NORTH PENNINES NEWS FOLLOW US ON. Autumn & Winter 2010/11

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1 NORTH PENNINES NEWS Autumn & Winter 2010/11 FOLLOW US ON For all our latest news go to NorthPennAONB INSIDE Skilled for the future 3 Loving local food 5 Poet s Pennine trek 7 Railway trip in time 10 & 11 Taking steps to access 13 Weardale miners trail 16 & 17

2 A walled mine shaft and blanket bog at Coalcleugh Moor, where the borders of Northumberland, County Durham and Cumbria meet in the North Pennines Natural England/Charlie Hedley A letter from the Chairman Welcome to the latest edition of North Pennines News, the magazine of the North Pennines AONB Partnership. We re celebrating our success in securing a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to run a second rural skills programme during Two years ago we led a project to train eight new dry stone wallers for a year and we re following that up with a new scheme for walling trainees and some new conservation management traineeships. I m really pleased that the team is once again driving the creation of new jobs in rural skills in the AONB. There is more heritage skills work to celebrate in the AONB, and you can read about the consolidation of some of the area s most important lead mining remains, at Slitt Wood in Weardale. The AONB Staff Unit has also just completed a new geotrail booklet for Slitt Wood, so now you can walk the route, find out about our world-class lead mining heritage and see some of the important structures of the past. 2 We re looking both to the past and to the future in this edition. You can read about the launch of our new community archaeology project, Altogether Archaeology, and also about our work to consolidate historic buildings. Looking ahead, there s news of a new partnership project on local food Love Food North Pennine Dales and the launch of the new charity we re establishing, Friends of the North Pennines. If your interest is wildlife, then there are stories of work on birds, bees and beetles, and on wild flowers (in what has been a record breaking year for our work to conserve and enhance our species-rich hay meadows). With new work to celebrate on helping people get out and about in the countryside, and on getting children engaged with their environment, there s a strong feel of getting involved running through the magazine this time around. From new paths and trails, to new programmes in schools, there is news of how we are working closely with local people and visitors to help them enjoy and find out more about the North Pennines. I hope you enjoy this edition of North Pennines News; if you are reading it in the dead of winter I hope some of the articles remind you that warm summer days of flower-filled meadows and the buzzing of bees will soon come round again. Best wishes Cllr Richard Turner, Chairman, North Pennines AONB Partnership Cllr Richard Turner We can provide the information contained in this publication in large print, different formats and other languages on request. Please call for details. After you have finished with this publication please give it to someone else to read, or recycle it. North Pennines News is produced by the: North Pennines AONB Partnership Weardale Business Centre The Old Co-op Building, 1 Martin Street Stanhope, County Durham DL13 2UY T: E: info@northpenninesaonb.org.uk W: The North Pennines AONB Partnership holds a Gold GTBS Award for its corporate office and tourism activities. This publication has been supported by and the area s five Local Authorities: Cumbria, Northumberland and Durham County Councils, Eden District and Carlisle City Councils. North Pennines News is printed on 130gsm Cocoon 100 Silk 100% post-consumer FSC certified-recycled fibre, chlorine free. North Pennines News is designed by Mosaic (Teesdale) Ltd and edited by Elfie Waren (North Pennines AONB Partnership Staff Unit). Front cover:view across the Derwent Valley near Blanchland NPAP/Elizabeth Pickett Follow us on NorthPennAONB 11/10/17k

3 NORTH PENNINES WINS 109,500 FOR HERITAGE TRAINEES The wildlife habitats, buildings and structures that characterise the landscapes of the North Pennines will be further safeguarded thanks to Heritage Lottery funding of 109,500 won by the AONB Partnership. The grant money will go towards the Partnership s four-year Heritage Landscape Skills project to give six apprentices the chance to learn the skills which will help give them jobs and conserve some of the area s most beautiful landscapes into the future. The four built environment trainees will learn skills in the traditional craft of dry stone walling, where some of the area s Walling trainees learning their craft BCTV/Peter Nailon OTHER WAYS INTO WALLING There are several different routes into a career in dry stone walling, with two to three months of fulltime walling needed to get to a Level 1 qualification and then a further three to five months to get to Level 2, the recognised industry standard. The Dry Stone Walling Association (tel ) is a subscriptionbased organisation based in Cumbria. It has a regional network of groups which offer practice days where you ll work alongside experts at a selection of sites. top wallers will pass on their expertise to the apprentices, working on real walling jobs during their 10-month training programme. Once they have passed their Dry Stone Walling Association tests, the apprentices will be fully qualified wallers and will be able to set up in business. There will also be two year-long natural environment graduate trainee posts, one working with the North Pennines AONB Partnership and the other with its partner AONB on the Northumberland Coast. The graduates will learn biological recording techniques, how to produce Farm Environment Plans, specialist species survey work, habitat restoration, and environmental interpretation and education. The first trainees are expected to be taken on in the autumn, and the others will follow on over the four-year life of the project. Chris Woodley-Stewart, the North Pennines AONB Partnership s Director said: Dry stone walls need regular maintenance, but the number of dry stone wallers has been dwindling. This funding will enable us to help prevent those skills Another source of training is the North East Civic Trust which runs a programme called the Heritage Skills Initiative (HSI) go to then click on Training and Events Programme 2010 ; alternatively ring For young people aged years old, there is a new apprenticeships website that collates information on opportunities where jobs and training opportunities are posted. Once ready to qualify, trainees need to register for a test. Peter Dent at Low Kays Farm, near Hamsterley Forest in County Durham is registered with DSWA and Environmental surveys will form part of the conservation traineeship posts NPAP from dying out, and ensure that the North Pennines AONB continues to look loved and cared for. Equally valuable are the two graduate training places that we ve created for the North Pennines and for the Northumberland Coast AONB, which means there will be new people learning in-depth about our natural environment and passing their knowledge on to others. For more information on the Heritage Landscape Skills project, or updates about walling, training, competitions and events, contact AONB Partnership Project Development Officer Lesley Silvera: lesley@northpenninesaonb.org.uk or tel LANTRA as a dry stone walling trainer and assessor. Peter can be contacted on or h.p.dent@btinternet.com Two dry stone wallers went head-to-head in Alston Agricultural Show s first ever walling contest sponsored by the AONB Partnership through its Living North Pennines project. Pictured left to right, contest organiser Anthony Wood is seen here congratulating Ollie Harrison of Aimshaugh, Alston on his efforts, while Judge John Allen awards first prize to Mike Parkin of Appleby Simon Danby Photography 3

