Mallerstang, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria - a virtual visit: Part 1

A Virtual Walk through Mallerstang

Part 1: Hugh Seat to Outhgill

(There are quite a few pictures - so if you don't have broadband, sorry, it may take some time to download)

Lady Anne's Pillar

Hellgill Force

Hellgill Force in winter

We begin where the River Eden begins (as Red Gill Beck), in the peat bogs of Black Fell Moss. Above the beck, on the summit of Hugh Seat, there is a pillar that was erected by Lady Anne Clifford in 1664 to commemorate one of her predecessors as Lord of the Manor of Mallerstang - Sir Hugh de Morville, after whom the fell is named. (Sir Hugh was one of the knights responsible for murdering St Thomas a Becket in Canterbury cathedral in 1170).

As we walk downstream, Red Gill becomes Hell Gill Beck - and is the county boundary between Cumbria and North Yorkshire. The beck plunges into a narrow gorge just before we reach Hell Gill Bridge (sometimes called Devil's Bridge) - and here we meet the old Highway. This is the original road through Mallerstang before the B6259 was built along the bottom of the dale in the 1820s.

The Highway is sometimes known as Lady Anne's Way - but it dates back to at least Roman times (a hoard of Roman coins was found by a shepherd nearby) - and probably to the Bronze Age.

(If we make a short detour downstream for a quarter of a mile, we come to Hellgill Force, the largest waterfall on the River Eden).

But having met the Highway, we will continue along it. Here it is a smooth green road, as it heads north along a plateau, with Mallerstang Edge and Wild Boar Fell above us on either side. You will hear larks ascending, and perhaps see a peregrine falcon hunting; in Spring you will see lapwings and hear the Curlew's haunting call, when they come back again to the high fells to breed.

Monuments, old & new

Throughout the area, the skyline is punctuated by enigmatic clusters of cairns. Nobody is entirely sure why they are there - or even when, or by which people they were built. They are certainly many hundreds of years old - possibly going back to the Vikings, who settled this area at the beginning of the last millennium. You can see a fine "crop" of cairns from The Highway if you look across the dale over to the Nab of Wild Boar Fell. * *

But just before The Highway descends from the plateau, there is a striking new monument. "The Watercut" is the first of a series of sculptures, that have been set up at intervals all along the River Eden, by the East Cumbria Countryside Project.

The Watercut, the sculpture nearest the source of the Eden, was carved in Mallerstang by Mary Bourne, and was unveiled in March 1998.

Cairns

Cairns on Wild Boar Fell

Watercut

"The Watercut"

Climbing Wild Boar Fell

Wild Boar Fell - with Deepgill & Old Faw and The Thrang below

The bridleway which starts at Hazelgill Farm, [OS ref: 783 997] goes up to High Dolphinsty. Here the paths diverge - a crossroads in the sky! You can either go south, and climb to the summit at 2324 ft (with marvellous views on a clear day), and/or you can continue west on the bridleway via Stennerskeugh Clouds, down to to Ravenstonedale.

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An alternative route starts from the highest point on "Tommy Road" (the road which leaves Mallerstang beside Pendragon Castle). You walk past the barn [at OS ref 766 035] and along Greenlaw Rigg.

After passing the cairns on Little Fell and Low Dolphinsty, you reach the bridleway where it crosses at High Dolphinsty - named after Dolgfinnr, one of the Viking settlers.

(This walk can be continued further, via Swarth Fell to Grisedale and Uldale).

Note that this alternative route does not go by official footpaths.

Walk Continued...

Mallerstang dale is set between the dramatic profile of Wildboar Fell, on the westward side, and the cliff face of Mallerstang Edge on the eastern side. At times, Mallerstang Edge is covered by a dense layer of cloud - the "Helm Bar" (See Part 2 of this virtual walk).

The scenery is so wild and magnificent that we tend to forget that it has been much modified over the centuries by the different peoples who have made this dale their home. The original "Mallerstang Forest" had already been partly cleared by the Viking settlers, who set up their sheep farms here - and they left us the names of most of the natural features, and many of the houses. Their settlement pattern also survives: a string of isolated houses spread out along the dale, with no village but only a small hamlet as the centre of the community.

(One of the few solid reminders of the Viking settlers is the carving of the Norse god Loki, which can be seen in Kirkby Stephen church).

Their original houses have all gone - but many of the present farmhouses were rebuilt on older sites in the 17th century (when increasing prosperity allowed the building of more durable homes built of stone, rather than timber).

The typical dales houses deserve at least a mention - but running along the dale on the opposite side, there is a more impressive human contribution. The Settle to Carlisle railway, which was completed in 1876, was the last great engineering work to be carried out almost entirely by muscle power.

As we walk northwards along the Highway and reach the end of the plateau, we come to a recent addition: "The Watercut". This is one of the series of sculptures which were placed along the Eden in 1997 (see a link to Eden Arts on the main Thrang Homepage.)

The track now winds down to meet the B6259, just south of The Thrang. We can continue either along the "new" road, or can take the footpath that leads down to the river. After crossing Thrang Bridge, the path continues northwards to the hamlet of Outhgill - the centre of the dale community. (But there are no shops, and there has not been an Inn for a hundred years). It was here that the father of one of our greatest scientists, Michael Faraday, was the blacksmith two hundred years ago.

The church of St Mary was built in the early 12th century.

It was restored, in fact almost rebuilt, by Lady Anne Clifford in 1663, as the plaque above the porch door records.

Many of the workmen who built the Mallerstang section of the Settle-Carlisle railway (and their families who accompanied them), did not survive the hostile climate and insanitary work camps at Aisgill Huts and Birkett Huts. Twenty five men women & children are buried in unmarked graves in the churchyard. On the left as you go through the gate, there a memorial to them, dedicated in May 1998.

Loki