Portugese Jews. From there the traditional fish and chip shop evolved.

Put them together and enjoy your great seaside take-away while strolling along Saltburn Pier enjoying the scenery or sitting on the rocks with a large mug of tea.... or a pint!