4 NEW LOOK FOR PARTNERSHIP ICONS VIEWED 4 Two new faces will be at North Pennines AONB Partnership meetings following elections at the organisation s Annual Forum in July. The number of open seats has doubled from two to four following a review of the Partnership s composition after local authority seats reduced from nine to five when unitary authorities were formed for Durham and Northumberland in Ian Forbes, retired Director of Killhope, the North of England Lead Mining Museum, and local businessman Paul Huish, who with his wife Carol runs a series of holiday cottages near Nenthead in Cumbria, are new Partnership open Cllr Richard Turner, Chair of the AONB Partnership (left) and Chris Woodley-Stewart, AONB Partnership Director (right) welcome Paul Huish (second left) and Ian Forbes to the Partnership NPAP/Shane Harris seat members. Ian Baker, who works for the Energy Saving Trust and energy efficiency firm Tadea, was re-elected for a second term as an open seat member. Judith Mashiter of Middleton-in-Teesdale, a current open member, completes the four seats. In the new look AONB Partnership, the five local authorities, together with agencies like Natural England and English Heritage, still play an important role, but now there are places for the county wildlife trusts and tourism organisations. Chair of the AONB Partnership, Councillor Richard Turner said: The North Pennines AONB Partnership brings together a wide range of interests, organisations and individuals who care about the area. We feel these changes to the membership will bring a broader range of ideas and opinions to the table and as a consequence will make for an even more robust, more representative Partnership. For more information about the North Pennines AONB Partnership and the work it does, please contact the Partnership office on , info@northpenninesaonb.org.uk, or visit The Chair of English Heritage, Baroness Andrews, was in the Blanchland area recently to see how two of the most important historic structures in the North Pennines AONB have been saved for future generations. The Baroness saw how the 13th century Muggleswick Grange in County Durham and a 19th century Cornish-style engine house at Shildon, near Blanchland in Northumberland, have been conserved as part of the AONB Partnership s Living North Pennines project, with funding from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Both are Scheduled Ancient Monuments and Listed Buildings and until now have been on English Heritage s Heritage At Risk Register, in danger of deteriorating to a point where they would be lost altogether. ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT S GREAT START Around 150 volunteers gathered at St John s Chapel Town Hall in July to find out how they can be part of Altogether Archaeology, the North Pennines AONB Partnership s new community project. Anyone with an interest in the past can get involved over the next 18 months in the important and exciting research work taking place at sites right across the North Pennines. The work is being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), English Heritage and Natural England. Paul Frodsham, the AONB Partnership s Historic Environment Officer said: Although much has been done to record sites and landscapes relating to the lead mining industry in the North Pennines, relatively little other archaeological research has taken place when compared to other parts of England. There is huge potential for further archaeological discoveries throughout the area, and we want to involve local people in helping us. To give a flavour of the kinds of work the volunteers may get involved in, Stewart Ainsworth of English Heritage and Channel 4 s Time Team programme fame spoke about the Miner-Farmer Landscapes Project on Alston Moor, at the heart of the AONB. The project is using modern technology to study the landscape around Alston in order to better understand how local communities have developed from prehistoric times through to the present day. Anyone interested in the project should call Paul Frodsham on or paul@northpenninesaonb.org.uk Jon Charlton, the AONB Partnership s Living North Pennines Project Manager, explains the conservation of Shildon Engine House at Blanchland to Baroness Andrews NPAP/Elfie Waren Now, working closely with landowners and local people, the remains of Shildon Engine House and Muggleswick Grange, along with Ninebanks Tower in the West Allen Valley and Whitesyke and Bentyfield Mines near Alston, are being conserved at a total cost of 450,000 so that people can continue to gain an insight into life in the North Pennines of the past. Chris Woodley-Stewart, Director of the North Pennines AONB Partnership said: The support of English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund has enabled the AONB Partnership to work with local communities to consolidate these important structures.

5 WE LOVE NORTH PENNINES FOOD One of the things visitors to the North of England tell us is that they would really like to try more of its locally produced food. Residents might know where to get good local beef or great, fresh free-range eggs, but it s not always simple, even for them. Love Food North Pennine Dales is a new project which aims to make it much easier to find our delicious local produce. It will do this by supporting more production, promotion and use of locally grown or reared food in the area. Hazel Coppack, Director of Teesdale Marketing Ltd which is spearheading the Love Food project, said: Some early successes are already coming through: the AONB Partnership, which is a partner in the project, has helped the owners of the Allen Mill site, near Catton, set up a new monthly farmers market. At Allendale Farmers Market customers can find all the staples such as vegetables, as well as a range of other products including chocolates. The market stalls used at Allendale were provided through the Love Food project. And at the International You can find out more about Love Food North Pennine Dales by visiting or by contacting Hazel Coppack by on lovefood@teesdalemarketing.co.uk AND BEER The North Pennines gloriously wet, dark, peaty bogs have provided the inspiration for Old Sphagnum, the second beer brewed especially for the AONB Partnership by Allendale Brewery. The beer was specially produced to mark the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) UK s Peatland Conference, hosted by the AONB Partnership at Durham University in September. Old Sphagnum is described as a golden caramel ale brewed from water filtered through North Pennine peatland. Paul Leadbitter, the AONB Partnership s Peatscapes Project Manager said: As it was specially commissioned for the conference, Old Sphagnum will sadly not be available in pubs or shops unless the brewery can be persuaded to brew it again! Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) UK Peatland Conference, hosted by the North Pennines AONB Partnership at Durham University in September, the conference dinner menu featured locally sourced ingredients from the Love Food North Pennine Dales project area, including beef and pork from Hamsterley, chutney from Wilden Grange, Romaldkirk and potatoes from Bradley Burn Farm near Wolsingham. Love Food has also enabled the buying of a demonstration kitchen which can be packed away in a trailer. This new piece of kit has already made appearances at Barnard Castle, Hexham and Middletonin-Teesdale Farmers Markets. AND STORIES! Blanchland residents enjoyed a great evening of entertainment when they went Doon the Waggonway at the Lord Crewe Arms. Devised and performed by well-known local storytellers Ken Patterson, Richard Scott and Chris Bostock, the show was celebrating the people of the North East, exploring their roots and culture in music, stories and painting. Doon the Waggonway is the fourth in a popular series of storytelling events to be held in Blanchland as part of the AONB Partnership s Living North Pennines project. Jon Charlton of the AONB Partnership said: The people of the North Pennines have an extremely rich culture of storytelling and stories and even today people still get a lot of enjoyment from passing on their own memories of times gone by. Lots of fun going Doon the Waggonway in the Lord Crewe Arms atmospheric Hilyard Room NPAP/Elfie Waren 5

6 AONB PARTNERSHIP S GRANTS ARE THE BUSINESS! Organisations in the North Pennines have had a helping hand to achieve their aims with funding from the AONB Partnership s grant schemes. At a time when every penny counts, the Sustainable Development Fund (SDF) and Small Grants Fund (SGF) have made hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding available to businesses, community organisations, charities, parish councils and public bodies in recent years. Funding for the SDF has come from Defra, via Natural England. Recent grants build on the success in previous years that has seen around 150 projects supported through similar funding from the AONB Partnership. Business projects supported in the past two years alone include: the start up of an outdoor learning business; the start up of two outdoor tourism businesses; planning for development of a livestock mart; commercial vegetation stabilisation trials; an artists business centre; refurbishment and development of holiday accommodation; and development of sheep fleece products. The AONB Partnership has fully committed the funding for this financial year and hopes to be inviting people to come forward with innovative project ideas early next year. Initiatives that are based within or benefit the North Pennines AONB and which aim to support environmental, social and economic prosperity, could be eligible for funding. For more information on the grants please contact Simon Wilson at the AONB Staff Unit on (simon@northpenninesaonb.org.uk) or visit - further guidance and forms are available on the website. Bunk Barn Development Carrs Farm, Wolsingham Interpretation boards Weardale Museum, Ireshopeburn Reserve Office and Visitor Centre Geltsdale, Hallbankgate, Cumbria 6 The installation of renewable energy and green technologies at the bunk barn accommodation at Carrs Farm received a Sustainable Development Fund grant to help towards costs. Joy Henderson who owns the farm says: The Sustainable Development Fund was an important part of making our development viable. The support from staff at the AONB was as important as the funding. The investment in green technologies means that we can demonstrate our environmental practices to customers, while keeping our running costs to a minimum. For more information on Carrs Farm go to Museum volunteers Alan Turnbull and Ken Heatherington are seen here erecting new interpretation panels which were designed and produced with support from the Small Grant Fund. David Heatherington who manages the museum says: The museum tells the story of this area, informing visitors about the rich history of the North Pennines that has been instrumental in shaping the landscape we treasure today. The grant helped us to ensure that our exhibits are of the highest quality. For more information on the museum visit A Sustainable Development Fund grant supported the conversion of the Stagsike Cottages into a reserve office and visitor centre. Steve Westerberg, Geltsdale RSPB Reserve Manager said: The money helped us to create facilities that are worthy of the Geltsdale Reserve. The visitor experience at the reserve and our ability to instil in guests the importance of upland landscapes has been significantly enhanced. To find out more about the RSPB s Geltsdale Reserve, go to geltsdale GREEN IS FOR GO IN TOURISM Anew resource to help tourism businesses begin to green their operation has been launched by VisitEngland. Green Start is available to businesses interested in exploring how they can save money, improve efficiency, and add appeal to their offer. Shane Harris, Sustainable Tourism Officer for the North Pennines AONB Partnership, said: It s an entry-level business review tool which is likely to be of interest to businesses that want to reduce their impact on the environment. Green Start provides resources that tourism businesses will find helpful when they are developing sustainability programmes. It is: free; a programme that businesses can follow at their own pace; designed to help the development of a green action plan that can, if desired, support an application for sustainable tourism certification. Green Start is not a marketing label; it is intended as business support only. Businesses looking for a customer-facing label will need to consider green certification such as the Green Tourism Business Scheme (details of which can be found on the website: To find out more and to register visit If you don t have access to the internet call VisitEngland on

