Verjuice Press

Quite please with this discovery, I reported it to the national park archeology recorder and it turns out to be previously unreported.  This is at the ruined farm, Grange Head SW of Egton Bdge.  There is no public access.

These presses (There are several in the Esk Valley I believe) were used to extract juice from fruit such as apples, etc.,  A large wood beam was wedged against an imovable object such as a tree root and the beam was pressed downwards crushing and squeezing the fruit.  Not clear on this picture but there is a 'run off' channel on the far side of the square groove.  I suspect the stone in the background was a part of the press as there are some remains of fixtures which I wouldn't normally associate with old yats or gate posts.