Black Middens
Distance: 1.5 miles,
Minnimum Time: 30mins,
Difficulty: Easy,
Description:
The area around Lanehead is called Tarset. The name means âthe fold in the dry pine woodsâ and is first recorded in the early 13th century. Although the car parking area is beside Tarset Village Hall, there is in fact no Tarset village - only the burn in its valley, a parish name and the scant and confusing remains of Tarset Castle south of Lanehead. This was started in 1267 on the site of an earlier Scottish fortress by âRedâ John Comyn, a claimant to the throne of Scotland who was stabbed to death by the altar of the Greyfriars church in Dumfries by Robert the Bruce in 1306. The castle was burned by the Scots in 1525, and largely destroyed by a railway cutting in 1860. The walk takes you alongside the Tarset Burn before crossing it and heading across moorland to Thorneyburn. Youâll find another fortified site here, on the open fell at Boughthill. This one is probably the remains of a 16th-century fortified farmhouse, or bastle, long-since abandoned to the sheep. Shipshape Religion The tiny hamlet of Thorneyburn mainly consists of the church and the large former Rectory. Both were constructed in 1818 for trustees of Greenwich Hospital. It had been given the parish in 1735 after the former patron, the Catholic Earl of Derwentwater, had been disgraced for his part in the Old Pretenderâs rebellion of 1715. The charity, established by William III in 1694 to look after naval veterans, still maintains an estate in north Northumberland, as well as its valuable landholdings in the capital. Like nearby Greystead, Wark and Humshaugh, Thorneyburn had a succession of naval chaplains as rector, and all four have very similar churches and rectories. The farmhouse at nearby Redhaugh also probably started life as a fortified bastle house; at the edge of the small field opposite is a pretty pyramid-roofed 18th-century dovecote.
Disasters at Slaty Ford. Sidwood Picnic Area is the start of a number of waymarked trails though this part of the huge Kielder Forest, including the âReivers Trailâ. As well as the ubiquitous pines, there are a number of ornamental trees that remain from the old Sidwood Estate. Through the woods and over the ridge, you come to Slaty Ford - a peaceful place, but with a dark history. In September 1796 six workers in the nearby colliery shaft were killed - either by an influx of water from a disused shaft or from an explosion; the records are unclear. On 20 September 1957 a Vickers Varsity aeroplane, on a training flight from RAF Thorney Island in Sussex, crashed here, killing all five crew members.
While you're there: Bellingham, 3.25 miles (5.3km) east of Lanehead, has a fascinating church with a stonevaulted roof. Outside the slightly Germanic town hall is a cannon captured during the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. A delightful walk from the village takes you up Hareshaw Burn gorge to Hareshaw Linn waterfall.
What to look out for: Look out, in Bellingham churchyard, for a 700-year-old gravestone called the Long Pack. It is the tomb of a robber who, in 1723, was smuggled into a local house in a pedlarâs pack to open the door to his accomplice. Servants saw the pack move and shot at it. The robber was killed and buried under this stone. The Sneep, a hillside across the Tarset Burn from Thorneyburn church, is reputed to be where King Arthur and his knights sleep, to be woken in the time of Britainâs greatest need.
Where to eat and drink: There is nowhere directly on the route, but in Bellingham there are the Riversdale and Cheviot hotels, the Rose and Crown Inn, Fountain Cottage Tea Rooms and The Snack Bar.
Directions:
Walk to the staggered crossroads in the middle of Lanehead and turn right, signed âDonkleywoodâ. At the Redmire cottages turn right through a gate, and cross the yard to leave by two more gates. Cross the field, passing through a gap to reach a handgate. Bear left, descending to a kissing gate by the river. Follow the river bank right, through a series of gates before rising to a final gate and dropping to a bridge. Cross the Tarset Burn and follow the path down a ramp to join a farm track. Turn left along this to a farmyard.
Go though the farmyard and ascend the track on the far side. As it bears left, go ahead past a waymarker and downhill to cross the stream. Pass another waymarked post and go through a gateway. Bend right after it and go through a hand gate. Turn left along the fence, then, at a stile, bear half right across the open moor towards the woods and church. Keep left of the ruined wall, aiming for a dilapidated shed and a wall descending to a bridge over the burn.
Cross the stream. Veer left on the opposite bank to locate a gate at the side of a garden. Go through this and follow the track beside the churchyard to the road. Turn right and at the T-junction turn left. Follow the lane past Redheugh farm and the âForestry Commission Sidwoodâ sign to Sidwood Picnic Area, near whitepainted buildings.
From Sidwood Picnic Area, continue straight on up the forest track. After 0.25 mile (400m), take a right turn through the woods to a footbridge across the Tarset Burn and go over it.
Go through the gate at the end of the bridge, then forward along the field side. Part way along the field, bear left along the path to reach the road. Turn left along the road to reach the car park below Black Middens Bastle House and walk up the rough track to visit the ruin.
Bastles are fortified houses, restricted to the border lands. The remains of around 200 bastle houses are known, the majority of them in Northumberland. Like the others, Black Middens was built by a local farmer as protection from Scottish raids and cattle theft. With very thick walls and small windows, they were easily defended, and provide accommodation on the lower floor for beasts. Living quarters wereabove, originally accessible by a ladder that could be pulled up in time of trouble - the stone steps are one of the few alterations to this 17th-century building. There are other bastle houses near Black Middens, and some of these can be visited.
After visiting Black Middens, retrace your steps to the car park, back along the road and through the field to the gate on to the footbridge. Cross the bridge then turn left, signed âSidwood Picnic Areaâ. Go through a gate and follow the burn. The path eventually bears away from the burn and goes uphill. At a crossing track by the white buildings, turn left back to the open area by the picnic site. Turn right, following the âSlaty Fordâ sign.
Follow the path into the wood ahead, but after a short distance look for a right turn, crossing the burn and continuing up the hill. Cross a forest track and continue up the hill through an area of clear fell. Maintain your direction as the route levels out, now with a ditch on your right. As you begin to descend, the forest gives way to moorland on your left and you reach a gate. Continue down through the enclosure, crossing a burn then rising to a crossing track. Turn left and follow this down to cross the burn with care at Slaty Ford.
Continue on this prominent enclosed track to a gate. Beyond this follow the minor road for a mile (1.6km) along the flank of the North Tyne valley passing through a gate after 0.5 mile (800m) to a junction. Keep ahead, over the cattle grid and down to the bridge over the Tarset Burn. Continue on this quiet lane as it ascends the bank back to the main road. Turn left to return to your car.
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