Walkers Are Welcome Rosedale Abbey is part of the “This Exploited Land of Iron” Project. Click for more info.

Rosedale Community News

Welcome to the Rosedale blog. This is where we share news and information about events in Rosedale and the wider community throughout the year. You’ll also find news about the village timetable, our micro enterprises, school events, clubs, and lively socials.

Archive for the ‘conservation’ Category

SAVE ROSEDALE ABBEY CHURCH APPEAL

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Save Rosedale Church needs you!

Have you any experience of filling out grant application forms or would you like to learn? Save Rosedale Church Committee needs a competent volunteer to complete a Heritage Lottery grant application.

All the documents needed for the application have already been written but we need a volunteer to tackle the complex application form. Filling it in will take quite a number of dedicated hours.

Save Rosedale Church as already raised over £50,000 for its roof appeal and has just been invited to apply to the Peter Sowerby Foundation for a £25,000 grant. A grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund could well mean our target of just over £100,000 will be reached.

Our small committee is made up of ordinary Rosedale residents who believe the loss of our historic church would be a terrible blow to the community. Our church is regularly used for Christenings, weddings and funerals as well as church services. Recent events at the church have included rock musician Ross McWhirter, The Dalesmen Singers and an Art and Craft Festival.

If you think you could help us for this one-off job, please contact Linda Blackburne on linda.blackburne@icloud.com or phone her on 01751 417833.

We look forward to hearing from you!

North Pennines AONB Group Visit – 16 August 2022

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Five members of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty group visited Rosedale on Tuesday 16 August to see the conservation and interpretation aspects of the recent Land of Iron project. Linda Chambers, a member of the project’s steering committee, took them around to examine the information and interpretation boards in various sites in the village and at the ironstone kilns at Bank Top.

Linda Chambers (second from left) and NP AONB visitors at the Rosedale Abbey Land of Iron interpretation boards

ROSEDALE CALENDAR 2022

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It’s that time again – the splendid Rosedale Calendar for 2022 in aid of the Save Rosedale Church Appeal is now out and available from Abbey Stores, Graze on The Green and Gillies Jones Glass Studio for £10 a copy, or from rosedalehistory@hotmail.co.uk for £12 with post and packaging included.

St Mary and St Lawrence Church East Window

These make ideal Christmas presents so buy one for the house and another one or two to send to family and friends elsewhere to remind them of lovely Rosedale!

All funds raised go to support this vital project, where another £80,000 is needed to restore and preserve our church for future generations.

Beetle Plague

First we had floods of biblical proportions, then the Wuhan Flu and now a plague of beetles. The little insects flying into your face or dropping down the back of your shirt collar are heather beetles, aka Lochmaea suturalis:

A Plague of Beetles

Heather Beetle – Lochmaea suturalis

The larvae of the beetle feed on heather shoots and therefore damage the plants, which is why last year there was comparatively little purple up on our moors and great swathes of brown, sickly heather plants instead.

Land of Iron Update – 19 September 2019

The work on the line and kilns has continued apace since the last update. Work to stabilise and add some weather resistance to the Bank Top kilns is now completed.

Bank Top ironstone kilns in their new, stabilised state
A closer view of some of the pointing and new props on the back wall of the kilns

Sean Doughty and his team have also completed the restoration of the line through what was a swamp by Indian Steps by dumping heather bales and re-laying the track on top – an excellent job as you can see:

The restored track beside Indian Steps

The William Birch contractor team are busy on stabilising the southern buttresses of the Iron Kilns by removing vegetation growing in the stone and brick work and then repointing to weather proof the structures:

The remains of Black Houses have been re-pointed
Cherry picking at Iron Kilns

The site manager and foreman (on the left) briefing members of the project team

There is now considerable concern over parts of the Stone Kilns where there has been a major stone fall at bay no 10. Engineers and members of the project team have recently inspected the damage and plans are being made for remedial action to be taken soon.

A recent collapse of part of the inner wall of kiln no 10 at Stone Kilns

Keep watching this space for further updates!

Land of Iron Update – 31 August 2019

Work continues to stabilise and conserve the Bank Top ironstone kilns and it should be finished by mid September. Sean Doughty and his team are busy working their way around the line from Blakey to Reeking Gill, restoring culverts and cutting new ones where necessary as well as diverting the path around the worst of the swampy areas.

Dumping heather bales at the Indian Steps cutting
Erecting scaffolding at the watering station at Blakey prior to restoration work
The Iron Kilns work site as at 1 September 2019
Some testing of lime mortar pointing on the southern buttress of the Iron Kilns

The line remains closed while all this work goes on – just a reminder!

Land of Iron Update – 4 August 2019

As reported earlier, work is well under way on the Bank Top kilns. Now work has started on the northerly of the two sets of kilns at East Mines to stabilise and preserve what is possible with these extensive remains.

Protective fencing has been put up prior to conservation work beginning.

Work to restore the trackway around Dale Head continues and the line remains closed until it is completed.