Powburn to Glanton – 2 March 2024
We are going on a salubrious coach journey, all the way from North Tyneside to Glanton in Northumberland. In 1895 when the Northumberland historian David Dippie Dixon came to this part of Northumberland he called Glanton a salubrious little village. David probably arrived in the area by train because a branch line to Cornhill via Glanton was opened in 1887. Had he arrived between 1766 and 1887 he would have arrived by coach and horses and it’s doubtful his journey would have been very salubrious.
When the bridge over the River Tweed at Cornhill opened in 1766 an alternative route between London and Edinburgh by way of the Great North Road (A1) became available. In 1822 the sixteenth edition of Paterson’s Roads was published. The book lists all the principal roads in England and Wales and parts of Scotland. Although several routes from London to Edinburgh are listed in the book, on page 280 the route via Glanton is listed.
The route appears to bypass Newcastle and heads to Morpeth and then onto the turnpike road which is now the A697. There is a toll gate at Longhorsley and then it crosses the bridge at Weldon Bridge, the old bridge close to the Anglers Arms not the new one on the A697. It then passes through Longframlington and at Framlington Gate climbs the steep hill up to a coach house called Rimside House on Rimside Moor.
This place is special because it is an artificially created oasis in the middle of a moor, at such a high place that coachmen thought of it as the coldest on the route north. Rimside House was a major stopping point because here a guidepost showed the distance to Alnwick, 8 miles east and Rothbury, 4 miles west. If your journey continued to Edinburgh it was off down the hill and away to Whittingham following the minor road close to what is now Thrunton Woods. Then up another hill and into Glanton before another section of the journey to Wooler and finally, Edinburgh which according to the book was a total of 380.5 miles travelled.
Whichever part of that journey you travelled you would have probably arrived wet, muddy and a trifle smelly which sometimes happens to us at the finish of a walk. Fortunately, the section of the road we are going to travel on has been upgraded and we are going to do it in a very comfortable coach.
The first walk to start is the 8.5-mile route that is circular out of Glanton. This route is going to go northwest towards Ingram before heading southeast via Branton back to Glanton. The second route to start is the 11.5-mile route which begins in Powburn heads west to Ingram and further climbs up onto the hillfort on Brough Law. From here the route heads south over Cochrane Pike and then in a north-easterly direction towards Glanton.
The final route is 10 miles and begins in Brandon crosses the River Breamish via a long footbridge and heads towards Ingram. Instead of going to Brough Law, the route cuts the corner and heads towards some ancient cultivation terraces before picking up the same route as the 11.5-mile route heading over Cochrane Pike.
A four-wheel, semi-luxury coach heading out to the edge of the Cheviots for some walks in part of the Ingram valley with some old hill forts visible along the way. What better way to spend a Saturday? If you would like to come out with us you can get in touch with us from our Contact Page, you can also download the walk descriptions below and the GPS routes here.
The image for this post was taken in November 2020 at the top of Brough Law.
