Capt. Cook’s Monument

November 7th and it’s Capt. Cook’s birthday today so it seems befitting for today’s post to be of his monument erected on Easby Moor 48 years after his death in Owythee in 1779.

However the date of October 27th 1728 is also often quoted as his birthday, including on the plaque on this monument. It depends on which calendar is used. In 1752 England replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar when Wednesday September 2nd was followed the next day by Thursday September 14th, resulting in 11 days lost. The Gregorian calendar had been adopted in European countries for two centuries and both calendars were in use in England.

And now … No. 1, The Larch

So the Monty Python sketch goes. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about see here).

Just a couple of months ago I was apologising for posting too many blooming purple heather photos. Now I feel I ought to apologise for too many yellows and golden browns. The first real storm of the autumn last night and the paths are covered with leaves of all shades.

The larch is of course deciduous, dropping its leaves or needles after turning a deep shade of yellow. A lovely time of the year. This larch is on Easby Moor.

Capt. Cook’s Monument

Early evening walkers approach Capt. Cook’s Monument on Easby Moor at 324m asl. The 18m high obelisk was erected in 1827, 48 years after Cook was killed at Owythee in the Pacific. In 1960 the monument was struck by by lightning and virtually split down the middle. It was repaired within three months complete with a lightning conductor.

Ward Nab

A stunted oak tree precariously growing out of a crag at Ward Nab on the south eastern edge of Easby Moor. The rock athletes are perhaps more familiar with the name of Cook’s Crags but Ward Nab is the name that appears on the OS Map. Overlooking the forestry plantations of Coate Moor and Kildale.

Solar Eclipse, Capt. Cooks Monument

Roseberry Topping summit was heaving this morning waiting for the eclipse. Easby Moor wasn’t too busy but it had clouded up by the time I got there. The cloud meant I didn’t need the fancy glasses to see the crescent but the light was diffused so it didn’t get particularly dark. It certainly got colder.

Wanted a photo with the monument and the sun in. It’s there somewhere. Smaller than I remember.

Easby Moor

Easby Moor is perhaps better known as the moor where Capt.Cooks Monument stands. Most visitors climb straight to the summit unaware of the drama which happened where this photo was taken just a couple of hundred metres north west of the it.

The winter of 1940 was particularly bad. Snow, sleet and freezing fog lasted most of January and into February. At 4:10 on the morning of Sunday 11th February 1940 a Lockheed Hudson aircraft took off from Thornaby Airfield to search for German minesweepers operating off the Danish coast. Five minutes later the plane crashed on Easby Moor killing three of the four man crew and injuring the fourth. Ice had formed on the wings causing the aircraft to fail to gain sufficient height to clear the hills. The aircraft clipped the escarpment then ploughed through the larch plantation shown in the photo before coming to rest. The gap between the trees is approximately 60 feet corresponding with the Hudson’s wingspan of 65½ feet. The aircrew who died were Flying Officer Tom Parker, Sergeant Harold Berksley and Corporal Norman Drury. Leading Aircraftman Athol Barker survived but was later shot down three years later whilst flying over Germany. The four unexploded bombs that the Hudson carried were later detonated by the RAF creating a small pond nearby.

In 2003 a memorial was erected on the main track up to the monument.