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Anne T visited on 10th Apr 2016 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Revisit to Blue Crags (Brecken Hills) Hillfort: The last time we visited this site we had to stop at the gate to the field on the Colwell Village side of the site, admiring the outcrop/settlement from a distance. My memory sees at least 3 enormous bulls, feet planted wide, staring at us, daring us to come nearer. Needless to say, we didn't. This time we approached the site from its northern side, using the public bridleway/access road to Swinburne Quarry from the A68. The HER records (site number N9202) tell me this site covers about an acre and forms a wedge with the whinstone forming natural defensive northern edge and ramparts at the side, the highest part of the site being 600 feet above ground level (although it didn't see that high). Walking up into the site is easiest from the far edge (near the gate to the footpath to Colwell village), where the site drops virtually to ground level. Walking up the slope to the entrance, a well-preserved hut circle sits to the left hand side of the path. Within the site there are more hut circles - we've never seen such well preserved ones in Northumberland and it was easy to imagine how our ancestors lived and used this space. The north eastern side of the whin sill has been quarried away, but does not impact upon the site itself. Well worth a visit. On the opposite side of the track, to the north, lies the not so well preserved Dunn Crags settlement and enclosure.

Anne T visited on 13th Jun 2014 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 4 We know this site as 'Blue Crags Hillfort', rather than 'Brecken Hills', so both names are in use. The English Heritage Schedule describes Blue Crags Hillfort as a 'defended settlement of Iron Age/Romano-British date'. It makes excellent use of an existing outcrop of rock (whinstone, from the official records) as part of the defences, and there are very clear ramparts/defensive earthworks on the east, west and south sides of the site, with the main entrance appearing to be to the south west. We originally went to look at the wells in Colwell (Pricky's well and Coley's Well), but spotted the extensive earthworks of the hillfort marked on the Ordnance Survey map just north west of Colwell, and went to take a look. Blue Crags is situated to the east of the course of Dere Street, with the A68 running between the hillfort and Dere Street. There is a marked footpath running up to the fort from the west of Colwell, although the visible route vanishes when it reaches the field immediately south of the site, so we followed a vague track through the grass to a large barn which sits at the southern most edge of the hillfort. The hillfort itself is impressively large and imposing as you walk up to it, as it sits on a hill above you. There is a further footpath that runs north west towards woodland, which would give a superb view of the fort and the outcrop on which it sits, but there were several large bulls, together with cows and their calves in this field, so we trod gingerly trying to get the best photographs from the area around the field entrance to illustrate the site. On returning home, I logged onto the UK Grid Finder website. The aerial views show about 12 very clear hut circles on the platform of the fort. I will certainly go back in the autumn/early winter to have a closer look.



Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2.5 Ambience: 4 Access: 4

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