Brandy Well (Great Whittingham)

Trip No.92  Entry No.1  Date Added: 21st Aug 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Brandy Well, Todridge Farm, near Great Whittingham: We decided to stop off here on our way to Carlisle to look for this unusually named holy well, near The Queens Arms pub/Chinese restaurant we’ve been to several times. We parked at NY 99652 71590, on the verge before the entrance to Todridge Farm. The farm is more than just a farmhouse and a barn – it’s a hamlet with a number of houses.

Following the track to NY 99143 71795, there is gate into the field on the right hand side (the footpath sign has worn away, it’s just a small white plaque), and we followed this diagonally across the field to the end of the wood, passing a small solar energy ‘farm’ to our right hand side. At about NY 99084 71982 there is a small wooden gate with a footpath sign on it, but this was firmly tied up with a number of ropes (the hinges had broken), so we used the larger gate into the field, and walked a few tens of metres down the slope to the bridge.

On the bridge, you can hear water trickling at the edge of the pool; looking down, there is a dam which lets water out into the stream beyond. Having photographed the well pool from the bridge, we walked up to the land bridge/tractor track at NY 99134 71998 and turned left towards the northern side of the pool. There, in the corner of the fence, we could see the remains of a stone structure, now fallen into what looked like an extension to the pond, where people used to pull water out of.

This is a very pretty spot and a very pretty, if now overgrown, pond, full of waterlilies.

Todley Hill Mound (Great Whittingham)

Trip No.92  Entry No.2  Date Added: 21st Aug 2018
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: England (Northamptonshire)
Visited: Yes on 21st Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Todley Hill Mound, near Great Whittingham: Walking back to the car, we saw a couple of vans with trailers belonging to the farmers, and I was looking for someone to ask permission to enter the field to see the mound, but whilst the trailer doors were left wide open, no people were visible. There was a gate into the field at NY 99675 71602, almost opposite where we’d parked the car, but there was a stream in the way. We opted to drive further back up the road, and parked at NY 99488 71218, where the road widens out into a large field entrance and dump for roadstone.

The gate into the field had been chained shut, so we walked back down the road and found part of the fence we could hop over.

This is a large mound, in a pretty spot with a small stream to its northern side. There appeared to be a large earth-fast boulder towards its south western side, with smaller boulders surrounding it, but the latter had been broken and were probably field clearance.

Walking round the mound, it appeared to us to have vague traces of a kerb with boulders/stones poking through, mainly on its southern and eastern sides.

This mound/tumulus/barrow is right on the old Roman Road, the Devil’s Causeway, jus to the east of where this cuts the modern road. The vague remains of an edge of this road can be seen (possibly) in the field opposite, to the south of the small stream (or it maybe modern uplift from dredging the stream).

This really had the feel of a barrow to me, and I enjoyed walking round it.