The Tabular Hills define the southern edge of the North Yorkshire Moors and turn out to be a bit of a hotspot for hydraulic rams.
The hills were formed when rivers and glacial runoff carved valleys in the limestone bedrock, leaving a series of flat topped tablet-shaped hills.
This is good farming country but water drains readily through limestone, so much of the rain which falls on the hilltops doesn’t accumulate there, instead reappearing as springs running down the sides of the valleys.
With no local water sources on top farms needed a way to get some of the water back up from the valleys.
Before the days of a reliable electricity supply there was only one mechanised solution - water-powered water pumps (wind isn’t much use in valleys), and this is presumably why the area has so many hydraulic rams.
A satellite view of the western part of the hills, showing some of ram sites on the valley sides.
Satellite view tends to flatten hills - the valleys are actually quite steep and often partially covered by soggy forest.
Waterwheel-powered pumps, an older technology, would have been an alternative, but it’s all rams here, perhaps because they require less attention and are better suited to small scale pumping from springs.
They were installed between the 1890s and 1920s according to maps.
This report is the product of two visits and contains all the ram sites in the region marked on old maps.
I don’t usually include fails, as in rams that have gone, but they’re mentioned this time in the interests of complete coverage of this relatively small area.
Locations are ordered roughly east to west and photos are all phone.
1. Starting with a couple shown next to each other in a valley north-east of Cropton, only the downhill one was there.
The other would have been in a modern forestry plantation and may have been the reservoir for the ram - labelling on maps is not reliable.
The ram is in a pit next to the pair of trees, with waste water flowing to a stream in the foreground.
It was made by John Blake - in fact all the rams in this area are either by Blake or the other major manufacturer, Green and Carter (henceforth G&C, also associated with the names Easton, H.P. Vacher and Vulcan).
It’s often difficult to be sure where the water was being pumped - two nearby farms are possibilities for this one.
2. The second is, or was, in a valley near Low Kingthorpe - most of the ram has gone leaving only the base with its waste valve.
There’s enough left to conclude that this was a big compound ram, driven by a stream nearby, but pumping pure water from a spring.
The remains of a collection tank for the spring are sliding down the hill above, and would have delivered water into the smaller tank in the pit.
The water to drive the ram was diverted by a weir into a pond from which it filled a tank (still there) containing a large drive pipe to the ram with a shutoff flap.
I haven’t included pictures of this stuff since it all looks like overgrown bog.
3. Another no show, a ram next to a weir between Levisham and Lockton.
The only bit remaining is the drive pipe, sticking out on the left in the photo below.
4. A ram shown at the southern edge of Dalby Forest which wasn’t there either, just its reservoir and a length of the drive pipe.
Since I was nearby I had a look at one of many objects in the forest marked ‘rabbit type’ on maps.
I had to look up what rabbit types were - they turn out to be rabbit traps, leftovers from 200+ years ago when rabbit farming was a significant local industry.
Bunny would hop along and fall through a spring loaded trap door into a stone lined pit, to be collected later and sold for fur and meat.
The trap door mechanism has gone so it’s not much to look at, just a shallow hole, here with a red camping light under one of the edges to illustrate the overhang.
Rare things, apparently.
5. The next one, up a valley near Langdale End, had an electric pump in the ram hut but also contained two disused rams.
The reservoir, taking water from two springs.
A Blake and a G&C in pieces.
6. Another fail, in a valley north of Sawdon, just an underground chamber where the ram once lived.
7. The seventh near Broxa was there, probably once pumping to Broxa farm.
The reservoir was filled by water diverted from a stream, out of sight to the left.
8. The eighth was in a valley below Silpho, supplied from a well - it may have pumped to a (listed) water tower by the side of the road in Silpho.
Collection tank hidden in the undergrowth below the well.
The remains of a ram hut made out of sleepers - at first I thought the ram had gone, but it was just in pieces and partly buried.
Chassis after minor excavation.
Back together again - it looks like someone unbolted the air tank and then realised it was far too heavy to carry off.
This is a less common type of Blake with two waste valves to increase the throughput.
Old photo (c. 1890) of this design.
9. I thought the next one, round the same hill and opposite Hackness Hall, might be interesting, but both ram huts were empty.
Never mind, there was a (listed) icehouse next door to look at.
10. Another ram the other side of the same hill was also a bust, with just a length of what looked like outlet piping in a hedgerow.
However on the way in I walked past a limekiln, so here’s a picture of that instead.
There are many limestone quarries and limekilns in these parts - this one (Sutton Moor limekiln) is a truncated three-holer, with two smaller ‘draw holes’ on either side.