7 POET VERSES THE ELEMENTS Author and poet Simon Armitage at High Force NPAP/Shane Harris In July 2010 acclaimed poet Simon Armitage held almost 60 people at the Langdon Beck Hotel in rapt attention at a Poems & Pints evening. The awardwinning poet stopped off from his Pennine Way journey in Teesdale, courtesy of the AONB Partnership. Reflecting on his time in the AONB, Simon said: People in the North Pennines have opened their arms to me and have come together in places like village halls and pubs for a shared experience and I ve realised how important gathering points like these are for often geographically scattered communities. North of my doorstep used to be a bit of a blank the North Pennines, for me, was a huge unexplored area. It s now on my mental map, although I feel like I ve only scratched the surface. It has an epic geography and a variety of landscapes that are on a breathtaking scale. It s no longer a blank instead it s a place full of variety and surprising diversity a place I can see myself returning to. A member of the audience at the PUPILS PUT CLIMATE TO THE TEST Langdon Beck Hotel reading said afterwards: He walks for umpteen miles in the wind and rain, then Simon Armitage chats and jokes with us and reads his astonishing poetry for an hour. What a privilege. Simon Armitage began walking the Pennine Way on July 8th at Kirk Yetholm and finished in Edale on 26th July. He s writing a book about his experiences on Britain s first (and arguably finest) National Trail. Chris Woodley-Stewart, Director of the North Pennines AONB Partnership, walked with the poet as he crossed over from Dufton to Langdon Beck, via High Cup Nick. It was great introducing Simon to the North Pennines landscape, said Chris. We didn t have ideal weather in fact as we set off from Dufton into the gathering clouds it looked distinctly unpromising! But when we reached High Cup Nick the clouds parted to reveal it in all its drama and as we walked to Upper Teesdale it improved further and we saw the AONB at its very best. 7 Pupils at two North Pennines schools will be participating in a pioneering research programme tracking how climate change is affecting our area in a programme developed by the AONB Partnership. More than 40 young people will be getting their hands dirty gathering environmental data from moors, forests, farmlands and rivers. Projects include calculating how much carbon is stored in peatlands and how peatlands can mitigate climate change. Taking part in the nine-month CELL scheme Changing Environments and Landscape Lab are the William Howard School, Brampton and Samuel King s, Alston. CELL has been developed for the school curriculum by the AONB Partnership, and supported by the RSPB, the Tyne Rivers Trust and the John Muir Trust. The data gathered will be channelled into current UK-wide scientific monitoring. The project got underway in September with a visit to the UK s first international conference on the importance of peatlands William Howard School students Lisa Balmer (left) and Lydia Carter record the special features of trees on the RSPB Geltsdale Reserve as part of the AONB Partnership's CELL scheme NPAP/Fiona Knox in mitigating climate change, held in Durham by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Peatland Programme (IUCN) and the AONB Partnership. CELL also includes a visit to the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Lancaster, fieldwork at upland hill farms, grouse moors and in streams and woodlands. The pupils will also be encouraged to find out how local communities and businesses are responding to climate change. Organiser Paul Leadbitter of the North Pennines AONB Partnership said: I know that my own career in environmental work was sparked by the memorable study trips I did in my teens it s great to be ensuring that young people in the North Pennines can now have the same opportunity.

8 SOMETHING TO BUZZ ABOUT! Species-rich hay meadows are likely flower-rich habitats in Teesdale. to be important places for a diverse Preliminary results indicate that the array of insects and other meadows are not only crucially important invertebrates that depend on flowering for bumblebees during their critical midsummer colony-building period, but also plants. Bumblebees, for example, gather nectar and pollen from a wide range of that two rare species still survive here: the flowers to feed themselves and their bilberry bumblebee (Bombus monticola) young. In order to find out more about our and the moss carder bee (Bombus bumblebee populations, the AONB muscorum). This is marvellous news that Partnership teamed up with the Bumblebee further emphasises the importance of our Conservation Trust last summer to carry hay meadows for a range of wildlife. out a survey of hay meadows and other Bumblebees, like many other mobile creatures, use different habitats at different times of the year. This year s survey has shown that in spring, before the hay meadow plants start to flower, queen bees are highly dependent on garden plants. Garry Mabon of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust NPAP/Rebecca Barrett Similarly, once the Still buzzing in the North Pennines the rare moss carder bee Bumblebee Conservation Trust meadows have been cut, flowery roadside verges, riversides and moorland areas are critical for enabling the colonies to finish their lifecycle. Help the Queen! Queen bumblebees struggle to find food in the spring before most wildflowers bloom. By planting earlyflowering plants in your garden you can make a real difference to their chances of survival. Their favourite plants include: flowering currant, lungwort, rosemary, pussy willow and bluebells. 8 A BUMPER YEAR FOR HAY TIME This year has been the best ever year for the AONB Partnership s Hay Time project, working towards the return of the rich variety of plants traditionally found in the upland meadows of the North Pennines. Species-rich hay meadows are a rare habitat, having declined by more than 97 per cent in the UK over the past 60 years as a result of progressive agricultural intensification. The meadows found in the North Pennines are a special type, characteristic of the harsh conditions typical of hilly and mountainous regions across Europe. These upland or mountain hay meadows are now very rare with little more than 1,000ha thought to remain in the UK. With 400 ha of these meadows, the North Pennines AONB is an important place for this special habitat. Through its Hay Time project, the North Pennines AONB Partnership works closely with farmers and colleagues from Natural England to restore hay meadows that have lost their characteristic plant species wood crane s-bill and globeflower, for example. Using special machinery, we harvest either the seedbearing top of the hay crop or the entire crop and then spread it as green hay on a nearby meadow. Not only does this approach enable the effective transfer of seeds, a process that would take decades to occur naturally, but it ensures that the unique genetic integrity of these meadows is maintained. In 2010 seed was spread on 45 ha of meadows on 14 farms. This means that since 2006 seed has been spread on 139ha of meadows across the AONB. Are the flowers coming back? To help answer this question, Hay Time project officers, supported by a band of skilled volunteers, carry out monitoring surveys each year to assess the number of wild plants found in the meadows. Over the winter they will be analysing the data collected to date and so will be able to assess the real impact of the AONB Partnership s work on this precious habitat.

