Village of the Week: How a hill in North Yorkshire from the Jurassic period influenced the country's greatest explorer

For Great Ayton, top side of the North York Moors, it is famous for a hill that dates back to the Jurassic period and one of the most famous British explorers in history.

Unsurprisingly, the village, with around 4,500 residents, is a popular tourist destination. Okay, maybe not so much like Saltburn in one direction and Rosedale Abbey or Thirsk in the other but there is plenty to keep locals and visitors busy.

Two primary schools, secondary school and further education colleges, a C of E Church, Catholic Church, Methodist Church and a Friend’s Meeting House are on hand to serve the spiritual needs of parishioners as well as providing much needed community companionship.

The River Leven runs through the village and creates a tranquil spot to sit and watch the world go by - even in these wintery days.

Spare time can be consumed by Great Ayton Cricket and Football Club or Great Ayton Dramatic Society for example. These you would expect in many villages I imagine, even the Brighten Up Great Ayton group,which meets most Thursday afternoons to undertake planting - maybe around Cook Family Memorial Garden, Chapel Steps or Waterfall Park.

But, Great Ayton has some other more unusual groups.

There is such a thing as the Great Ayton and Stokesley Fairtrade Steering Committee working to fulfil the requirements for the Fairtrade Status it has been awarded by encouraging local people and businesses to use Fairtrade products.

And then there is the Great Ayton Twinning Association. Unbeknown to many, Great Ayton is twinned with Ouzouer-sur-Loire, a commune in the Loiret department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France – a two hour drive south of Paris.

The GATA says the decision to twin with another place came in the mid 1990s when both areas happened to be looking for a twin at the same time and rather than a formal authority link – this has a focus on fun and friendship.

GATA said: “We think that friendship and fun are more important than councils and ceremonies. We are particularly keen to involve young people as much as possible, and we have had exchanges of football teams and dancing groups.

“In recent years there has one exchange visit each year either Ayton to Ouzouer or Ouzouer to Ayton . Visits are usually over a weekend, with each visiting family staying with a host family. Hosts provide accommodation and some meals, but the days and evenings are generally filled with activities organised around a theme. Aytonians have been folk dancing and canal cruising in France, Oratoriens have seen the Black Sheep Brewery and Stokesley Show over here.

“Both twinning associations have members whose language skills range from almost zero to fluency, yet everyone seems to manage.”

Great Ayton Parish Council is also working year round to look after the village’s open spaces, community buildings, allotments, cemetery and play park amongst other things. It knows this attention to detail is vital to maintaining the appearance of the village and what draws people to it.

However, also being drawn to Great Ayton are those with a naval and historical interest and those who fancy a challenge.

When we visited, two runners could be spotted making their way towards the foot of Roseberry Topping.

Whether they tackled it up the 1000 feet plus ascent who knows. Having done it, it is one of the most spectacular views across the moors and beyond - up to 50 miles on a good day - but the cliff at the top makes it more about climbing and scrambling than running.

It is formed from sandstone laid down in the Middle and Lower Jurassic periods, between 208 and 165 million years ago, but amazingly is still said to be one of the youngest rock formations amongst England’s National Parks.

Bringing it a little more closer to the present day is an incident in 1912. Prior to this the top of Roseberry is said to have been more cone-shaped but a geological fault and possibly nearby alum and ironstone mining caused the summit to collapse and led to the shape we still see today.

Walkers, visitors and those looking for some fresh air and a bit of a challenge can be found all year round tackling Roseberry - and for one of those, maybe around 270 years ago - that desire for adventure escalated.

In 1728, James Cook was born near Middlesbrough and at the age of eight, along with his family, moved to a farm at Great Ayton.

It is said that as a boy he would spend hours climbing Roseberry and this gave him the desire for outdoors, adventure and exploring.

Of course it is well known that a spell as a shop boy in Staithes didn’t suit and he went to Whitby as a teenager and taken on as a merchant navy apprentice.

Despite not having had a full school education he applied himself to algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy.

He joined the Navy before he was 30 and was on several voyages where he would carry out mapping and surveying of North America and Canada.

This was only the beginning, stating he wanted to go “farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go".

Great Ayton has several village landmarks that relate to Captain Cook. A granite obelisk now marks the original site of the Cook family cottage (in 1933 the then owner sold it and it was dismantled brick by brick and shipped to Australia, re-built and is now a tourist attraction); the Captain Cook Schoolroom Museum where Cook received early education and in 1997 a statue depicting James Cook at the age of 16 looking towards Staithes was unveiled after being commissioned by Hambleton District Council.