I don’t know if this is a common design as this was the only kiln I looked at.
continued.
The hills were formed when rivers and glacial runoff carved valleys in the limestone bedrock, leaving a series of flat topped tablet-shaped hills.
This is good farming country but water drains readily through limestone, so much of the rain which falls on the hilltops doesn’t accumulate there, instead reappearing as springs running down the sides of the valleys.
With no local water sources on top farms needed a way to get some of the water back up from the valleys.
Before the days of a reliable electricity supply there was only one mechanised solution - water-powered water pumps (wind isn’t much use in valleys), and this is presumably why the area has so many hydraulic rams.
A satellite view of the western part of the hills, showing some of ram sites on the valley sides.
Satellite view tends to flatten hills - the valleys are actually quite steep and often partially covered by soggy forest.
Waterwheel-powered pumps, an older technology, would have been an alternative, but it’s all rams here, perhaps because they require less attention and are better suited to small scale pumping from springs.
They were installed between the 1890s and 1920s according to maps.
This report is the product of two visits and contains all the ram sites in the region marked on old maps.
I don’t usually include fails, as in rams that have gone, but they’re mentioned this time in the interests of complete coverage of this relatively small area.
Locations are ordered roughly east to west and photos are all phone.
1. Starting with a couple shown next to each other in a valley north-east of Cropton, only the downhill one was there.
The other would have been in a modern forestry plantation and may have been the reservoir for the ram - labelling on maps is not reliable.
The ram is in a pit next to the pair of trees, with waste water flowing to a stream in the foreground.
It was made by John Blake - in fact all the rams in this area are either by Blake or the other major manufacturer, Green and Carter (henceforth G&C, also associated with the names Easton, H.P. Vacher and Vulcan).
It’s often difficult to be sure where the water was being pumped - two nearby farms are possibilities for this one.
2. The second is, or was, in a valley near Low Kingthorpe - most of the ram has gone leaving only the base with its waste valve.
There’s enough left to conclude that this was a big compound ram, driven by a stream nearby, but pumping pure water from a spring.
The remains of a collection tank for the spring are sliding down the hill above, and would have delivered water into the smaller tank in the pit.
The water to drive the ram was diverted by a weir into a pond from which it filled a tank (still there) containing a large drive pipe to the ram with a shutoff flap.
I haven’t included pictures of this stuff since it all looks like overgrown bog.
3. Another no show, a ram next to a weir between Levisham and Lockton.
The only bit remaining is the drive pipe, sticking out on the left in the photo below.
4. A ram shown at the southern edge of Dalby Forest which wasn’t there either, just its reservoir and a length of the drive pipe.
Since I was nearby I had a look at one of many objects in the forest marked ‘rabbit type’ on maps.
I had to look up what rabbit types were - they turn out to be rabbit traps, leftovers from 200+ years ago when rabbit farming was a significant local industry.
Bunny would hop along and fall through a spring loaded trap door into a stone lined pit, to be collected later and sold for fur and meat.
The trap door mechanism has gone so it’s not much to look at, just a shallow hole, here with a red camping light under one of the edges to illustrate the overhang.
Rare things, apparently.
5. The next one, up a valley near Langdale End, had an electric pump in the ram hut but also contained two disused rams.
The reservoir, taking water from two springs.
A Blake and a G&C in pieces.
6. Another fail, in a valley north of Sawdon, just an underground chamber where the ram once lived.
7. The seventh near Broxa was there, probably once pumping to Broxa farm.
The reservoir was filled by water diverted from a stream, out of sight to the left.
8. The eighth was in a valley below Silpho, supplied from a well - it may have pumped to a (listed) water tower by the side of the road in Silpho.
Collection tank hidden in the undergrowth below the well.
The remains of a ram hut made out of sleepers - at first I thought the ram had gone, but it was just in pieces and partly buried.
Chassis after minor excavation.
Back together again - it looks like someone unbolted the air tank and then realised it was far too heavy to carry off.
This is a less common type of Blake with two waste valves to increase the throughput.
Old photo (c. 1890) of this design.
9. I thought the next one, round the same hill and opposite Hackness Hall, might be interesting, but both ram huts were empty.
Never mind, there was a (listed) icehouse next door to look at.
10. Another ram the other side of the same hill was also a bust, with just a length of what looked like outlet piping in a hedgerow.
However on the way in I walked past a limekiln, so here’s a picture of that instead.
There are many limestone quarries and limekilns in these parts - this one (Sutton Moor limekiln) is a truncated three-holer, with two smaller ‘draw holes’ on either side.
I don’t know if this is a common design as this was the only kiln I looked at.
continued.
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