Its distinctive conical shape is the result of the hill's hard sandstone cap protecting the underlying shales and clays from erosion by the effects of ice, wind and rain.

[citation needed] Until 1912 the summit resembled a sugarloaf, until a geological fault and possibly nearby alum and ironstone mining caused it to collapse.

[7] The hill may have been held in special regard by the Vikings who settled in Cleveland during the early medieval period and gave the area many of its place names.

When he had time off from working on the farm with his father, young James took himself off up Roseberry Topping, which gave him his first taste for adventure and exploration, which was to stay with him for life.

An old rhyme commemorates this usage: The hill was private property for many years, formerly being part of a game estate owned by the Cressy family.

The path has been a sightseeing excursion route for centuries owing to the views of the Cleveland area from the summit: as early as 1700 travellers were recommended to visit the peak to see "the most delightful prospect upon the valleys below to the hills above.

[15] In Joseph Reed's 1761 farce The Register-Office, the character Margery Moorpout, who hails from 'Yatton', sings the praises of 'Roseberry', which she claims to be a mile and a half high: Certainly God!

I thought ony Fule had knawn Roseberry!—It's t' biggest Hill in oll Yorkshire—It's aboun a Mile an a hofe high, an as coad as Ice at' top on't i't hettest Summer's Day—that it's.