Greenhead to Brampton – 9 December 2023
We do not often get to do a walk on the west side of Hadrian’s Wall. Usually, we tend to walk east to west with a finish at Twice Brewed. Twice before we have walked from Brampton to Greenhead but only once in 2009 have we done the walk from Greenhead to Brampton. While this part of the wall is a bit less dramatic than the area several miles to the east it is an interesting section to walk along.
From Walltown Crags directly east of Greenhead the wall drops into a wide valley crosses the Tipal Burn to the north of Greenhead and heads towards Gilsland, Just after Gilsland it crosses the River Irthing and climbs to the high ground as the River Irthing runs along just to the south. Over the years this section of the wall has been bisected by numerous minor roads including the Military Road, the B6318. A railway line crosses it at Gilsland and several nearby castles probably robbed it of much of the stonework. The castles include Thirlwall, Blenkinsopp and Naworth and Lanercost Priory which lies between the wall and Brampton has many stones set into the building which bear Roman inscriptions.
Three routes are doing this walk on the west side. All three routes walk along Hadrian’s Wall as far as the minor road that leads south to Lanercost Priory. From the Priory the route goes southwest past Boothby and comes into Brampton on the high ground called Brampton Ridge. The 11-mile route starts on the B6318 road at Carvoran which today is the site of the Roman Army Museum. The 10.5-mile route starts in Greenhead and the 9.5-mile route starts on the A69 at a place called Gapshield.
If you want to do a walk on the west side and have Brampton as a destination 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 on one of the routes in February 2009 on the way to Brampton.
