The Castles

Date Added: 4th Aug 2014
Site Type: Stone Fort or Dun Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Aug 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: We’d come across mention of this site from Time Team Series 15 episode 11 (“5000 tons of stone”) in 2007, and noted it because it was a site relatively local to us. Being late on a windy, but sunny, Sunday afternoon, and wanting to go out somewhere without going far, we decided to head off to Hamsterley to see if we could find this site.

Following the signs for Hamsterley village from the A68, we went through the village along Saunders Avenue, turning first right up Bedburn Road when almost through the village, then first right again along Howlea Lane. I didn’t measure the distance from Hamsterley village, but it is at least several kilometres along this lane. West Shipley Farm doesn’t have a sign outside, but having spotted a sign for Shipley Moss Farm, we knew we were close.

West Shipley Farm is the next farmhouse on the left hand side of the road, and has a wide entrance to the farm track, so we bumped up on one side. The track goes past the farmhouse, then a stile crosses a stone wall (broken right hand post on the far side, so be careful – having fallen heavily during a walk the weekend before, I ended up going back to the gate to the field and walking around), and down hill to what I believe is the Harthorpe Beck valley below.

To the left hand side of the track, there is a modern curving stone wall with a wooded area behind. Between the trees, we could see tantalising glimpses of hefty stone walls. Following the modern stone wall, there is a gate towards the southern end of the field, at approximately grid reference NZ 10269 33059, which took us straight into the un-farmed field containing The Castles.

This is certainly an intriguing site. We gained access by walking across the ditch (not deep in the south west corner) and clambering up a fallen section of wall in the same area – following tracks where other people have done this).

Once inside the Castles, you are immediately within a large stone-built enclosure, away from the wind and very, very quiet and peaceful. There are vast dry stone walls, largely tumbled, but with the lower courses very much in tact. Having walked around the inside of the walls, there appears to be only one entrance, to the east of the site, and this contains a ‘guard room’, or small room, built within the wall itself. A ditch runs around the whole exterior of The Castles, although there is enough flat land between the exterior stone walls and the ditch to walk around the circumference of the walled area (avoiding trees occasionally). The eastern entrance leads down to a stream, which helps to form the eastern boundary.

The site itself is on a slope, half way down the hillside, somewhat similar to Maiden Castle in North Yorkshire, but rather than having a levelled interior like Maiden Castle, the site itself slopes downhill to the stream below, which would make no sense if the site had been occupied. However, the site was wooded and overgrown, so it was very difficult (virtually impossible) to make out any internal ground features.

I went onto the Wessex Archaeology web site when I returned home, and downloaded their archaeological evaluation and assessment for the site. They note that the site is likely to be iron age, although they had very few (virtually no!) finds, and is of rhomboidal, describing an area some 81.26m (west)/85.6m (east) by 65.83m (north)/79.5 m (south), with the wall in the east being thickest – 7m wide at the base.

Certainly enigmatic!

Hunstanworth Moor north

Trip No.42  Entry No.4  Date Added: 29th Aug 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 28th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Hunstanworth Moor North, Townhead: Being the day of the Blanchland and Hunstanworth Show, this road was very busy, and it was difficult to stop as the road was narrow and there were no obvious lay-bys or pull-off points (there being a nice ditch at the western side of the road and a steep bank up to the field on the east).

Spotted this stone as we were passing by on the way to the stone approx. 575m south and retraced our steps to photograph it.

Again, after having done searches on the internet, not been able to find out anything about it, like it’s ‘partner’ further up the hill.

St Peter's Church (Bishopton)

Trip No.56  Entry No.1  Date Added: 16th Oct 2017
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 15th Oct 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Medieval Cross in St. Peter's Churchyard, Bishopton: Driving into Bishopton, I realised looking at the cottages and houses that this was a very old village, and had it not been for all the parked cars, it would have been very picturesque.

