Roseberry Topping has undergone a remarkable change of name. From the beginning of the 12th to the end of the 16th cent. the hill in all written documents is called "Othenesbergh" (with many variations of form) and " Ounesberry." Roseberry" does not appear until after 1600. 66 Topping" signifies a "crest," or marked eminence, and is found elsewhere on these moors. Othenesbergh" is, no doubt, the hill of Odin," and must have been the name imposed by the Danish settlers. The etymology of "Roseberry" is not so clear; but Canon Atkinson suggests, with great probability, that it is the older Anglian name, displaced or translated by the Danish, and reappearing in the 17th cent. "Hreosesbeorh"= Roseberry, would be the hill of the "rusher," or "raging one," and thus equivalent to the name of Odin, "the lord of the air, who chases through the sky in the roaring storm." Roseberry is a sea-mark and a weather-sign, the old rhyme running "When Roseberry Topping wears a cap, A footpath, seen from the hill, leads into the high road about 2 m. from Guisborough. S.W. of Stokesley an expedition may be made to Whorlton Ch. and Castle (5 m.), skirting the hill-country. It may be continued to Mount Grace (Carthusian Priory), and to Osmotherley. Osmotherly Thence one may cross the country to Northallerton (7 m.), or reach the Welbury Stat. on the N.E. Rly. (5 m.). is 10 m. In the ch.-yd. of Kirkby, 2 m. 1. off the Whorlton road (2 m. S. of Stokesley), are the much-mutilated effigies of a knight and lady, of whom local tradition asserts that they killed themselves, the man by cutting and the woman by raking a field of corn in one day. The great number of terminations in by throughout the district again indicates the extent of the Danish settlement in this part of Yorkshire. At 2 m. (1 m. S.E.), Busby Hall (W. F. Marwood, Esq.), commanding a very wide view, contains a good St. Cecilia, perhaps by Vandyck; a pair of Dutch town pieces by J. Maas; and many copies of good pictures and statues. Faceby Hill, rising over Whorlton, is an excellent landmark. The Ch. of Whorlton (ded. to the Holy Cross) was given by Robert de Meynill (d. 1206) to Guisborough Priory, but escaped impropriation. It is Norm. and Dec., with a Perp. tower over the S. porch. The aisles have disappeared, and the Norm. arches are built up on either side. (The N. aisle, and the adjoining piers fell some seventy years ago; the piers were rebuilt, hence the difference in height between the two sides.) The font is rude Norm. on a circular pillar. The chancel arch is rude Norm., with roundheaded recesses (perhaps hagioscopes) built up on either side. The chancel, early Dec., with heads at the base of the window mullions, and other corbel-heads for brackets, is covered with whitewash. On the N. side is an E. E. chantry, between which and the chancel is a fine Dec. altar-tomb with canopy. This is probably the tomb of Sir Nicholas de Meynill (d. 1343), who married a daughter of William, Lord Roos. The arms of Meynill are in the canopy, and the water bougets of Roos on the central shield of the altar-tomb. It is, however, uncertain to whom this tomb should be assigned. On the tomb is placed the oaken effigy of (no doubt) an earlier Sir Nicholas de Meynill (d. c. 1300). He is cross-legged, and wears the hauberk and close hood of mail, with long surcoat, open in front. The effigy is loose on the tomb, and is hollow. It is one of the earliest oaken effigies (rare at any time) in England, and, although of rude execution, it deserves careful attention. In the walls of the tower many tomb-slabs with crosses are built up. The Ch., except the chancel, is now disused and unroofed, being left exposed to the weather. A poor building at Swainby (m. S.W.) has taken its place. Henry VIII. gave Whorlton to Stewart, Earl of Lennox, who, by his wife Margaret (niece of Henry VIII.), was father of the Earl of Darnley, husband of Queen Mary of Scotland; and it was during the residence of Margaret Lennox at Whorlton Castle that the intrigues were carried on which ended in that luckless marriage. Whorlton was afterwards granted to Bruce of Kinloss, whose son was created Lord Bruce of Whorlton by Charles I. The gatehouse of the Castle remains nearly perfect, and is a very fine example, probably temp. Richard II., as the arms in front indicate. They are Darcy (in the centre), Meynill (rt.), and Gray (1.). (Philip Darcy married Elizabeth Gray of Heton, temp. Richard II.) Above is a shield impaling Meynill and Darcy. There is an outer and inner portal, with an open passage (possibly once vaulted) between them, and many rooms on either side. Remark the arrangement in the wall for fastening the great outer gates. A staircase (from the rt. near the inner portal) rises to the top. The whole was protected by a moat, which surrounded the castle, and a drawbridge. Some vaults, covered with mason's marks, are the only