After Sophie and I had finished looking around Souter Lighthouse we decided to go and have a look around Cleadon Village, but before we do lets have a quick look at the Lime Kilns just across the road from the Lighthouse.
These mahousive kilns were built in the 1870’s. Limestone from the quarry and coal from the colliery were fed into the top of the kilns and heated to produce lime for use in agriculture and in the steel & chemical industries. The lime was loaded onto railway wagons known as the Marsden Rattler, and transported to the docks at South Shields. They are a scheduled monument now.
So off to Cleadon then!
Cleadon is a village on the outskirts of South Shields, and it’s where all the posh people live 🙂 . There’s been a village there for over a thousand years and it has a village pond that is a remnant of an ice age lake and dates to Roman times (as do most things!) so we went to see it.
Cleadon Ice Age Duck pond.
Ice Age Daffodils 🙂
We also wanted to see Cleadon Grotto (just because there are no other grotto’s we know of 🙂 ) and went off to Cleadon Park where we thought it was. Except we wandered around the huge park for ages and couldn’t find it.
But the park was nice to walk in, here are a few shots of it
Crawler Tree
Bread Tree
I’d told Phil we were going to Cleadon and he said to look out for a huge rock in the park.
Phils Rock
Sophie resorted to Lord Google and found out we were in the wrong park to see the grotto 🙄🤭 so back in the car and finally found it.
An 18th century garden ornament that originally overlooked a formal pond in the grounds of Cleadon House. There isn’t a house there now, nor a pond.
And here it is..
Grotty Grotto.
Not very enthralling I admit, but still a little slice of history.
Stay tooned for next time when we’re off to Embleton Bay.
Love those lime kilns!
Shame you couldn’t get inside the grotto though. 😦
Best wishes, Pete.
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It wasn’t very big, and we could see through the bars it was dirty and smelly.
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I said it recently to Pete, but I will repeat it to you as well: In between your and Pete’s post, I might have to stay for a year once I visit England sometime. So many cool things to see, I don’t even know where to start. You can bet I will take my tablet with me so I can reference your and Pete’s post, when I’m there lol 😂
Wonderful pictures, and I especially love the Grotty Grotto. I don’t know, it’s just got great atmosphere if you ask me 😊
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I would definitely show you around! I even have a spare adventure hat you could wear 😊 🎩
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Haha…well as I said to Pete, I am planning a trip to England. Maybe as soon as next year. It would be a delight to meet you both: and that spare adventure hat sounds awesome😂😂
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Excellent, keep me posted on the details.
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Those lime kilns ar e enormous, and still standing!
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Yes they look pretty solid! Cheers Sue.
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And you could access them?
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Sadly no, cordoned off.
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Elf and safety….
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Yep, the bane of all togs.
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Togs, Fraggle??
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Photographers 😊
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Duh…why do I ask?
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As always…I enjoyed your commentary, and do look forward to your informative posts fragg.. The photos are great and I especially like those two you converted to B&W.
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Cheers N-man 😊
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I’m sorry the grotto was a disappointment but you still got some wonderful photos. Those kilns are incredible!
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Cheers Kim 😘
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….who needs gubbins in lighthouses when you have ice age duck ponds and bread trees…them posh folks really know how to live….love you work, Frag’…..(nice rock Phil)….
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haha indeed they do. Cheers Tony 🙂
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That grotto’s a disappointment. The limekilns are rather impressive, though. I’ve only seen the remnants of much earlier ones
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Yes I was underwhelmed with the grotto. The Lime Kilns look like they’ll las forever. Cheers April.
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It’s the kilns that gripped me in the set. Perfect that you had them in black and white. Well done, Fraggle!
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Thanks Cindy!
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I did love this post!
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Thanks Marland I’m happy you did!
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You’re welcome!
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That daffodils image is stunning. Is it even possible to have an ugly image of daffodils? So pretty!
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Thanks Keith!
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Cleadon Village looks like a lovely place. I was taken by the crawler tree. Simply amazing.
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Thanks Otto.
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lovely pics and blog!
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Thanks!
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Great pics. Those limekilns are huge!
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Cheers Rich.
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Awesome 🙂
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🙂
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Those kilns are just fantastic. Great shots.
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Cheers Stevie 🙂
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