The church was locked so we couldn’t go in, but the remains of this cross was visible near the edge of the churchyard. It was easier to photograph it from the road, looking over the wall.

I didn’t photograph the replacement village cross, in the very small village green, near the wall memorial, as I thought it was modern, and we didn’t stop after looking at the earthworks nearby.

Escomb Cross

Date Added: 21st Sep 2014
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: Escomb Saxon Church, Saxon Green, Escomb, Northumberland: This church is well worth a visit as it is a showcase for simple, understated architecture with an enormous ambience of history and worship. Peaceful, cool and reflective, Escomb is said to be ‘the most complete Anglo-Saxon Church in England’ and I’d agree with this. The site is said to date from between 650 to 690 AD and is sited at the heart of this tiny village 2km west of Bishop Auckland. The church is kept locked, but the key is kept on a hook outside the door of a property immediately behind the church and is readily accessible.

I’ve been here twice before in 2007; once just to say I’d been here; the second time to meet a colleague at The Saxon Inn across the road for a pre-meeting on the way to a conference in Durham, and popped in. But until today, I’ve never really stopped to look, sit and take in the atmosphere and the simplicity and beauty that goes back to Saxon times (and perhaps beyond?).

Having found a brilliant resource on the internet (The Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture on Durham University’s web site), today’s visit was particularly to look at the Anglo-Saxon cross shafts in the porch and re-visit the rest of the Anglo-Saxon artefacts I’d seen, but not really appreciated on previous visits - the inscribed Saxon cross on the wall between the nave and the sanctuary (just behind the pulpit), the Saxon grave marker behind the altar, the Roman inscriptions and the Saxon architecture and the sundial on the exterior south wall.

Having spent well over an hour here, I drove over to St Andrew’s Church in Aycliffe village for another ‘feast’ of Anglo-Saxon artefacts.

St Andrew's Church (Aycliffe)

Date Added: 21st Sep 2014
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St. Andrew’s Church, Aycliffe Village, County Durham: A treasure-house of Anglo-Saxon cross-shafts.

OK - it’s only just over 9 miles between Escomb Saxon Church and Aycliffe Village, but I drove more than twice that distance as I managed to get hopelessly lost trying to follow the directions the bar maid at the Saxon Inn in Escomb had given me (I must have misunderstood). However, backtracking to the safety of the A68/A1 and heading north to junction 59, the church is really easy to find. Driving north up the A167, you pass ‘St Andrew’s Way’ (which leads to an industrial estate to your left), then just as you enter Aycliffe Village there is a left hand turn (officially called Church Lane, but I didn’t spot a street sign).

I confess to a certain degree of trepidation as I turned down the lane – it got narrower and narrower and I was scared I wouldn’t be able to turn the car around, but then the lane suddenly widened out into a very generous parking area. Two cars were already there – the Church Warden and her friend. I wasn’t expecting such a large church which appeared to rise up out of the surrounding flatness of the fields like a mini-cathedral.

As this church is only open for two hours on a Thursday afternoon between 1st May and 30th September each year, I phoned in advance to say I was going, to ensure I could gain entry. Thank goodness I had. The Church Warden was really, really friendly and gave me both a wonderful history of the church, pointing out features such as the Blacksmith’s Grave Cover and helping me find the Anglo Saxon cross shafts not in the display area, along with some of the features externally, but also leaving me space to wander and take photographs and understand and enjoy what I was looking at.

I had to chuckle (but only to myself) about the ancient and wonderful Anglo Saxon cross stored in the south west corner with a huge modern ladder propped up on the wall against it.

The wardens have laid out a small ‘museum’ area at the back of the church. My one disappointment was a lack of a church guide (when I was handed a leaflet I asked if there was a proper guide, only to be told ‘that’s it!’ My cheeks reddened). However, the church warden went back to her house and came back with a book on the church – a bargain at only £5.

