I agree with you Cliff, it does look like peat taken on the moors. Such sledges were used on my Grandfathers farm in Weardale for haymaking paticlarly on rough or hilly ground. My Father had his middle finger broken holding on to the side of the sledge when it hit a stone. It was always slightly bent. At a guess I would say the photograph was taken on Whitby Moors where peat stocks were high and the fire at the Checkers Inn, was never allowed to go out for over a hundred years.
The front two horses appear to be pulling a cart without any wheels! My guess is that this is a peat sledge loaded up with peat and so heavy that it needed two horses to pull it down the track. There is a good photo of a peat sledge on the Shetlands Islands Museum website. I believe that such sledges were also in use in Wales, but I have never heard of them being used on the North Yorkshire Moors. It is difficult to suggest a Stockton connection for this image?
Picture Stockton Archive 
I agree with you Cliff, it does look like peat taken on the moors. Such sledges were used on my Grandfathers farm in Weardale for haymaking paticlarly on rough or hilly ground. My Father had his middle finger broken holding on to the side of the sledge when it hit a stone. It was always slightly bent. At a guess I would say the photograph was taken on Whitby Moors where peat stocks were high and the fire at the Checkers Inn, was never allowed to go out for over a hundred years.
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The front two horses appear to be pulling a cart without any wheels! My guess is that this is a peat sledge loaded up with peat and so heavy that it needed two horses to pull it down the track. There is a good photo of a peat sledge on the Shetlands Islands Museum website. I believe that such sledges were also in use in Wales, but I have never heard of them being used on the North Yorkshire Moors. It is difficult to suggest a Stockton connection for this image?
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