Off to the Coast…

Yorkshire’s coastline is renown for its seaside resorts….but that is not where we are heading today….

Geology Buffs will love this part of the coast.  Our first stop is Filey Brigg, just north of the Victorian Seaside resort of Filey the Brigg is a thumb of Limestone protruding into the North Sea.  The limestone layer was laid down by glacial action when this part of the ocean was under a tropical sea.  As a result fossil hunters will delight at the crustaceans to be found on the shore line. Above that limestone later glacial actions laid down a sandy gravel mix, this layer being much softer has eroded badly over the millennia resulting in dramatic cliffs that continually succumb to the weather.

This mini peninsular has always been of strategic importance, Romans built a camp and Signal Station and even as recent as WW2 gun batteries and Watch Points were established.  All long gone now leaving behind a favourite location for Bird Watchers as well as those who just love wild coast lines…..

Some miles further north then Filey Brigg is another dramatic piece of headland that share very similar geological features. It is also the site of a town that never was…Ravenscar. Originally known as Peak it was a farm and small community on the headland. It became important as Alum was discovered in the Cliffs. It wa by all accounts a good source of Alum, much was transported inland and even more was shipped abroad. Boats would be beached on the flat limestone beach, quickly loaded and off on the next tide. On the cliff top Raven Hall was built for owners of the Alum mines. That Hall is still there today, not quite the same as there was a period of time when it was deserted and decaying. After much renovation it is now a smart Country Hotel. Strange how things revolve for in the late 1800 and early 1900 the Raven Hall featured prominently in plans to create a brand new seaside resort to rival nearby Scarborough. The Railway had a station here and a town plan and even sewerage drains were laid….but the venture came to nothing as folk thought it too much of a struggle to climb precariously up and down to the beach. I guess it was at that time that Peak changed its name to Ravenscar. At this time of year the headland is at its best, Broom and Gorse plus Wild Dog Roses cover the slopes and Gulls and Skylarks are everywhere…..

Even today Ravenscar seems to be a forgotten place. The Hotel seems to be successful, and a few folk happily live and enjoy the seascapes that surround them. But visitors seem to pass it by. Even the National Trust who own this length of Yorkshire Coastline seem to have given up, their smart modern Visitor Centre now seems to be permanently closed and signage to the beach and points of historic an natural interest seem to be few and far between. Seems a shame.

9th June (c) David Oakes 2015