Over a cup of tea, I was given ‘chapter and verse’ on the adventures they had had putting heating, new lighting and a sound system into this Grade 1 listed building. Apparently officers from Durham Council had been out to sit on the choir stalls to ensure their feet weren’t too close to the new heating pipes for health and safety reasons! What fun.

The Church Warden ended my visit by saying if I wanted to go back ‘out of season’ I had her phone number, to call her, and we’d ‘come to some arrangement’.

On reading the guide book at home, I realised this was the church that had been mentioned when I worked at Northumbria University. One of the alumni had emailed in describing how he shared a room with two students from Teesside who had raided a churchyard for bones – and this was the cemetery they had come from. The guide book included Photostats of some of the newspaper articles from the time.

This church is a real treat for Anglo-Saxon cross enthusiasts.

The Anker's House

Date Added: 2nd Oct 2014
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 25th Sep 2014. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: The Anker House (Anglo Saxon Cross Shafts and Cross Arms): The purpose of my visit was to see the Anglo Saxon cross fragments, but the impact of this visit is still with me today - the tiny little Anker House and what it meant to commit yourself to the rest of your life in this tiny village was quite a spiritual awakening for me.
I am very nervous about driving to places I've never been to before, and I was a bit of a quiver thinking about how to drive to Chester-le-Street and find the church. From Bywell, rather than drive the longer way down the A695/A1, I went down the B6309/A693, which was easy enough, as it was signposted Beamish Museum then Chester le Street.

Chester le Street was actually bigger and busier than I remembered from a visit to Langley Castle for a conference many years ago, but the spire of the church stood proud behind the shops on the left hand side of the main shopping street, so at the roundabout at the edge of the shops, I turned left and found two car parks straight away. Parking was only 80p for 3 hours (the machine wasn’t accepting certain coins so I was committed to paying 80p or £1) and the Ankers House was signposted from the car park. It was only round the corner.

Wow. I am so pleased I took the time to come here.

When I first arrived, the ladies couldn’t find the key so I had to wait for someone to come back to the church from the Parish Office (which wasn’t long really) and the ladies kept me engaged in conversation, pointing out the squint from the built in Anchorite House and the slot where food was pushed through into the house.

The house was quaint and minute and ancient. It has been extended in modern times, but it was easy enough to get an idea of what it would have been like. The stewards told me that before the Anchorite was walled up in the house a funeral service was held in the church for them so they could say ‘goodbye’ to the real world.

Whilst the atmosphere in the museum was quiet and gentle it was also somewhat spooky and it was very odd to be shut in there alone. I sort of hurried to get through taking my photos, especially as the door to the outside world kept banging in the breeze. Some of the items were apparently on loan to a Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition (the lady said I should speak to ‘Mike’ but no further details).

They had a copy of the Lindisfarne Gospels in the church – apparently they were translated from Anglo-Saxon to Latin on this site. Kept in a glass case and covered with a red cloth, the ladies lifted the cloth to give me a sight of this impressive (modern) copy. A superb afternoon. Shame the museum is not open again until next spring.

St. Mary's Well (Gainford)

Date Added: 8th Oct 2014
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 5th Oct 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: St. Mary's Well, Gainford, North Yorkshire: OK, it was fairly dark by the time we arrived here. But when you’ve had a great day out, I’m always reluctant to call an end to it. From Stanwick with it's Viking and Saxon cross fragments, we had to pass through Gainford to get home anyway, but having read how picturesque it was and having seen photographs on the internet, I was surprised to see the main road cutting through it. However, turning right off the main road towards the picturesque village green, the images changed into a pretty, pretty village, and St Mary’s church came into view. It was dusk, and I had the camera on ‘sunset’ settings. Even so, the photograph of the church came out very ‘blue’ tinted. There were still plenty of dog walkers around, coming back from the river side walk. Coming out of the river side of the church yard, there was a path leading down to a little dell at the right hand side. There was St. Mary’s Well – a very pretty spot. In the depths of the trees overhanging the well, it was very dark indeed, and I turned on the flash on the camera. All of a sudden, a voice cut through the gloom: “The fairies are there in the morning you know!” Laughing, I nearly fell into the outflow from the well to find a lady dog walker staring down at us. “I know, we’re just a bit late”, I replied. At this point, it was too dark for even the camera to focus, so we beat a hasty retreat back home. As we’re planning on coming back to Forcett (St. Cuthbert’s) in a few weeks, we might call again to see this well in the daylight, and to take in the other (sulphurous well) elsewhere in the village.

