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GHOST TOWN ON ESTON HILLS The tiny ironstone mining hamlet of Pit Top once nestled in Barnaby Moor atop the Eston Hills (that hotbed of urban myths).
But what happened to the remote settlement which consisted of a single row of terraced houses split in two and a little school? Legend has it that the entire population became trapped and perished one considerably cold winter - and their ghosts haunt the hilltop to this day. The truth is less dramatic but still a fascinating piece of Teesside's industrial history. The families moved out in the late 1940s following the closure of the pit and the end of nearly 100 years of ironstone mining. In his 2004 documentary, A Century in Stone, Craig Hornby sheds more light on the "Lost village of Pit Top," with interviews with some of its former habitants.
The houses have since been demolished and all that remains to be seen is the concrete cover marking the location of the village well. TWOCKING A TANK Ever keen to swell its ranks with tough Teesside squaddies the Army is said to have once held a recruitment drive outside the medical centre at ICI Wilton in the late Seventies or early Eighties - but didn't count on one of their tanks going missing.
Reportedly for a bet, one young scally on the late shift decided to take said tank for a spin. According to myth he drove it down past Wilton Power Station towards the Dormanstown Gate.
But on dawning realisation of his little escapade he is said to have panicked - and run the tank into a pipe trench.
ROMAN BURIAL GROUND ON A171 WHITBY ROAD Described in the 18th century as "the Silbury of the North" the conical Freebrough Hill sits in...