Grinkle Tunnel and Station (c.NZ740177)

The railway connection between Middlesbrough and Whitby along the Cleveland coast has long since been abandoned. It is, perhaps, a project which should have never left the drawing board if the truth be known. Victorian verve and ambition took the thin black line winding around natural obstacles and, at times, perilously close to the sea – but it can now only be traced as far south as the Boulby Potash Mines. The remainder to the east and south was dismantled around 1960 and given over to a coastal footpath.

The easternmost stretch of the surviving line, from Skinningrove to Boulby, was closed, too, at this time, but was revived in the mid 1970s when Boulby Potash mine opened. It is used solely for freight, the passenger stations remaining closed (many having been demolished). One such stopping-off point was Grinkle Station, to the south-west of present-day Easington where the tracks emerge from Grinkle Tunnel. Track and tunnel alike first saw light of day in the early 1880s after almost two decades of confused planning and awkward construction. Originally known as Easington Station and Tunnel, they were renamed ‘Grinkle’ in 1904.

The station was the first on the line to be closed in 1939, the line was lifted in the early 1960s … then relaid a decade later in 1974 to enable minerals to be transported from Boulby Mine to Skinningrove and onwards. It is still in use today.

More info and pics available here.

The Easington Hare (NZ415435)

In days of old when hare coursing and hunting were a popular sport, the men of the area around Easington were constantly taunted by an animal which seemed forever beyond their grasp, namely, the legendary Easington Hare.

One day, when they were out hunting, they fell upon the troublesome creature in Castle Eden Dene, a couple of miles to the south of the village.  Setting off in pursuit with their bloodhounds leading the way, the men chased the hare across the fields until they reached Easington village.  Here, however, the beast gave them the slip once more, squeezing through a hole in the wall of a cottage – but not before one of the dogs had briefly grabbed its rear leg.

Hastening indoors, the hunting party found nothing within the building save for an old women nervously tending her injured leg.  The secret of the mysterious hare’s seemingly supernatural powers had been uncovered!  The men turned and left the woman and her home, and never again were they troubled by the pesky creature.

Seaton Holme (NZ413435)

© Copyright Andrew Curtis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Seaton Holme, Easington, is one of the oldest domestic buildings in England.  What was once originally a medieval manor house is thought to date from the 1240s, and was built upon an even earlier timber-framed, Anglo-Saxon effort.  It has, of course, been substantially altered over the centuries.

The building has had many uses over the years, being a dwelling house for the Bishops and Archdeacons of Durham until 1832, then serving as the Rectory to nearby St.Mary’s Church.  In 1921 it became a children’s home, but has in recent decades spent much of its time falling into a state of disrepair.  It was recently renovated and re-opened by HRH The Duke of Gloucester in 1992, and now serves the community as a Discovery Centre for the area’s local and natural history and a meeting/conference venue.

Legend has it that Seaton Holme was once the home of Nicholas Breakspear, who went on to become the only English Pope, under the name of Adrian IV (died 1159) – though he is known to have been born in Hertfordshire, and no one quite knows where the story came from!