Low Dinsdale Cross

Date Added: 8th Oct 2014
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 5th Oct 2014. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: I found details of this beautiful little church on the Darlington Borough Council Website, under their Scheduled Monuments list.

Low Dinsdale is situated in a bend of the River Tees south east of Darlington. The church was originally built of pink sandstone, with modern work in red sandstone, which gives it a warm, welcoming appearance. The history sheet published by the church says that “Dinsdale Church was built in the year AD 638 ... the building consisted of a sanctuary, chancel and one long aisle.”

The church of St. John the Baptist sits on an ancient site and houses fragments of pre-Conquest sculptured stones, including two cross-heads, the lower part of a cross-shaft, and half of a hog-back stone. The lower part of the cross-shaft sits in the churchyard, near an impressively large pre-conquest stone coffin.

At the time of our visit, the eastern wall of the porch which houses the Anglo Saxon cross fragments had been taken down in preparation for the building of a toilet. The fragments currently sit on pews inside the church, which is kept locked. The church warden lives locally and an appointment to view can be arranged by telephoning in advance.

In conversation with the church warden, he told me that attendance at services runs to 8 or 9 people.

The church warden helped me to turn the stones around to see the carvings. On one fragment, two horsemen on side that had previously been mortared into the porch wall.

They had found some bones and had an archaeologist (who had been to Bosnia for war grave forensic identification) come and examine the bones and tell them what illnesses these people had. He thought they were from Newcastle University.

Conyer's Chapel Crosses

Date Added: 22nd Oct 2014
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 17th Oct 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: Conyer's Chapel, near Darlington: Hogbacks and Anglo Saxon Crosses: In reading about the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculptures material for Northumberland, I’ve become more and more excited about trying to visit Sockburn Hall. In order to find out who to contact, I went through English Heritage, who have a web page about Sockburn, who put me in touch with both the Sockburn Hall Project and the owner of Sockburn Hall. He also told me that the neighbours at Sockburn Farm taking their privacy very seriously and there are signs to deter visitors, although there are rights of access to Sockburn Hall and the Chapel. I have to say I was made to feel exceptionally welcome once I'd arrived at the Hall.

Conyer’s Chapel is a small, private museum containing the remains of 13 Anglo-Saxon crosses and 9 hogback tombstones plus a small, but impressive (and nationally signficant) stone with runes which was found in the last year.

The chapel is the roofed section, and apart from the arches, the only remaining part of the now ruined church of All Saints. It sits less than 100 yards from the more recent (19th century) property of Sockburn Hall. Built into a loop of the River Tees, Sockburn sits on almost an island, making it an enigmatic and ancient place, suspended between County Durham and North Yorkshire.

The English Heritage records tell us the history of the area begins in AD780 to 796 when a church at Soccabyrig or Sochasburg) hosted the consecration of a bishop of Lindisfarne and the ordination of an Archbishop of York, meaning it would have been a monastic community. Sockburn then disappeared from the written record following Viking raids in the 9th and 10th centuries, and this history explains the fusion of pagan and Christian imagery on the surviving artefacts.

Most impressive was the hogback stone with the two riders carved on it, the rune stone and the large hogback with the ridge missing. I was shocked by the damp and slime within the chapel – in moving the fragments an inch or two to photograph them, I was covered in green slime, cobwebs and insects and this site must surely be at risk.

