Skinningrove is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Loftus, in the

Redcar and Cleveland Redcar and Cleveland is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. Its council has been a unitary authority since 1996. The borough was created in 1974 as Langbaurgh, and was one of four ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. Its name is of

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

etymology and is thought to mean ''skinners' grove or pit''.

Demographics

In 1951 the parish had a population of 2,011.

History

The village had an agricultural and fishing economy, until the opening of local

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...

workings, in 1848, initiated an industrialisation boom. A railway was built by 1865, and iron smelting began in 1874. A jetty on the coast, built in 1880, allowed seagoing vessels to carry heavy cargoes from the area. Mining continued until 1958, and primary iron production until the 1970s. Skinningrove was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the parish of

Brotton Brotton is a village in the civil parish of Skelton and Brotton, in the Redcar and Cleveland district, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England It is situated approximately south-east of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, 9 miles from Redcar, ea ...

. In 1866, it became a separate civil parish.

Oarfish

On 17 February 2003, a rarely seen

oarfish Oarfish are large and extremely long pelagic lampriform fish belonging to the small family (biology), family Regalecidae. Found in areas spanning from Temperate climate, temperate ocean zones to tropical ones, yet rarely seen by humans, the oa ...

was caught by angler Val Fletcher, using a

fishing rod A fishing rod or fishing pole is a long, thin rod used by angling, anglers to fishing, catch fish by manipulating a fishing line, line ending in a fish hook, hook (formerly known as an ''angle'', hence the term "angling"). At its most basic ...

baited with

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

. The fish was 11 ft 4 in (3.3 m) long and weighed 140 lb (63.5 kg). Graham Hill, the science officer at the Deep, an aquarium in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

, said that he had never heard of another oarfish being caught off the coast of Britain. The

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in London said that it would have been interested in preserving the fish in its permanent collection; however the fish had been 'cut up into steaks' before any scientists could examine it.

Landmarks

Skinningrove beach - looking west - geograph

The Land of Iron (formerly the Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum and the Tom Leonard Mining Museum) displays the village's mining heritage. It provides an underground experience and an insight into how 6.2 million tons of ironstone was extracted from Skinningrove mines. The village has a large natural sandy beach used for recreational fishing and a

beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

, which occasionally floods, notably in 2000. The Methodist chapel closed in 2024, due to lack of numbers. It has been converted into two houses. The pipe organ from the chapel, which dates from 1910, was sold to a local museum. The

Cleveland Way The Cleveland Way is a National Trail in the historic area of Cleveland in North Yorkshire, Northern England. It runs between Helmsley and the Brigg at Filey, skirting the North York Moors National Park. History Development of the Cleve ...

National Trail passes through the village.

Culture and events

From 1982 to 2019, Skinningrove hosted a bonfire and fireworks display, which attracted hundreds of people from around North Yorkshire. Each year, the bonfire was based on a different theme. The bonfire was discontinued from 2023, due to safety concerns and local infrastructure being unable to cope with the large crowds. The

runs through the village. Photographer

Chris Killip Christopher David Killip (11 July 1946 – 13 October 2020) was a Manx people, Manx photographer who worked at Harvard University from 1991 to 2017, as a Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies. Killip is known for his black and white imag ...

created an unpublished photo series about the town's residents in the early 1980s, about which the American filmmaker

Michael Almereyda Michael Almereyda (born April 7, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He studied art history at Harvard University but dropped out after three years to pursue filmmaking. He acquired a Hollywood agent on the strengt ...

produced a short film. The film won Best Non-Fiction Short at the 2012

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

References

External links

Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum

Skinningrove Bonfire
. {{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Places in the Tees Valley Populated coastal places in Redcar and Cleveland Former civil parishes in North Yorkshire Loftus, North Yorkshire