9 BLOOMING MARVELLOUS - THAT S VOLUNTEERS HARD WORK Hay meadows in the North Pennines were blooming marvellous this summer and some of this is thanks to the hard work of local volunteers working with the AONB Partnership. Since 2007, staff from the AONB Partnership s Hay Time project have been encouraging volunteers to gather the seed from a range of special plants and then growing it on over one or two years until the young plants are robust enough to be planted out. Now the farmers are quite literally reaping the success of all the hard work the volunteers have put in, with colonies of beautiful golden globeflowers and dark red great burnets beginning to establish in four meadows in the North Pennines AONB. In the autumn of last year, 27 globeflower plants and 233 great burnet plants were planted out in meadows on three farms in Teesdale and Weardale. Globeflowers grown from seed by volunteers are now flourishing in hay meadows NPAP/Rebecca Barrett During June this year, the shrub guards that were protecting these plants were removed to enable the fields to be cut later in the summer and the establishment of the young plants checked. Despite the harsh winter, more than 90 per cent of the plants had survived, thus starting the establishment of new populations of these species in the meadows. The AONB Partnership s Hay Time Community Officer Neil Diment has been working closely with the volunteers and said: We were delighted to find that so many of these young plants had survived the very hard winter and appeared to be flourishing. This shows that though labour-intensive, growing on of handgathered seed can be an effective way of re-colonising meadows with these special plants. Neil Diment removes the guards that have been protecting the tiny plants NPAP/Rebecca Barrett BUS TRIP BACK IN TIME 9 There was a special trip down Blanchland s memory lane as part of Heritage Open Days, the weekend when buildings open up to the public and events take place all over the country, completely free of charge. The Magical History Tour organised by the AONB Partnership as part of its Living North Pennines project in association with the Blanchland Community Development Organisation, took passengers back in time to look at the landscapes, the industries and the people that made the area what it is today. Passengers saw the grandeur of 13th century Muggleswick Grange, now conserved as part of the AONB Partnership s Living North Pennines project NPAP/Elfie Waren A stylish 1949 Leyland Tiger classic bus took passengers on a guided history tour of the area, with stops that included Hunstanworth, Waskerley, Muggleswick and the Derwent Reservoir, returning to Blanchland. First stop was Shildon, where the ruins of a Cornish-style engine house built in 1808 have recently been conserved by the AONB Partnership as a lasting reminder of the lead mining industry that once dominated the area. Here the Partnership s Geodiversity Officer Elizabeth Pickett explained how the rocks that had formed millions of years earlier had shaped the landscape and how it was used. The group had lunch at Park Head Station on the road towards Stanhope, once the hub of the railway network in the area where limestone was transported from the local quarries and coal brought in from the County Durham mines. At Derwent Reservoir, Northumbrian Water Ltd raised the barriers specially to allow the bus to cross the dam which is normally closed to vehicles. Back in Blanchland, one of the speakers, Rev Jim Lynch, talked about the Abbey and Premonstratensian monks who founded it. The Mid Tees Project Partnership ran two vintage bus tours around the various Heritage Open Days events taking place around Teesdale. These tours were also funded by the AONB Partnership s Living North Pennines initiative. The history trippers pause at Waskerley for a group photo NPAP/Elizabeth Pickett

10 ALL ABOARD FOR LESSONS IN NORTH PENNINES PAST Children from nine schools in County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria took a train to Roman Britain as part of the AONB Partnership s Living North Pennines project. The children boarded the time train at Alston in Cumbria which transported them to Epiacum, the Roman name for Whitley Castle, built nearly 2,000 years ago to house a garrison of 500 men and to control the mining of precious lead and silver. In an exciting series of activities, the children found out about the archaeology of the fort from Paul Frodsham, the AONB Partnership s Historic Environment Officer, identified the lumps and bumps in the ground and mapped the dramatic line of the ramparts. Then Roman soldier - and Heritage Educator - Roy Lawson put the children through their paces with some military training! Heather McCarty of Natural England took the children on a Departure from normal lessons the children leave Alston station for Kirkhaugh, where they ll walk up to Whitley Castle Learning how to measure and record the archaeological lumps and bumps at the Roman fort 10 STEAMING AHEAD RAILWAY CHILDREN RIGHT ON TRACK The South Tynedale Railway is extending its line in an ambitious 1.5m project that is creating jobs and will bring thousands more visitors to the North Pennines. With the help of a 75,000 grant from North Pennine Dales LEADER, used to purchase hardwood sleepers, rails and 900 tons of ballast needed for track works, the railway is being extended 2½ miles up the South Tyne Valley towards Slaggyford. The project will make the line more accessible, is likely to increase passenger numbers and has already created eight jobs. Sue Ellwood, Project Co-ordinator for North Pennine Dales LEADER, said: We support projects that improve the quality of rural life by boosting the local economy, creating employment, supporting local businesses or providing training. This project achieves a number of those aims. South Tynedale Railway is Northern England s highest narrow-gauge railway, managed and operated entirely by volunteers since the 1970s. Children in Nenthead and Alston in Cumbria have been capturing the wildlife and landscapes of the South Tynedale Railway in an en-tile-y original way. The Tracktile mural is the result of an unusual art collaboration between Nenthead and Alston Primary Schools, the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society and the AONB Partnership, which has funded the project through its Living North Pennines initiative. On a journey on the South Tynedale Railway from Alston to Kirkhaugh, the children had to take in the passing landscape and wildlife and, using small cardboard squares, frame what they saw so they could draw it. Their drawings were then transferred onto clay tiles which ceramic artist Roma Short assembled into the Tracktile mural to decorate one wall of Alston Railway Station s waiting room. Fiona Knox, the AONB Partnership s Education Officer, said: The Tracktile mural project has been a journey for the children in more ways than one. They ve been asked to look at their surroundings from an unusual point of view from the window of a South Tynedale Railway train and interpret what they see through the unfamiliar art medium of the ceramic tiles. At the same time the children have gained an appreciation of the animals, plants and landscapes that surround them and it s a great boost for them to see their work on permanent public display at the station. Nenthead and Alston schoolchildren unveil their Tracktile mural with South Tynedale Railway s Brian Craven (left), artist Roma Short and Chair of the North Pennines AONB Partnership, Cllr Richard Turner Simon Danby Photography