Sockburn Hall sits on the site of the Conyer’s family former mansion (whose distance ancestor was supposed to have fought the famous ‘worm, dragon or fiery flying serpent’) and is privately owned (see ‘The Grey Stone’ entry on the Portal). It is not open to the public, but the Chapel is owned by the Diocese of Durham and the resident of Sockburn Hall is a keyholder for the chapel. Because the chapel contains so many important artefacts, and the Hall and its surrounding lands have so much history, English Heritage have worked with the Diocese of Durham to survey the earthworks and look at the wider archaeological setting.

The Hall is about to be sold privately as it needs a lot of money to repair and conserve it.

Auckland St Andrew Ancient Cross

Date Added: 22nd Oct 2014
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 17th Oct 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Auckland St Andrew Ancient Cross: This church is open during the day between May and the end of September, so I’d had to arrange a special appointment with the Church Warden to visit at 10am. In the event, the ladies were in arranging flowers in the church, so it would have been possible to gain entry today. The warden's wife told me that they hadn’t had the numbers of volunteers this year to open the church on more days this year.

The cross is almost hidden from view when you go in, lost amongst the grandeur of the rest of the church, and nestled underneath the eastern arch. It struck me that if it had been located a few feet further forward, it would have welcomed visitors into the church.

I could only find The AS Corpus artefacts labelled Auckland St. Andrew 1, 3 and 4. No. 2, which measured 9.5 ins by 7.8 ins by 3.9 ins appeared to be missing, despite being allowed to clamber over the barrier to look behind the tomb stones and with 2 of us looking. As this is the piece with a foot on, this was a shame.

There was no guide book at the church but was given a great verbal history. The Warden was very proud of the almost complete list of rectors and deans since the church was first established in 1085, kept in the south transept. He also told me the reason the door in the south west corner of the church was so tall; apparently the lord of the manor used to ride his horse into church, tether it near where the font is now, then take his place in his private pew. Some years ago, some masonry fell internally near the font. The Warden came in and found the rubble - had a service been taking place a the time there would have been injuries.

I was made to feel very welcome here, and invited to come back, if I telephoned in advance to arrange a date and time.

Barningham Modern Stone Circle

Trip No.117  Entry No.2  Date Added: 9th Feb 2019
Site Type: Modern Stone Circle etc Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 6th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Barningham Modern Stone Circle: This stone circle, created for a village event in 2006, and made up of gateposts, lies on private land, but is visible from the road which runs roughly east-west through the village. Coming out of the lane from St Michael and All Saints, the circle is virtually opposite the Norbeck Bank road end.

Barningham Moor 96

Trip No.117  Entry No.3  Date Added: 12th Feb 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 6th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Barningham Moor 96: Our first rock art panel on Barningham Moor, and this was a lovely rock to start with. It was so near the road, and easy to reach, with stunning views over to the north towards Barnard Castle.

Barningham Moor 1.

Trip No.117  Entry No.4  Date Added: 12th Feb 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Couldn't find on 6th Feb 2019. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Barningham Moor 1: Despite having the grid co-ordinates and also being with rich32, who knew where this stone had previously been located, we were unable to find it. in the end we started a few hundred yards to the west of Barningham Moor 96 and the three of us walked in a line back to BM 96, but no stones were visible in the ground. This panel was completely covered by grass and moss. Shame, perhaps we'll be able to see this on another visit.

Barningham Moor 97

Trip No.117  Entry No.6  Date Added: 12th Feb 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 6th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Barningham Moor 97 rock art panel: This rock was easy to pick out amongst the others on the hillside. It has clearly been squared off and has ‘feather’ marks in the middle as if it was just about to be quarried, but the workmen have walked off and forgotten about it.

Richard pointed out the domino pattern on its south eastern corner, but my goodness I had to look hard for it, then once I’d seen it, it was difficult not to see.

Unfortunately, the light wasn’t brilliant. Would like to come back with a bottle of water and a brush or on a day with brilliant sunlight to bring out the motifs.

