I AM going to be in and out the next couple of weeks so I don't know how much Memories blogging I am going to be able to do. As another little follow up from Saturday's article about Roseberry Topping, I'm going to tap in an article from the Darlington and Stockton Times' Spectator column immediately after the great collapse of the Topping in mid-May 1912. There was huge consternation on Teesside, notably in the Evening Gazette newspaper, that the hill would have lost so much height it would be lower than 1,000ft and so lose its place as Cleveland's only mountain - an erroneous fear as there are several points even higher than Roseberry on the edge of the North York Moors.

The D&ST was dismissive of those fears and, I feel, dismissive of the hillock itself: ========================================= A good deal of sentiment has found expression in print this week with reference to the subsidence of the ground beneath roseberry Topping, whereby this well-known Cleveland landmark has lost a little of its height and reputation.

It has been the custom for generations past to over-rate Roseberry. Young people, picknicking on its sides, have been impressed with a sense of its magnitude, and ignoring the evidence of maps and surveys havce created and perpetuated the fiction that roseberry is the highest point and "the only mountain"in Cleveland.

As a matter of fact there are several other higher points than Roseberry within a radius of a few miles. But Roseberry. By reason of its peculiar conformation, admittedly appears to outreach the majority of its rivals. On three sides it rises almost sheer from the surrounding valleys, and its peak conveys the impression of being lifted with an air of pride.

At least, it used to do so, but the effect of the subsidence has been to deprive it of this distinctive characteristic. The head is now obviously "bowed down", and the explanation is to be found in the huge cavity which has formed some distance below, and into which many boulders from the rocky cone have fallen.

Mining operations are still proceeding briskly in the bowels of the hill, and it may be that the hill will in course of time fall further from grace, and those who possess pictures of Roseberry in its pride will be well advised to keep them as mementoes of a fast disappearing landmark.