Industrial Heritage In Rosedale

Today Rosedale is a green, picturesque farming valley but less than a hundred years ago it was an industrial honeypot centred on iron-ore extraction. Today we've been on the trail and after walking along the valley bottom we eventually headed up the east side via a farm tea-shop, which we certainly hadn't expected, to the site of the former railway line that ran around the valley at approx. 1000 ft for twenty miles. It's hard to imagine that this now peaceful valley would have echoed to a cacophony of industrial sounds and steam trains. The view in the photograph shows part of the railway track on the east side of the valley. To the right are parts of the kilns that were used to calcine the iron ore and reduce it in volume before it was taken on to Durham. The returning trains carried the coal which kept the kilns burning.

Apart from some early sun as we headed up the valley, this was one of the few photos with blue sky, and for most of our walk the light was very flat. I've had a digital play with a couple of the other images that I took of (what I believe to be) a former engine house. I'm going to add these to my folio gallery.

All in all it was a lovely varied walk of approx. 8 miles. Well worth exploring if you are in the area. And the village of Rosedale Abbey is very pretty (more tea-shops!) Also the conyemporary glass studio is well worth a look.

Industrial Heritage >>>