In the early 1800s long flue systems were installed at all the major smelt mills of the North Pennines ore field and locally at the smelt mills of Allendale, Ramshaw (near Blanchland), Allenheads, Rookhope , Nenthead and Castleside. The flues extended long distances up the fells to a vertical terminal chimney. These chimney systems drew the...
Category - Weardale Icons
Weardale’s beautiful sandstone gate posts were quarried, hand chiseled and set in place when labour was cheap, and when gate widths were determined by the needs of horse drawn vehicles. (The English farm gate width had been set at six feet based on the width of the English farm cart, which in turn had the same wheelbase as the Roman cart, as can...
Baking The Daily Bread – Weardale’s Bread Ovens: Bread ovens, built into the wall of many Weardale houses from medieval times onwards, are one of the unsung features of the dale’s architectural landscape. The ovens appear as large round or square protuberances, like stone carbuncles, on the outside walls of houses and especially of...
Villagers and visitors are just two of the many different species of animal who come to the Weardale for a variety of specific reasons: to work, play, breed… Some are here merely to fatten themselves up and become food for others. Nature is as demanding in the Weardale as it is anywhere else. Although the cycle of life may sometimes appear fenced...
Dovecotes, also known as pigeon lofts or culverhouses, were probably introduced to the UK by the Normans, and provided a nesting house for pigeons, which could then be domesticated and farmed on a large scale. In the Middle Ages only the lords of the Manor and the monasteries were allowed to keep pigeons while the lower classes had to protect...