remains of the Castle itself. and may be of the 12th cent. There is a wide view from the castle hill, stretching towards Richmond on one side, and to Roseberry Topping on the other. Scugdale, running up S.E. into the high moors, opens at Swainby, beyond Whorlton. From Scarth Nick (the road branches 1. m. W. of Swainby Inn) there is a very fine view, and from the hill above it a still finer, stretching to the mouth of the Tees, and from the great central vale of Yorkshire, beyond Richmond, to the moors over Appleby in Westmorland. Farther S. the flat summit of Pen Hill in Wensleydale may be distinguished. The range of hills, still distinguished as the "Cleveland Hills." is here broken at intervals, and is fine in outline, with scars of rock, and much wood clustering below; all are of lias, capped by sandstone. Arncliffe is a picturesque range of wooded hill, with projecting crags. Close to Arncliffe Hall, 1754 (Sir Lowthian Bell), with ceilings handsomely ornamented in the Adams style, is the modern Ch. of Ingleby Arncliffe (the road branches 1. at Ingleby Cross, 2 m. S.W. of Swainby) containing two effigies in chain mail, c. 1300, probably representing two brothers, Sir William and Sir Robert Colville. The arms of Colville are on the stone. Their grandfather married the daughter of Robert Ingram, whose family had long been lords here. From the Colvilles the property passed by marriage in the 15th cent. to the Mauleverers, through whom it descended to the late owner, Wm. Brown, Esq., who sold the estate to Sir Lowthian Bell in 1899. At Mount Grace (the lodge is 14 m. beyond Ingleby Cross) we reach the limits of Cleveland. For it and for Osmotherley, see Rte. 21.] Between Stokesley and Picton Junct. there are Stats. at Sexhow, Potto, and Trenholme Bar. The Ch. of Rudby (12 m. N.W. of Sexhow Stat.) contains E. E. portions, and is of some interest. It was restd. in 1892, and stands on the River Leven (lleven, Celt. = smooth), which, descending from the hills, winds through this low country, and joins the Tees at Yarm. 34 m., Trenholme Bar Stat., 2 m. S. of Crathorne, long the residence of the Crathornes, who, by marrying a Bagot heiress, became wealthy people in the early part of the 14th cent., when they succeeded the Percys of Kildale as lords of the manor of Crathorne. In the Ch., which has been recently rebuilt, is the cross-legged effigy of Sir Wm. Crathorne, c. 1322. There is a Norm. chancel-arch in the Ch. of Kirk Leavington, 1 m. farther N., and Castle Leavington, in this parish, is one of the most interesting earthworks in the district. 36 m., Picton Junct. Stat. The Cleveland line here meets the Rly. from Northallerton to Stockton. The border of Yorkshire is soon reached at 39 m., Yarm Stat. , a small town of no interest. The name is Danish-Jarum in its old form; there is a Jarum (Hjardum) in S. Jutland. The Ch., mainly rebuilt in 1730, contains an E. window, filled with stained-glass by Pecket of York; the W. front of the Ch. is ancient. A 14th cent. bridge, built by Bp. Skirlaw, here spans the Tees, which the Rly. crosses by a long viaduct, and proceeds along its Durham bank by 40 m., Eaglescliffe Junct. Stat. to 43 m., Stockton-on-Tees Junct. Stat. (See H.Bk. for Durham.) ROUTE 20. Whitby to Guisborough and Middlesbrough. BY BATTERSBY AND NUNTHORPE. (BRANCH OF NORTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.) [Whitby to Middlesbrough (35 m.), 5 trains daily, in 1 hr.; from Nunthorpe Junct. to Guisborough, 10 trains daily, in 10 min. CYCLING NOTE.-Whitby to Aislaby, 1 m.; Swarthoe Cross, 43 m.; Barton Howl, 7 m.; Ugthorpe Lodge, 9 m.; Scaling Dam, 12 m.; Wapley Inn, 133 m. : Skatebeck Green, 15 m.: Aysdale Gate, 18 m.; Guisborough, 22 m. After leaving Whitby the road rapidly ascends to high ground, and is then steeply undulating to 18 m., thence a sharp descent of 4 m. to Guisborough. A rough, stony road.] As far as 24 m., Battersby Junct. Stat. 263 m., Great Ayton Stat, ☆ school. This Route is described in Rte. 19. In this village Capt. Cook went to [1 m. N. from Ayton is the village of Newton, where there is a small Norm. Ch. of some interest. Near the door is a fine carving of the Panthera ("Reynard the Fox," chap. 31), said to be the best in England.] 