Margrove Park

Boosbeck and Margrove Park lie in a hollow in the hills. At the end of the last Ice Age the whole area was a great melt-water lake. The ironstone seam here dips down into a saucer- shaped depression and it is covered by a waterproof layer of jet and alum shale. In this hollow ‘a great underground lake’ was trapped, covered by a thick layer of porous sandstone.

When Stevenson, Jacques & Co tried to sink a deep shaft, to tap the seam here, they struck this lake. In February 1886 ‘a huge spout of water suddenly shot into the air’. The speed and force of the flood-water was far more than the early pumping gear could contain. The shaft was abandoned. Having been tapped, the waters seem to have drained away gradually, probably into the surrounding countryside and via nearby working mines. A few years later Bolckow, Vaughan & Co leased the land from the Skelton Castle estate and tried again. They were more successful. Their mine was worked for many years, but it frequently suffered from flooding and associated problems. Not until it was modernised, and anew entrance shaft sunk by Dorman Long in 1929, did the mine become really profitable. Four hundred and fifty men were employed there in 1945.

When the mining village was being built, Mr J. T. Wharton of Skelton Castle donated land for a parish church, and St Aidan’s was dedicated in 1901. Until then the area had been part of the ecclesiastical parish of Skelton.

By far the oldest buildings are at Holly Well Farm, on the junction of the Lingdale and Margrove Park roads. For many centuries a habitation has been shown at this spot on successive maps. In the 13th century it appears at Holly Keld Cote (Keld meaning stream or well). Of the 19th century village some of the earliest homes would have been the row of terraced cottages, built near the church, to house the brick workers. The Carrs Tilery and Brickworks were opened in 1867, half a mile south of the new village. Remains of the clay pit and quarry can be seen today, to the left of the road.

At the turn of the century Boosbeck also boasted a Methodist chapel, a railway station, a picture theatre, an institute and a school. The station served the first four miles of track on what eventually became the Guisborough-Whitby line. A report in the Whitby Gazette dated 3rd November 1878 tells of a near tragedy. Shallow workings in the Skelton Park Mine collapsed due to flooding. The sudden subsidence left 40 ft of the up and the down railway line suspended in mid-air. The noise was heard by the signalman, and by platelayers working just outside the station. Just in time they managed to stop an on-coming train carrying some 30 passengers, men, women and children.

The railway line is now closed and the station site is used for industrial purposes; the picture theatre has gone; the old school is now a nursing home, but the village is far from dying. Anew school has been built, also serving the surrounding villages. Houses are going up again to supplement the old terraced cottages, and the Lockwood Beck Parish Council is determined to bring anew lease of life to the area.

Boosbeck stands to the north of the tiny hamlets of Margrove Park, the Charlton?s and Slapewath, overlooking the valley with its beautifully wooded hillsides. The old village school at Margrove Park houses the Heritage Centre. Here a permanent display, as well as changing exhibitions, reflects the past, present and sometimes future plans for the region. A nearby caravan park and an old inn at Slapewath, which offers good food and accommodation, all add to the tourist potential. It is hoped that more holidaymakers will turn off the busy Guisborough-Whitby road and seek out this hidden valley.

NB
The village information above is taken from The Cleveland Village Book, written by members of the Cleveland Federation of Women’s Institutes and published by Countryside Books. Click on the link below to view Countryside’s range of other local titles.