Part 1: Hugh Seat to Outhgill

The Source of the Eden

Mallerstang: from John Speede's 1610 

map of Westmorland

Lady Anne's Pillar on Hugh Seat

Hellgill Force

Hellgill Force in winter

We begin our walk where the River Eden begins. And it first appears as the small stream, Red Gill beck, on Black Fell Moss. 

Two other great rivers, the Ure and the Swale, also have their origin within a mile of each other in this great wilderness of peat bog, which stretches for twenty miles or so towards Great Shunner fell. This is sometimes called "the Watershed of England". 

Hugh Seat stands guard above Red Gill beck, and near its summit (at 689 m or 2,260 ft), there is a pillar 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. On older maps and documents it used to be called Hugh Seat Morville. (Sir Hugh was one of the four knights responsible for murdering St Thomas 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, deep gorge just before we reach Hell Gill Bridge, sometimes called Devil's Bridge. Here we meet the Old Highway, which has come over from Cotterdale. This was the original road through Mallerstang before the B6259 was built along the bottom of the dale in the 1820s (see photos below).

The Highway is sometimes known as Lady Anne's Way - but it dates back to at least Roman times. It was never a paved Roman road, but was the route for anyone travelling between the Roman forts along what is now the A66, for example the fort at Brough and those in Wensleydale, such as Bainbridge. 

A hoard of Roman coins was found just off the Highway in 1927 by a local shepherd, Peter Kerr. But flint implements recently discovered nearby by Annie Hamilton Gibney suggest that this track was in use long before the Romans came.

If we make a short detour downstream for a quarter of a mile, we come to Hellgill Force, the largest waterfall on the river - although it does not finally become the Eden until Hellgill beck has been joined by Aisgill beck, flowing down from Wild Boar fell at the opposite side of the dale.

But having met the Highway, we will continue along it. Here it is a smooth green road heading 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 haunting call of curlews which have come back again to the high fells to breed.

Looking south - The Old Highway (also known

 as "Lady Anne's Way") - leading upwards

from the B6259 at Boggle Green

The Old  Highway 

(photo from Flash Earth - looking North)

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. 

Then, 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 on Wild Boar Fell

"The Watercut"

Climbing Wild Boar Fell

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

(Dolphinsty in the "nick" on the skyline)

The bridleway which starts at Hazelgill Farm, [OS ref: 783 997] goes up to High Dolphinsty. Here the paths diverge.  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.

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 climb gently along Greenlaw Rigg. 

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After passing the cairns on Little Fell you go down a bit to Low Dolphinsty (named after Dolgfinnr, probably one of the original Viking settlers), then up again. Here you reach a "crossroads in the sky", at High Dolphinsty, where the bridleway from Mallerstang to Ravenstonedale crosses. After that it is "onwards and upwards" until you reach a plateau. The summit, marked with a trig point, is on a slight rise to the west. To the south there is a fine crop of cairns on The Nab (see above). 

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Having reached the summit, you can either return the way you came, or go back to High Dolphinsty and continue over the bridle way, via Stennerskeugh, towards Ravenstonedale. (It is useful to come in two cars, if possible, and park one of them at your destination).

This walk can also be delightfully extended by going south, via Swarth Fell, and then west through Grisedale and Uldale - a really beautiful diversion that, on most days, you will have all to yourself.

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P.S. Unlike most other local features, the older Norse name for "Wild Boar Fell" seems to have disappeared - and so far I have failed to find any reference to an earlier name. If anyone has any information on this, I would be delighted to hear.

A tusk of "the last wild boar killed in England" on this fell, is kept in Kirkby Stephen parish church...

(...But it may also be significant that two Norse gods, Freyr & his sister Freya, rode on wild boars?)

Walk Continued

The houses of the Dale...  and on to Outhgill

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 highest point along the eastern side, High Seat, at 709 m is in fact a metre higher than Wild Boar; but as it lies back a bit from the Edge, it does not dominate the view to the same extent. (The other high points are Gregory Chapel, south of High Seat, and Hugh Seat to the south-east). 

The scenery is so wild and magnificent above and within the dale that we tend to forget that it has been much modified over the centuries by the different peoples who have made this 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 of many of the houses. Their settlement pattern also survives: a string of isolated houses and small hamlets spread out along the dale, with no village but only the largest of the hamlets, Outhgill, 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" - see above. (See also a link to Eden Arts on the "Local links" page.)

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 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 which was dedicated in May 1998.

 Norse god Loki (in Kirkby Stephen parish church) 

A typical 17th Century Farmhouse

Railway Viaduct at Aisgill

Thrang Bridge

St Mary's Church, Outhgill

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