Did you know Rosedale Abbey had a Mill Race and a pond?

If the answer is no, you won’t be alone, as this historic feature of the village has been neglected, and allowed to become overgrown and silted up.

Happily, there are a group of folks in the village who are working together to remedy the situation and formulate a plan of action to change this eyesore into an asset.

We now have a Pond Committee, which has been successful in securing a grant from the National Park and grant of £200 from Rosedale Parish Council.

The committee plans to effect positive change for this feature, which sits in the village on one of the main walking routes in the Dale, not only in restoring the Mill Race and Pond, but ensuring the silt traps and Mill Race receive regular maintenance and jetting in the future.

The work so far completed on the Pond 2017 / 18 :-

The addition of an access points to silt traps in the field with the water source and the clearing of the ditch to allow the water to flow.The jetting and clearance of accumulated silt from underground sections of the Mill Race.

How can you help?

Practical help

We needs Volunteers to help clear the pond of unwanted vegetation.

Fundraising for Planting & Maintenance

A coffee morning is planned for 7^th April at the Coach House, any support you can offer is very welcome.

Any donations of monies or Cheques made out to Rosedale Pond Fund can be left in an envelope at Abbey Stores or Graze on the Green, Gillies Jones or handed to Paddy or Linda Chambers of Rosedale History Society or Maisie Storey.

The Next Steps?

The next stage is to clear the pond of unwanted vegetation, date and full details TBC. In due course, we will be asking for volunteers with welly boots & rakes who might spare an hour to help.

We will be monitoring the flow of water, and, if the cleared underground Mill Race functions as it has done in the past, maintaining flow, the plan with the support of the NYNP is to place a specialist concrete liner in the top half of the pond.

Thank you to everyone who has already generously supported this project. We look forward to ensuring the Pond & Mill Race is kept healthy with regular maintenance, looks good and once again becomes a heaven for wildlife from ducks & dragonflies to newts.

Warm regards

Kate, Paddy, Linda & Maisie

As the first Sunday in April this year is Easter Sunday, the next meeting of the Rosedale History Society will be in the Updale Reading Room on the following Sunday, 8th April 2018, from 1.30 to 4pm.

A public consultation on the proposed conservation measures on Rosedale’s ironstone roasting kilns was held last night, 12 December, in the Coach House Inn. The session was very well attended by 28 local people and there was lively discussion on several topics after stimulating presentations by representatives from the project office and the archaeological and engineering agencies involved with the proposed works.

Details of how to volunteer to help out in the programme of works on the line in 2018 can be found at www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/landofiron 

A group of local volunteers, armed with buckets and spades on Saturday 28 October, dug down through the mud and discovered the original upstream entrance to the Reeking Gill culvert, with Shaun Doughty having used a digger to clear the site (see previous update on 4 October). Work will now continue to shift the rest of the debris from the entrance and expose more of the large stone archway. Muscle power and determination won the day and well done to all.

Work has also been done to clear some of the smaller culverts along the old railway line so that water no longer builds up and threatens the integrity of the track bed.

A fuller progress report will be given around the New Year, so that all can see how this marvellous project is progressing. Meanwhile please look at the NYMNPA call for volunteers poster and join in.

Work on the Land Of Iron project continues apace in Rosedale. The repair done to the track at Stone Kilns is greening up nicely and will be barely visible from a distance by this time next year:

New, bigger interpretation boards have been placed at the three kiln sites:

Work is currently ongoing to clear the upsteam entrance to the major culvert under Reeking Gill to prevent the dangerous build up of water behind the embankment:

The repair to the trackway at the stone kilns at East Mines is maturing nicely with the grass that was seeded in the sandbags now sprouting well.

The site has now been cleared and most of it restored, although the track way still needs to be surfaced, it is hoped, with furnace cinder to replicate its orginal state.