30 m., Nunthorpe Junct. Stat. (for Middlesbrough). Here the Rly. from Middlesbrough diverges by Pinchingthorpe and Hutton Gate Stats. to 35 m., Guisborough Stat. The town is surrounded by some pretty scenery, though few people will be inclined to compare it, as Camden has done, with Puteoli in Italy, for "grateful variety and other advantages of nature." Guisborough has become the "capital " of the irondiggers in this neighbourhood, and entire new streets have arisen for their accommodation. The only points of interest here are the priory ruins and the Ch. An Augustinian *Priory was founded here in 1119 by Robert de Brus (whose brother was the first prior), lord of Skelton and of great part of North Cleveland. It was richly endowed with, among others, the whole manor of Guisborough; and at the Dissolution, when its annual gross value was 8637., it was the wealthiest religious house in Yorkshire, except St. Mary's at York, Fountains, and Selby. In 1375 the prior had a licence to fortify his convent, which was too near the border to be quite safe. Hemingford, the Chronicler (Edward I., II., III.), was a canon of Guisborough; and Robert Pursglove, suffragan Bp. of Hull, was the last prior. The Ch. was burnt down (May 16, 1289) through the carelessness of a plumber at work on the roof, and twenty years, at least, elapsed before it was rebuilt. The E. end, very lofty, and conspicuous in all distant views, is the principal relic of this later Ch. No part of the lateral walls remains except the responds of the arcade and some fragments which formed the angle with the eastern wall. The Ch. was 381 ft. long and 70 ft. wide. The window above the high altar, 60 × 28 ft., filled nearly the whole of the end of the choir, and must have been one of the largest of its date and style (early Dec.) in England; but the panelled wall below the base has been torn down and the tracery destroyed. It was enclosed in a highly enriched moulding of vine-leaves and grapes, and had 2 great sub-arches, surmounted, like the E. window at Ripon, by a wheel enclosing 6 trefoils. On the jambs are the armorial shields of Bruce, Fauconberg, Bulmer of Wilton, and Thweng of Kilton. There are many fragments of Norm. capitals and mouldings in the shattered wall below. The E. window of each side aisle has beautifully composed moulding with capitals enriched with oak-leaves. They are of 3 lights, the tracery formed by 2 quatrefoils surmounted by a trefoil. The lateral windows of the aisles have been similar to them, except that the vineleaf moulding across has not been introduced. S. of the nave were the cloisters, with doors into the nave and transept. In the N.W. corner are stairs leading to a passage. The cellarium and frater were raised on an undercroft. The chapter-house was 74 ft. by 30 ft., and had arcaded walls with twenty-six stalls on either side. The frater, 98 ft. by 28 ft., was entered by a very beautiful Trans.-Norm. doorway. The kitchen is at the S.W. corner of the frater, and in the W, cloister is a good Dec. lavatory. Excavations made by Admiral Chaloner in 1867 laid bare the ground plan of the Ch., and brought to light many stone coffins. Many of the Bruces and other great lords of this part of Yorkshire were interred here. The tower of the Gatehouse, with circular arch of Trans.-Norm. date, still remains, opening from the town. The Parish Church was given to the priory by the founder. It is now Perp, and much barbarised. In the porch, under the W. tower, are parts of an altar-tomb, which has been divided so as to allow of one side being fixed to either wall. Dugdale, who gives a plate of it when perfect ("Mon. Angl." ii. 148), says it was "lately in the Priory church." It is of the time of Henry VII., and probably a cenotaph either of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, or of his grandfather, Robert de Bruce, the competitor for that crown, who was buried in Guisborough Priory in 1294. At the W. end, now in the possession of Mrs. Chaloner of Longhull, was the full-length effigy of a king, crowned, holding a sceptre in his rt. hand and the arms of Scotland in the 1.; a smaller figure, crowned and holding a sceptre, standing on each side of him. These, perhaps, represented David Bruce, King of Scotland, and Edward Bruce, King of Ireland. In the spandrels of the arch or niche under which they are placed are shields bearing a lion rampant for Bruce of Skelton, with the four doctors of the Latin Church, Gregory, Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine, and a saltire and chief for Bruce of Annandale, with the four evangelists. Five armed figures on the N. side of the tomb bear the former arms on their shields-three on the S. side the latter. The whole has been smeared with paint. Longhull (Mrs. Chaloner)--the present house was built in 1857has been the property of the Chaloner family since the reign of Philip and Mary, when the manor, which on the Dissolution fell to the Crown, was granted to Sir Thomas Chaloner. It was this Sir Thomas who began the working of alum in England. There is Spa (chalybeate, now unused), and a very pleasant walk to it through the wood, with waterfalls on the beck, about 2 m. E. from the town. You may continue the walk to Skelton (3 m.) or Salt(For all this country see Saltburn, Rte. 22.) burn ☆ (5 m.). Returning from Guisborough by Nunthorpe Junct. (for Great Ayton, &c.) the Rly. reaches at (from Whitby) 32 m., Ormesby Stat. 1 m. 1. is Marton, the birthplace of Capt. Cook (see Middlesbrough) 35 m., Middlesbrough Stat. ☆ (see Rte. 22). |