Barningham Moor 114

Trip No.117  Entry No.8  Date Added: 13th Feb 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 6th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Barningham Moor 114: This triangular shaped rock sits in relative isolation on the moor. There is considerably more lichen on the stone than when it was surveyed by NADRAP and photographed by rich32 in 2009. It was a good job I had the description with me, but even with rich32 pointing out the motifs, I’m still not sure I understood what I saw on the day. Looking at the photographs (which were taken in not too good lighting) together with the ERA drawing of the panel hasn’t really helped, either! I did query on the day if the grooves might have been the result of water running down the stone, but there was no fluting at the top to indicate this.

Barningham Moor 99

Trip No.117  Entry No.9  Date Added: 13th Feb 2019
Site Type: Rock Art Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 6th Feb 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Barningham Moor 99: This was a lovely stone, found a few metres east of the track. The cup with three penannulars was clearly made out. The cup marks were a little more difficult to spot on the day, but could be felt by running my finger tips over the rock. The five cups towards the north end of the rock appear slightly darker than the rest of the rock on the photo.

The Sleepy Sheep, Deepdale

Date Added: 3rd Jun 2015
Site Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 2nd Jun 2015. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Sleepy Sheep Stone, Natural Erratic near Barnard Castle: Having decided to go to see Egglestone Abbey, I did a quick trawl on the Portal to see what else was nearby around Barnard Castle. The Red Well and this stone looked intriguing so I printed off the pages, and off we set. [Thanks to Durham Nature for this entry – I’ve since looked up his web site and will dip into this again.]

On the way back from Egglestone Abbey, instead of turning right along The Sills to go over the road bridge over the Tees into Barnard Castle by the castle, we went straight on along Lartington Lane. Whilst it’s a relatively minor road, it is wide but busy along its first part, with Hensall Way peeling off and leading up to HM Young Offenders Institute Deerbolt. Not sure which side of the river the stone was on, we parked on a wider section of the road near Deepdale Cottage, just along from the junction with Henshall Way. We walked back along the narrow pavement to Deepdale footbridge over the river to its northern banks, but drew a blank. From the image from the Portal, the stone was most likely to be on the southern side of the river, so we trekked back over the footbridge (distressingly the wooden sheets across the bridge were all rotten and cracking, and plastic reinforcement had been laid across some parts).

Finding the entrance to the park on the southern banks of the Tees between two cottages, we opened (and closed) the gate and followed the metalled road along the grassy meadow. In a couple of hundred yards I said to Andrew, “either that’s a sheep that’s keeping very still, or it’s the stone.” It was the stone.

The shape of this natural erratic is indeed like a sleeping sheep. Made definitely of red Shap granite, it was so cute! We wondered how on earth it had got there. The Durham Nature web site tells us that there are a number of these erratic in the area, pushed over the Pennines by a glacier during the last ice age. I definitely want to go and find the others at Deepdale and The Mortham Stones.

The location is also very pretty, sleeping between the small road and the river with lush, green grass blowing in the breeze and sheep with their photogenic lambs standing watching what we were doing.

The winds were definitely getting stronger by this time (pity my friends walking from John O’Groats to Lands End who are up around Shap today!) so set off to find The Red Well, then onto Staindrop to find the Anglo Saxon Stone Fragment on the way back.