11 minibeast hunt, explaining how local plants and insects make up the food chains for the upland wading birds in the area such as curlew, lapwing, golden plover and oystercatcher. And then in the old bastle house close to the fort, lead miner and farmer Paul Mercer from the North Pennines Heritage Trust explained how people farmed the land and mined lead to survive in the remote moorland environment of centuries gone by. Over three days nearly 200 children from nine schools had the Epic Epiacum experience, taking them away from computer screens and websites and actually discovering history in the landscapes around them. Fiona Knox, Education Officer with the North Pennines AONB Partnership said: Epiacum or Whitley Castle as we now know it has layer upon layer of amazing history, much of it still to be discovered. Working with South Tynedale Railway volunteers and Elaine and John Edgar of Castle Nook Farm, we ve been able to get children out of the classroom and actually seeing for themselves the links to the past in the landscape. Days like these stay with children forever and can inspire a lifelong interest. For Elaine Edgar, the events are the realisation of her dream of turning her farmland steeped in history into an education and visitor centre. She said: This will be the first time we ve had school groups visiting the Roman fort and bastle house. We ve still got a long way to go, but the AONB Partnership events have got everything off to a terrific start. All pictures NPAP/Elfie Waren Paul Mercer of the North Pennines Heritage Trust explains what life was like as a lead miner and farmer The children storm Epiacum s ramparts with Centurion Roy Lawson 11 WOODLANDS CAST THEIR SPELL AGAIN The third Woodland Magic and Mystery day was held at Bowlees Visitor Centre in Teesdale in July as part of the AONB Partnership s Living North Pennines project. Families could enjoy a free full day of fun activities all linked in some way with the beauty and heritage of trees and woodlands and how they benefit people. Visitors were able to see how people down the ages have lived with woodland when historical interpreters Time Bandits Storyteller Jim Grant weaves a magic tale in the woods NPAP/Rebecca Barrett performed a fascinating series of interpretations throughout the day, looking at Bronze Age sword-making, Iron Age mysticism, through to medieval charcoal burners, various outlaws and Georgian shipbuilding! For the more agile and adventurous, there was tree climbing and an exciting rope walk through the trees; for those who preferred to keep their feet on the ground storyteller Jim Grant took visitors on story walks through the woods, helping them look at trees in a very different way. Children were able to dress up in fancy dress costumes, have a go at making dreamcatchers, watch a puppet story about red squirrels and play the tree breathing game. Fiona Knox, the AONB Partnership s Education Officer said: It s a great way for people of all ages even the tiniest of tots to discover the importance of trees and the role they ve played in our culture down the ages. Visitors were able to get a bird s eye view on a rope walk through the trees NPAP/Rebecca Barrett

12 GREAT RESPONSE FOR WILDLIFE SURVEYS 12 The wait is over for the many readers who responded to the two wildlife surveys in the last issue of North Pennines News! The AONB Partnership s Conservation Officer Andy Lees reports on the results of the two species he asked people to look out for The cuckoo This survey was launched in response to worrying signs that cuckoos in the lowland landscape were in rapid decline. In the North Pennines, however, my own observations convinced me that we still had a good number of cuckoos, and your efforts have confirmed that, with 36 cuckoo records as shown on the map. Not only did you record cuckoos you had seen or heard, but we also had stories of cuckoo behaviour, reports of the unusual rufous or reddish-brown females, and even one overwintering youngster in Allendale! Of course, this limited data can t tell us whether cuckoo numbers in the North Pennines are stable, increasing or declining, but it does suggest, along with historic data from bird clubs, that birds in the uplands and upland fringes might be faring better than their lowland counterparts. We plan to continue the survey next year to try and fill in the blank spaces on this distribution map. It would be interesting to know, for example, whether the low level of records from Teesdale reflects a lack of birds or a lack of recorders! The violet oil beetle Oil beetles are an important indicator of wild flower-rich habitats, and have declined so much in recent years that five out of our nine native species are now extinct. I wasn t too hopeful of receiving any records at all, so imagine my delight that we have now received records (and photographs in many cases) of the elusive violet oil beetle (Meloe violaceus), from Teesdale, Weardale and the Derwent Valley. For the record, the beetle was spotted at Pow Hill Country Park at Derwent Reservoir, Harehope Quarry, Swinehope Burn and Stanhope Burn in Weardale, and at Bowlees and High Force in Upper Teesdale. This is a really important step forward in our knowledge, and has attracted the attention of national invertebrate charity Buglife, who are running a nationwide survey for these beetles North Pennines News reader Steve Dales photographed this violet oil beetle at Harehope Quarry, Weardale next year. Watch this space! Cuckoos reported across the North Pennines AONB: more reports are needed for a clearer picture Many thanks to all who sent in records or searched in vain. Please continue to interesting wildlife records to andy@northpenninesaonb.org.uk or phone Andy Lees on RIVER POLLUTION: A BALANCING ACT The North Pennines AONB Partnership has just completed a joint project with the Environment Agency looking at the impacts of clearing up metal mine contamination in two of the most affected rivers in the AONB the Nent in Cumbria, and the West Allen in the Allen Valley. The geology of the area means that there are already naturally elevated levels of metals in the rivers, and the longabandoned metal mine sites of the North Pennines are the cause of significant pollution in watercourses. But the sites are also ecologically and historically interesting, so the Environment Agency needs to consider these aspects when looking at ways of cleaning up the pollution. Nenthead and Carrshield Lead Mines are both protected as Scheduled Ancient Monuments, and many locations along these rivers and the downstream South Tyne catchment are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest for their unique communities of plants, lichens and mosses which have adapted to the metal contamination. The debate has begun between the Environment Agency, Natural England and ecological experts on a solution that conserves this unique habitat while allowing the Environment Agency to meet its obligations to improve water quality under the EU Water Framework Directive. New technology to remediate metal minewaters in a sustainable way is currently being trialled on the Nent, and the information gathered and links made during the project have provided a sound footing on which to develop discussions with stakeholders to assist in scoping remediation strategies for the West Allen and Nent.

13 WE MAKE IT EASY SO YOU CAN TAKE IT EASY! It s now easier than ever before to get a breath of fresh air and enjoy an afternoon stroll in the North Pennines and one of the reasons is quite literally beneath your feet. Through its Heritage Lottery-funded Living North Pennines project, the AONB Partnership is overseeing a range of access and interpretation work that will allow people to discover the North Pennines more easily and with more confidence. These improvements are taking place in areas which are already popular with visitors, ensuring that the volume of visitors does not damage the special qualities of the AONB. The AONB Partnership s Project Development Officer Simon Wilson said: There are various barriers to people visiting and enjoying our countryside, such as physical access problems like stiles and poor surfacing, or inadequate and inconsistent information. We ve been working with landowners and partners to overcome some of these problems. Derwent Reservoir One example of where this work is already reaping benefits is the new easyaccess route that has been installed with Northumbrian Water Ltd along the shores of Derwent Reservoir. The path extends from Pow Hill Country Park on the south shore to Cronkley Farm on the north shore, via the dam. Plans for next year should see the path extended all the way to Millshields car park. The new path is a solid surface with easy-open gates along its length, making it ideal for family cycling and wheelchair users. Information on the history of the reservoir, the valley it flooded, and its surrounding natural and social history is available through a series of audio guides on site; using the U-turn interpretation panels you just choose your audio track and turn a handle to listen. Ideal for an afternoon stroll the access path and interpretation panel at Derwent Reservoir NPAP/Elfie Waren High Force and the Pennine Way Following the successful work to improve surfacing of the Pennine Way between Holwick and Wynch bridges last year, the AONB Partnership has been pressing ahead with further improvements to the access network in this area. Two new orientation panels have been installed at High Force car park and at Wynch Bridge A new information panel helps visitors to High Force in Teesdale find their way around NPAP/Andy Lees to give visitors information about where they are and what there is to see and do. At the same time the path between Bowlees Visitor Centre and Wynch Bridge has been improved to reduce the steep gradient through the wood. Three new interpretation panels have been installed to bring the area s natural and cultural history alive. Blanchland In Blanchland a new surfaced circular path has been completed to provide a short walk in the countryside for those with limited mobility. The path starts and finishes next to the children s play area in Blanchland and, although only 500 metres long, provides a view of the river and a walk among the majestic trees which line the fields nearby. Improvements to the car park and play area have also been carried out in partnership with the Lord Crewe Estate. For further information on access in the North Pennines AONB contact Project Development Officer Simon Wilson on or simon@northpenninesaonb.org.uk 13 A walk by the river is now much easier at Blanchland NPAP/Andy Lees

