Allenheads to Allendale Town – 26 November 2022
No, the title of this post is not a football result, it’s the number of times we have visited both Allenheads and Allendale Town. The last time we ended the walks in Allenheads was in September 2013 when we started from St John’s Chapel and the last time we finished in Allendale Town was in February 2019 when we did the same sort of routes we are doing today.
The road that goes between our start and finish is the B6295 road. The road is in the valley and the River East Allen runs along most of its length. If you can imagine walking this road from Allenheads 150 years ago it was probably a hard-packed dirt road and it would have been a lot busier than it is now. Behind you, in Allenheads was the main mine which in its time between 1729 and its closure in 1896 produced over 250,000 tonnes of lead ore ready for the smelting mills. A bit further north from Allenhead just past Dirt Pot was the smelt mill. This was opened in 1700 initially to smelt ore from the mines around Nenthead, Killhope and Rookhope with the ore coming down the Carriers Way on the back of ponies. You can see the Carriers Way rising up the hillside as you go north past Dirt Pot, the 11-mile route starts from close to Dirt Pot and walks on the Carriers Way on the first part of their walk.
All that industry meant that there were large numbers of workers employed all around Allenheads. With the workers were their families and with the families came all the people that supplied food, clothing and household goods. All those people and supplies are moving up and down the valley road. As you continue north you pass small farms on the more fertile west side of the valley, many of these were leased by the miners and smelters to supplement their income. As they travelled to work. church and between the small hamlets they created numerous paths many of which are the footpaths our routes will travel along.
Leaving the noise and smoke of the mine and smelt mill behind in Allenheads it will not be long before the noise and smoke of the Allendale smelt mill come into view. This smelt mill was even older than the one in Allenheads having been opened in 1680. For some time it just serviced the smaller mines in the local area because most of the work was being carried at Dukesfield Smelt Mill further to the east. But as more lead mines were being developed extra smelt mill capacity was needed. So in 1795 Allendale began to expand. In the one hundred years between 1795 and its closure in 1896, it became one of the largest smelt mills in the country. To accommodate all the additional people in the area, churches, hotels, inns and shops were built and Allendale started to call itself a town.
Both the 8.5-mile and 10-mile routes start in Allenheads. The 8-5-mile route goes along the valley for much of the way while the 10-mile route climbs out of the valley to the east of Allenheads then heads north along Byerhope Bank before dropping down into the valley and joining the 8.5-mile route for the remainder of the way. The 11-mile route goes southwest along the Carriers Way until turning off towards Killhope Law where the route descends to Carrshield Moor. From here the route turns northeast and eventually connects with the other two routes in the valley.
There are three routes to choose from in this historical and pleasant area of Northumberland, if you would like to walk with us you can get in touch with us from our Contact Page and you can download the walk descriptions below and the GPS routes here.
The image for this post was taken on our last walk coming through the woods after leaving Durham City on what could have been the last sunny autumn day of this year.