Red Well, Barnard Castle

Date Added: 7th Jun 2015
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 2nd Jun 2015. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Red Well, Barnard Castle: Before leaving home late this afternoon, I'd done a quick trawl of what information could be found on the Red Well on the internet, and come across a curious document entitled: “Archaeo-Environment Ltd: South West Durham Heritage Corridor, Volume II Journeys Part 2” in which page 170 (actually page 3 of the document) talked about “Dr. Edwards’ Health Restoring Walk: a route walking from the rail path into the centre of Barnard Castle viewing Dr. Edwards’ natural springs and former railway building”. It then talks about “this circular route leaves the main railway line behind Glaxo and uses existing rights of way (not bridleways) to visit Barnard Castle via the Red Well. Red Well is an attractive 19th century spring located within its own enclosure. It was popularised by Dr. George Edwards who encouraged the residents of Barnard Castle to make use of its health-giving properties ‘Its valuable laxative qualities has, I know, been ascertained. The Red Well was named from the colour of the stain left on the stone over which the mineral spring flowed (Wilkinson 1998, 46). It no longer stains the stone and is not recommended for drinking .... Access to the enclosure today is by an old metal kissing gate which contributes towards local historic character. Inside the enclosure a stone shelter with seat provides views towards Glaxo buildings, but would had originally viewed the railway line. Overgrown with wildflowers rendering the path virtually invisible, the Town Council are only able to mow it once a year. A path was constructed originally in a horseshoe shape around the edge of the enclosure linking the well with the seating area.”

Leaving Barnard Castle along Galgate (the A688 towards Darlington), then peeling off along Harmire Road (the B6278) we drove past the Glaxo buildings. We had difficulty in spotting the footpath signs, as they were either very tiny rectangular shaped or just below the level of the stone walls/shrubs along the sides of the road. In the end we parked along the road into Montalbo Industrial Estate and walked back, crossing (the now busy road, as it was factory closing time), and easily found the footpath which followed the small stream through the grassy meadows on the opposite side of the road.

By this time, the wind was howling and heads down, we started through the field that had a “Bull In Field” notice on the kissing gate (there wasn’t this time, we checked thoroughly before crossing). In the second field we were mugged by the sheep who came baaing and running at us, probably thinking we’d brought them sheep nuts or some other treat. They were disappointed, and when we crossed back, they pointedly ignored us.

A metal kissing gate leads into the enclosure with the Red Well in it. The well/spring certainly has a good output, water streaming from the outlet pipe. The sign inside the stone shelter is curious – there was obviously a ‘battle’ of some kind over the well in the past. Need to find out more, but most of the internet enquiries come up with ‘Red Well Inns/Hotels/Pubs – will find time to look further soon.

Not the best of locations for the well now, with its views over Glaxo Smith Kline buildings and the wind turbines, but on the edge of town and surrounded by meadows and sheep.

We had to really battle the wind going across the meadows back to the car, and were glad of its shelter once we’d arrived. Shame, because whilst it was sunny, the wind meant we didn’t linger at this spot. It was now early evening, so back home, via Staindrop to find the Anglo Saxon Cross fragment.

St Mary Magdalene (Hart)

Trip No.156  Entry No.4  Date Added: 12th Feb 2020
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 5th Feb 2020. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Mary Magdalene, Hart: From the exterior of the building, I did not expect to 'walk back in time' into this splendid parish church. Such a sense of history, and what fragments of sculptured stones - a real treat. The church was only open for an hour on Wednesdays, between 3pm and 4pm at this time of year, essentially for quiet prayer, but the time flew, and we kept the church warden longer than intended. I would have loved to have spent another hour here, just enjoying the atmosphere.

Old Fulling Mill Museum of Archaeology

Trip No.20  Entry No.3  Date Added: 1st May 2017
Site Type: Museum Country: England (County Durham)
Visited: Yes on 30th Apr 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Old Fulling Mill, Durham: Now closed to the public. All exhibits have been transferred to the University of Durham Museum of Archaeology at Palace Green.

We walked up and down, then down and up, this lovely riverside path, directly underneath Durham Cathedral and the Castle, looking for St. Cuthbert's well. It is in a really lovely spot, although very close to the river, but as the signboard said, must have been prone to flooding.

Having read in the Portal entry that this museum contained examples of rock art, I was keen to visit, but the sign firmly said the museum was now closed. The University of Durham now have an on-line resource, but would love to go and pay a visit. At this time on a Sunday afternoon, it would have been closed, so a repeat visit will be necessary, but as it's such a beautiful location, and not far from home, this will not be too much of a hardship!