14 LICHENS: THE WINTER WONDERS BY MIKE SUTCLIFFE, NATURAL ENGLAND The evenings have drawn in again and plant hunters are putting their cameras in storage until next season. Or are they? Well not quite, because so-called lower plants such as lichens are available for study at any time of the year. Lichens are composite organisms; the main body or thallus is a fungus, but there is also a layer of algae inside which provides food through photosynthesis. Although they are beautiful to the unaided eye, a simple 10x hand lens can reveal fabulous details, such as spore-producing structures (apothecia) looking like miniature jam tarts. There are 1,873 species in the British Isles (1,395 in England) and this diversity is reflected in their ecology, so it is difficult to generalise about them. Some are short-lived while some live for decades or even centuries. Most do better in clean air but some are pollutionresistant. Some like it dry, some humid. There are rapidly-colonising, unfussy weedy species, but also many very particular, poor-colonising, specialists which can be used as canaries to indicate environmental change. A typical range of North Pennines lichens can be found by walking from Forest-in-Teesdale over Cronkley Bridge and up onto Cronkley Fell. The drystone walls near Hanging Shaw car park are limestone, and coated with white Aspicilia calcarea with sunken, black apothecia, and the almost ubiquitous orange shield Xanthoria parietina. You will probably have Xanthoria on the eaves of your house, where it enjoys the high nutrient conditions produced by birds. It is also abundant throughout Weardale on the dust-impregnated roadside trees, turning them orange. For the keen lichenologist, even the cattle grid across the road has several common species such as the inconspicuous, brown, iron-loving Scoliciosporum umbrinum and yellow Candelariella vitellina. Further down the trail, Cronkley bridge appears, at first glance, to be relatively 14 Abundant in the North Pennines Xanthoria parietina The wooden planks of Cronkley bridge display a delicate mosaic of different lichens The Whin Sill provides a cosy home for Placopsis lambii For lots more information on lichens visit the British Lichen Society website at and Mike Sutcliffe s own fascinating site at

15 lichen-free, but getting down low with a hand lens reveals a lovely mosaic of species all along the edge of the wooden planks. White-rimmed apothecia of Lecanora dispersa contrast with orange Caloplaca holocarpa and other species including young, leafy Xanthoria thalli. These are not usually found on bare wood but there is plenty of nutrient-rich dust from farm traffic to make the substrate more suitable. The Whin Sill outcropping further down on the banks of the River Tees supports an excellent diversity of species including Placopsis lambii. This neat, pinkish species has two types of algae; green algae within its main thallus and cyanobacteria within the darker pink lobed structures on its surface. These structures are called cephalodia, and since cyanobacteria are able to fix nitrogen from the air they provide this lichen with a nutritional advantage in its otherwise low-nutrient environment. The round grey patches are soralia which produce many tiny granules of fungus and algae mixed together and are used for vegetative reproduction. Moving past Cronkley Farm there are outcrops and walls made of acidic sandstone rocks. These are covered with a variety of crustose lichens all competing for space. After growing for many years the margins meet up, preventing further expansion. They may remain locked in these colourful mosaics for decades. Rusty patches of Rhizocarpon oederi, which prefers iron-rich rocks, mix with pale Lecanora soralifera. You soon realise that when you see a wall or an outcrop you are often not seeing the rock at all but the thin veneer of life which covers them and calls them home. Rhizocarpon oederi establishes on iron-rich rocks Sparsely vegetated soil is the preferred habitat for Solorina saccata The juniper scrub in Teesdale probably needs a thorough survey although I don t have any hopes of finding the yellow, leafy Vulpicida juniperinus which was recorded here over a century ago and is now officially extinct in Britain but you never know! On Cronkley Fell we encounter limestone rocks and calcareous grassland. Open, sparsely-vegetated soil is best for crustose species, such as Porpidia speirea, and low-growing leafy species, like Solorina saccata, because there is less competition with higher plants. You can easily see the green algae in the Solorina when it is wet. Ochrolechia Lichens can date rock surfaces; repairs can stay exposed for decades, as the roof of St James the Less Church at Langdon Beck shows Cladonia portentosa can take on turf and win! A high altitude lichen with a strange way of growing Ochrolechia frigida frigida is a high altitude species with a really strange growth form. It consists of a lumpy crust which develops long spinelike extensions which may help with vegetative dispersal. It looks a bit like a regurgitated pile of fish bones! The upright growth form of bushy species, such as Iceland moss Cetraria islandica and Cladonia portentosa, allows them to exist within closed turf. Studies of growth rates have allowed lichens to be used to accurately date rock surfaces. You can often see where drystone walls have been repaired by previous generations by studying the lichens on them. The roof of St James the Less church, near Langdon Beck, is covered with green map lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum except for places where there have been recent repairs which will probably stand out for decades to come. Gravestones are great places for lichens and shouldn t be cleaned off since this will cause more damage to the headstones than leaving them in place (if you want your headstone legible for centuries, use slate). Lichens contribute to our ecosystem by providing food and shelter for a host of creatures including mites, lice, caterpillars, slugs and snails, which in turn are preyed on by other animals. They exist in a wide range of colours and growth forms and are found almost everywhere and add another rich layer of interest to our fascinating world. 15

16 FOLLOW THE SLITT WOOD GEOTRAIL Anew booklet, recently produced by the North Pennines AONB Partnership, will help visitors explore the geology and mining heritage along one of the most popular walks in Weardale up the Middlehope Burn from Westgate. The three-mile circular walk described in this booklet takes you up through the ancient woodland of Slitt Wood, past a series of waterfalls formed by layers of resistant rock. The path brings you to the remains of the Low Slitt Mine, recently conserved by Natural England. In the 19th century this peaceful place was noisy and industrial, the site of a busy mine where lead ore was mined and processed. Further up the valley you ll pass the remains of Middlehope Shield and other mines where lead and iron ores were mined. After emerging on to a moorland track you ll eventually come to West Rigg Opencut, an old opencast ironstone mine where the Slitt Vein is impressively exposed. Descending back to Westgate you ll have superb views down into Weardale. This booklet updates an earlier leaflet published by Durham County Council. It has been produced and funded by the AONB Partnership with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Natural England (through Defra s Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund) and the County Durham Environmental Trust. The 20-page booklet costs 2; to buy a copy please send a cheque for 2 made payable to Friends of the North Pennines, with your address, to the AONB Partnership office in Stanhope (address on page 2). 16 AND UNCOVER A MINE OF INFORMATION The legacy left by the lead miners of Low Slitt at Westgate will be seen for generations to come, thanks to a conservation project by Natural England and English Heritage now nearing completion. Low Slitt Mine is designated as a Scheduled Monument, and among its interesting features are the stone base for one of Armstrong s hydraulic engines (which served as a winding engine for the shaft), a row of impressive bouseteams (bunkers for storing lead ore), and an ore washing and dressing floor where water was used to separate the heavy lead ore from lighter waste minerals. As well as being a nationally important industrial heritage site, the mine is also part of a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), partly for the botanical interest of the lead-tolerant plants that grow on the old washing floor. The flat arch and location of the hydraulic engine at Low Slitt mine NPAP/Elizabeth Pickett Natural England and English Heritage stepped in to conserve the site after concerns were raised in English Heritage immediately funded some of the more urgent work required, including repairs to a culvert arch on the verge of collapse. A full conservation project, funded through Natural England s agrienvironment schemes, began in the summer of This vital work will protect the remains of the buildings and prevent further damage to the ore dressing floor by flash flooding from the Middlehope Burn. This work has already provided a better understanding of the site through a number of significant finds, including a previously unrecorded blacksmith s forge. Tom Gledhill, Natural England s Historic Environment Advisor for the North East, said: Low Slitt Mine is a place of enormous importance; in addition to its Scheduled Monument and SSSI status, it is also a vital part of the rich mining history of Weardale. It is hoped that this work will safeguard this site of national historic and ecological importance for future generations to explore and enjoy.

