rocks above, the blazing colours seem almost unreal and the scenery
suggests Scotland more than any other part of England. From the edges of
the canon, purple heather and ling stretch away on either side to the most
distant horizons, and one can walk for miles in almost any direction
without encountering a human being and rarely a house of any description.
The few cottages that now stand in lonely isolation in different parts of
the moors have only made their appearance since the Enclosures Act, so
that before that time these moors must have been one of the most extensive
stretches of uninhabited country in England. From the Saltersgate Inn,
some of the most remarkable views that the moorlands present are all
collected together in a comparatively small space. One looks towards the
west across a remarkably deep ravine with precipitous sides that leads out
of Newton Dale towards the old coach road upon which the lonely hostelry
stands. At the foot of the steep rocks, a stream trickles into a basin and
then falls downwards in a small cascade, finding its way into the
Pickering Beck that flows along the bottom of Newton Dale. From the inn
also, the great ravine we have been describing appears as an enormous
trench cut through the heathery plateau, and we are led to wonder how it
was that no legends as to its origin have survived until the present time.
The Roman road, which is supposed to have been built by Wade and his wife
when they were engaged on the construction of Mulgrave and Pickering
Castles, seems uninspiring beside the majestic proportions of Newton Dale.
To the south of the Saltersgate Inn lies the remarkable circular hollow
among the hills known as the Hole of Horcum, and the bold bluff known as
Saltersgate Brow rises like an enormous rampart from the smooth brown or
purple heather. To the west lies the peculiarly isolated hill known as
Blakey Topping, and, a little to the south, are the Bride Stones, those
imposing masses of natural rock that project themselves above the moor.
The Saltersgate Inn has lost the importance it once possessed as the
stopping-place for the coaches between Whitby and Pickering, but is still
the only place of refreshment for many miles across the moors, and its
very isolation still gives it an importance for those who seek sport or
exercise on these breezy wastes.
[Footnote 1: Henry Belcher, "The Scenery of the Whitby and Pickering
Railway," facing p. 51.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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