Copthill Churchyard

A view of the old Copthill churchyard. The part in the centre where there are no flowers is the site of the Church. As quarrying to the left of the photo began to erode the ground, the Church was moved in 1915, stone by stone, to its present site in the village. The headstones are still there, dating back to 1823. The Hill can be seen next to the tree in the centre. The houses in the background are the ones featured earlier in the blog, around Wellhope, Rush and Allers.

Down dale from Copthill

A view from just beyond Copthill. The old Copthill Churchyard can been seen at the centre left of the photo with Bridge End Cottage below. At the right is Bents and beyond that the houses of Irestone, which is just above Vedra Close in Wearhead. The trees at the top are Hawkwellhead Wood, above Ireshopeburn. The farm at the top right is Ireshope Plains, where the television mast for the top end of the dale is situated.

Gatehouse

On the roadside opposite the track down to Allers is the Gatehouse. A track at the right of the photo leads up onto the Allenheads road.

Low Allers

At the bottom of the track leading from the main road to High Allers there are a few houses called Low Allers. Two of these houses are for sale, to see more photos of the house in the centre click here, or to see more of Snowdrop Barn at the right of the block of houses click here. The river runs just in front of the houses and a path follows the river down into Cowshill.

High Allers

Looking across from the main road again is High Allers. The track up to the house goes down to the river and then up the wall at the centre of the photo. It belonged to the Dalton family for many years but was sold 2 or 3 years ago and renovated. It is now for sale again at the moment, by clicking here you can see more photos and details from the estate agents.

Allers Lea & Low Moss

A few yards down the road and looking over the other side of the valley again we see Allers Lea at the bottom of the left photo, Birch Hill in the centre and Low Moss at the top. The photo on the right shows Low Moss with the zoom on. My maternal ancesters used to live at Moss, as well as Rush. The track I followed past High & Middle Rush continues past the wall at the bottom of the photo and then onto Low Allers, right next to the river.

Cornriggs Post Office & Traveller's Rest

Onto the main road now, I walked past 2 adjoining houses, the photo on the right was previously the Cornriggs Post Office & general Stores. Harvey Walton, who wrote several books about Weardale used to live here and run the shop. The photo on the right used to be the Traveller's Rest, a pub until about the 50s. The Walton family continued to own the Old Post Office until both of his daughters died within a few weeks of each other a few years ago. It was then bought by a builder and renovated and is now up for sale again.

Low Cornriggs & Lanehead Bridge

Looking across from Low Rush Lanehead Bridge can be seen, the only 5 arched bridge in Weardale. One field above that is Low Cornriggs which used to be a riding stable but is has self catering holidays. This is at the top side of the main road and can be seen just before going over the bridge.

Low Rush & Hill Top

Low Rush is shown on the right photo
and Hill Top on the left. They are very close together, only a small field separates them. The tracks passes Low Rush and drops down towards the river, then back up to the main road. Both photos were taken from the main road to get a better view.

Low Burnt Hills

Across the river from High & Middle Rush there are a few houses called Low Burnt Hills, seen at the bottom of the photo. The houses of Lanehead can be seen behind with Cornriggs at the top right. Low Burnt hills cannot be seen from the main road, nor by walking down the river side, so it was nice to get a photo of the area. The building at the top left is Lanehead School shown earlier, and the last house going down the bank School House, shown the same day.

Middle Rush

Moving down the track I reached Middle Rush. By this time the track was going downhill slightly towards Low Rush. The photo on the right shows Middle Rush as seen from the main road opposite.

High Rush

High Rush (right photo) is the next house down the track from Far Rush. The track runs past the three trees in the photo so I was unable to take a close up, these were taken from the main road opposite. The photo on the left shows High Rush top right and Middle Rush top left. Low Burnt Hills is at the foreground. Looking in the front of the house on the right side photo, it is easy to see why it is called Rush!!

Blakeley Field and Rush

Walking uphill and down parallel with the river, I walked past Blakeley Field, on the left photo. This is the home of the Taylors who run an adjoining self catering cottage, Beckleshele Cottage which has a website with all their informion and some lovely photos.
The photo on the right shows Far Rush or Lanehead View, different names on various maps. Blakeley Field can be seen int he background, and Killhope Wood behind that. These cottages have wonderful views looking right down the dale.

Sparty Shield

The road towards Wellhope goes over the Killhopeburn. This house next to the burn is called Killhopeburn Sheiling, and although now derelict, and in danger of falling down, would have been lived in until the last century. The land to the right of the building is called Sparty Shield. The bridge was obviously built to last as it does not seem to have suffered from the hundreds of floods which will have passed under it. A few yards down from the house the Wellhopeburn, in the foreground of the photo on the right, joins the Killhopeburn, coming in from the right to continue its journey to join the River Wear down stream.

Down through Weardale

The road to Wellhope forks to the left (left photo)and this takes you past South Wellhope Farm,

Whitestone House and Stout's Close. I turned a 90 degree angle, so the photo on the right shows a view looking down Weardale from a few yards through Wellhope Gate. By clicking on it and zooming in you can see it shows Low Burnt Hills in the centre, the white house at the top left is The Gatehouse. Through the trees at the right is the back of Allerslea, and well in the background, in the centre, our house can be seen with the road to Sedling behind.

Wellhope

After leaving Wellhope Gate the first house to see is High Byre, shown on the photo on the right. Part of Killhope Wood which was behind it has recently been felled and replanted. Farther along the track is Woodside and Wellhope House, shown on the left photo. These houses all belong to Weardale Estates and are lived in by estate workers and retired estate workers. Wellhope House was lived in for many years by the Dalton family, which consisted of 6 sons and 6 daughters. The moors behind are used for grouse shooting from August onwards.

Lanehead Chapels

Greenlaws on the left used to be Lanehead Zion Primitive Methodist Chapel. It was built in 1834 and extended on the right side in 1858. It closed in 1948 and sold off as a private house.

There was also a Weslyan Chapel a few yards down the road which also closed in 1948 and was demolished in 1950.

The photo on the right shows a view looking from Wellhope gate up through Killhope Wood. The houses are Cleugh House Farm and behind that is Cleugh Head Cottage. The road cannot be seen, but is the highest road in England.

Lanehead Schools

On Monday I walked up to Lanehead and over to Wellhope and Rush to take some photos. The left one shows The school House at the bottom of Lanehead Bank. It was built by Bishop Shute Barrington about 1819 and used as the school. It was used until the larger school on the right was built, at the top of the bank, in 1874. The new mixed and infants school had room for 144 pupils and in 1894, according to Whellan's Directory, was attended by 80 pupils. Some pupils left at 11 years old to attend Wolsingham Grammar School, the others stayed at Lanehead until they left their education. In 1958 Wolsingham became a Secondary School, so all pupils over 11 years old moved schools. The decline in pupil numbers at local schools meant closures, and Lanehead was closed in 1959 and pupils transferred to Wearhead School. The School House was sold in 1908 and the money was used to help build the Cowshill Village Hall, then called the Mission Room.