17 MAGNIFICENT MIDDLEHOPE Ian Forbes recalls the time when the tiny lead mine of Middlehope Shield featured in the Slitt Wood and West Rigg Geotrail booklet astonished mineral collectors around the globe We can assume that Edward Daniel Clarke, the first Professor of Mineralogy at Cambridge University, was not someone to offer his opinion on minerals lightly. So when Clarke wrote in 1819: I have received specimens surpassing in magnificence and in the beauty of their crystallizations, any mineral substance I have ever before seen we must be intrigued by the force of his statement. What had he been sent? Weardale was one of Britain s major producers of lead ore in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was also very well known even then (as it is now) for the supreme quality of the specimens of fluorite crystals which lead miners sometimes found in pockets in the lead veins and associated flats. Weardale fluorite was, and is, prized by mineral collectors for its clarity and colour, with green fluorite being particularly valued. The miners knew and appreciated their minerals, and knew their value to collectors. So did the mine owners who strongly discouraged mineral collecting: When these...openings occur in the course of...excavations the masters immediately cause them to be closed up, in order to prevent the men from stealing spar, as well as to hinder them from spending their time otherwise than in getting ore; because, were they allowed to work for spar, which they can sell at high prices, they would naturally be inclined to look to their own individual advantage in preference to that of their employers. Many a tale can be told of minerals smuggled out of the mine under the noses of watchful supervisors and of very welcome For just a few weeks in 1818, White s Level at Middlehope, Westgate yielded hundreds of glittering fluorite prizes NPAP small fortunes made by miners who discovered the glittering pockets of perfect minerals. And so it was in Middlehope Shield mine, north of Westgate, in the autumn of The miners had pushed the mine a long way the farthest point was over a mile and a quarter from the entrance. But the future wasn t looking good; the mine seemed exhausted. And then renewed hope: We have some expectation of meeting with an east and west vein...which gives us hopes that it will make an alteration for the better. They did indeed find this vein, and it was indeed productive of lead ore. But unexpectedly this spot, over 120 metres below the surface, where the air was so bad that the men could hardly work, proved an Aladdin s cave of fabulous fluorite specimens. For three months no more a stream of brilliant crystals flowed from the miners pockets to the mineral dealers and out across the world. And some, within a few short months, reached the enthusiastic grasp of the Professor of Mineralogy at Cambridge. Even today, nearly 200 years later, the quality of those specimens from below the lonely Middlehope valley is known to mineralogists. Examples can be seen in the Natural History Museum in London, and more locally at Killhope. Their celebrity is assured. But of the human story, nothing remains. Who was the miner who first broke into the cavity of such beauty? We don t know. How much did he and his fellow miners profit from this discovery? We don t know. Like the mine itself, all is silent. Ian Forbes September with thanks to David and Elizabeth Hacker 17 Dazzling bonnie bits came out of the mine, such as this 7cm specimen Jesse Fisher/UK Mining Ventures From pockets in the lead veins to pockets in the miners jackets! This glorious green fluorite specimen measures 10cm across Jesse Fisher/UK Mining Ventures

18 THREE STEPS TO HAY TIME A GREAT SUCCESS More than 200 children from seven North Pennines schools took part in a series of events over the summer aimed at helping them learn more about and celebrate the marvellous hay meadows on their doorsteps. The events were run as part of the North Pennines AONB Partnership s Hay Time project in partnership with Beamish, the Living Museum of the North. AONB Partnership Community Hay Time Officer Neil Diment and children on the Three Steps to Hay Time project loading the hay cart NPAP/Rebecca Barrett Step 1 involved an introductory visit to the school by Mr Hayrake Neil Diment, the AONB Partnership s Hay Time Community Officer in the guise of a farmer from the 1950s and a specially arranged trip to a local meadow. Step 2 followed with a hands-on visit to the specially organised Hay what s all the fuss?: Our marvellous meadows exhibition held in Allendale Village Hall in June. There the children were treated to a series of activities including a bumblebee workshop, a chance to try their hands at hay rope making as well as some raking, leading and piking hay in the field. The exhibition remained open to the public for the following weekend and some children came back with their parents to share some of their newly-learnt skills and knowledge. Step 3 was a full-day follow-up visit to Beamish Museum where the children were able to experience life in Victorian times on Home Farm, with heavy horses, dairy work and a farmhouse kitchen. The project culminated with a Hay Time children s art competition and the winners were announced at a special Oscars-style ceremony in October. The pictures can be viewed at a virtual art gallery on our website: SWARD PLAY SCHOOL OF ROCK! 18 Anew Hay Play telling the story of the AONB s hay meadows and the people who farmed them will tour the North Pennines in late May Sward! The Story of a Meadow by award-winning writer Simon Corble is a love story, with roots in ancient myth, oral records and modern science. Through its telling, the complex web of life and history woven into the very fabric the sward of an upland hay meadow is revealed, along with its extremely fragile nature. The play, commissioned by Blaize Theatre Co in collaboration with Highlights, the North Pennine Rural Touring Scheme, will premier in Bowes Village Hall on Saturday 30 April. The production will be accompanied by a dazzling photographic exhibition by former Teesdale vet Neville Turner, following the changing face of flower-rich hay meadows through the seasons. An education programme is being developed by the North Pennines AONB Partnership s Hay Time Community Officer, Neil Diment for local schools who will be invited to participate at each of the venues where the play is to be staged. For touring dates, go to either or Next spring local people will have the opportunity to find out more about the fascinating geology and landscape of the North Pennines. Local geologist Brian Young will lead an eight-week course of indoor talks, based in Allendale, and two field visits, on behalf of the North Pennines AONB Partnership. Dr Elizabeth Pickett, Geodiversity Officer for the AONB Partnership said: After two successful courses in previous years, we are very pleased to have Brian leading another course for us. It is a great way to discover the geological heritage on your doorstep with expert guidance. The course will explore the way in which the North Pennines has been shaped over hundreds of millions of years by tropical seas, rainforests, molten rock and ice sheets. Participants will find out about the dramatic Whin Sill, the area s world-famous minerals and mining heritage, and discover how geology has influenced natural habitats and human activity over thousands of years. Brian is former District Geologist for Northern England with the British Geological Survey and has a wealth of knowledge about the rocks, minerals and mining heritage of the North Pennines. He is an experienced tutor and enjoys making the area s world-class geology accessible to all. This is an initiative of the AONB Partnership, and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Natural England (through Defra s Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund). The first session of the course will be held in Allendale in April and May The cost will be 40 (some concessions) for the course and advance booking is essential. For more information or to sign up call Claire Parker or Elizabeth Pickett at the AONB Partnership Staff Unit on or info@northpenninesaonb.org.uk Discovering the Whin Sill at Low Force in Teesdale, as part of the 2009 study course NPAP/Elizabeth Pickett

19 WHEN PEOPLE BURNED CATS TO KEEP WARM BY IAN FORBES Throw a cat on the fire, Betty, it s getting chilly. A stranger, wandering past a remote miner s cottage in upper Weardale or above Nenthead in the 19th century, might have heard these words, and been startled by them; they deserve an explanation. In the scattered smallholdings at the heart of the North Pennines, even after the railways penetrated the lower valleys to bring truckloads of coal from the Durham coalfield, ensuring a good supply of winter fuel loomed large in family life. Wood to burn was scarce and the railhead was many miles away. Peat was one option, widely used, and crawcoal was another. The Carboniferous rocks which make up the North Pennines are older than the rocks of the coal measures to the east, so only in the very upper layers, near the fell tops, do thin seams of coal begin to appear. The seams are only six to eight inches thick and their produce of poor quality, smoky and sulphurous. It is very uncomfortable for people occupying chambers with fires made of this coal, wrote Westgarth Forster in The people of the North Pennines called this stuff crawcoal. Poor stuff it may have been, but it was available, it was free, and it could be used. Judicious mixing of crawcoal with clay and water, and shaping the ART JOURNEY CONTINUES Right at the heart of the North Pennines AONB an exciting and innovative artistic collaboration has attracted national and international attention and featured in a recent BBC TV programme Great Short Journeys. Poet Josephine Dickinson, artist Lionel Playford and film maker Alastair Simmons held a joint exhibition during the Words by the Water literary festival in Keswick. Their paintings, poems displayed on the windows and a looped DVD film, were all inspired by the landscape of the upper reaches of the North Tyne between Alston and Garrigill. The three are now moving on to the next phase of their collaboration, and developing the theme Journey Further Look Deeper still within a particular setting and almost certainly within the AONB. For further details contact Lionel Playford via his website On a journey Harvest Moon by Lionel Playford The Peart family at Linn Head, now under the Burnhope Reservoir. Tommy Nichol Peart, who lent me this photo, told me his family dug coal from an eight inch seam on the fell, but crawcoal didn t give them a good enough fire to cook on. subsequent sticky mess into balls the size of turnips made a useable fuel. Dales folk called these coal and clay balls cats. I was fortunate enough, some 30 years ago, to talk to one of the last people alive who had made cats out of necessity. Wilf Swindle Brown was born in 1899 and brought up near Coalcleugh at the head of the West Allen. Any coal they used had to come from Alston to Nenthead, then over to Coalcleugh, so everybody cut peats. Locally there were crawcoal pits the boilers at Carrshield washing plant were fired with crawcoal and if the family were getting low on peats, Wilf was told to get some crawcoal before he went to school. He would go and get two or three buckets of small coal, a bucket of clay from the clay pit and a pail of water, and mix it on the byre floor like you mix cement. Chopping up the clay and mixing it with the water and coal made enough material for about 15 or 20 cats. Wilf told me that if you put about six balls on the fire at bedtime it would be bright red in the morning and very hot, but, he remarked, it was nearly impossible to light a fire with it. William Morley Egglestone, the chronicler of Weardale customs and traditions, also wrote about cats and cat-making. In 1915 he wrote: The miners brought to the homesteads the coal and clay which they had dug out of the rocks and hillsides. The coal was crushed small and then clay was added, the whole being mixed up by means of a shovel, then, with the addition of water, the whole was mixed by men and girls stamping upon the compound with bare feet or with clogs. After mixing to a proper consistency by treading the compound was stored in an out-house and when required for use the housewife made up with her hands the compost into balls called cats. With a few dried stems of heather and pieces of wood from the mines as kindling or firewood with a few peats added the fire was lighted and then covered with the clay coal balls. It was not uncommon to keep this kind of fire burning all winter. At Nenthead too, cat-making was widespread, and treading the mixture with clogs seems to have been women s work. A 19th century visitor talked of seeing a girl dancing among clarts mud. Clarts to the outsider: essential fuel for the families of the high Pennines! 19

20 ANOTHER GREAT YEAR FOR NORTHERN ROCKS The seventh annual Northern Rocks the North Pennines Festival of Geology and Landscape, organised by the North Pennines AONB Partnership, was a great success earlier this year. Running over two weeks in late May and early June, the festival was packed with geologically-themed events and activities across the North Pennines AONB. Northern Rocks celebrates the unique geological heritage of the North Pennines and its status as a UNESCO-endorsed European Geopark. It is part of European Geoparks Week an annual summer festival to promote the special geology and landscapes of all 37 European Geoparks. Events were spread throughout the North Pennines, across Cumbria, Northumberland and County Durham, with events at Nenthead Mines Heritage Centre, Killhope Lead Mining Museum, Bowlees Visitor Centre, and in a host of other places including Stanhope, Bowes, Allendale, Blanchland, Alston and Castle Carrock. Dr Elizabeth Pickett, Geodiversity Officer with the AONB Partnership said: Northern Rocks is all about the superb geology and landscape of the North Pennines and making it accessible and fun. From guided walks and underground mine tours, to pony trekking and dry stone walling, it has something for everyone. The festival is run with the close cooperation of many organisations and individuals, including volunteers. We are very grateful for everyone s enthusiasm and commitment, said Chris Woodley-Stewart, Walk leader Michael Jones explains Blanchland s lead mining legacy on one of the Northern Rocks events NPAP/Elfie Waren Director of the AONB Partnership. Northern Rocks is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Natural England (through Defra s Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund) and the County Durham Environmental Trust. 20 A riding event with Sinderhope Pony Trekking Centre, discovering old packhorse routes in Allendale NPAP/Elizabeth Pickett For more information about Northern Rocks contact the North Pennines AONB Partnership on or info@northpennninesaonb.org.uk NEWS IN BRIEF Friends of the North Pennines Regular readers of North Pennines News might be interested to know that the AONB Partnership has recently set up a new membership group, Friends of the North Pennines. The purpose of the group is to promote conservation of the North Pennines and to encourage learning about the area. Local people and visitors will be able to join the Friends as members. Some of the membership details are still being worked on, but benefits might include: special walks and events, volunteering opportunities and courses. So far, the Friends has been established as a charity and a notfor-profit company and an initial Board has been established. Look out for details on how you can join the Friends in the next edition of North Pennines News! What s up at Murton? Visitors to Murton in Cumbria can now find out more about the fascinating geology of this western edge of the North Pennines in a new panel in the village s car park. Produced by the North Pennines AONB Partnership, with the permission of the MoD and funding from Natural England (through Defra s Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund), the panel interprets some of the geology and landscape that you can see from the car park. It also provides access information about the Warcop Training Area, to help people explore this area safely. Business boost in Weardale A group of Weardale businesses has increased its membership by more than 50 per cent in the last 12 months. The Weardale Visitor Network (WVN) is aimed at local businesses involved in tourism, including shops, B&Bs, camping barns, self-catering cottages and caravan sites. The WVN represents its members business interests at local, county and regional level with government and non-government agencies to present a pragmatic, business-focused agenda. The group can be contacted through its website by phone on or by on jtaylor_blakeleyfield@yahoo.co.uk It s a wrap! A lonely North Pennines barn became a giant art installation to mark National Wool Week in October, celebrating sheep breeds throughout the area. Using the wool of the local Swaledale sheep, Cumbria-based artist Steve Messam created Sentinel, completely wrapping an 18th century field barn. During National Wool Week, the North Pennines Wool Group ( hosted an event in Lanehead, Weardale, where visitors could try their hand at spinning and feltmaking. The group was formed in 2009, and funding from the AONB Partnership s Sustainable Development Fund has enabled the group to publicise and run activities.