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Historic Hexham

Uploaded by 72paws on Oct 04, 2024
Region: United Kingdom

Route type: Other
Distance: 5.95km, 3.70 miles.   (0)

About trip

Distance: 3.75 miles, Minnimum Time: 2hrs, Difficulty: Easy, Description: It was AD 674 and the Romans had been gone over 200 years. Their wall lay crumbling on the green hills to the north, high above the valley of the Tyne. These were the early days of Christianity, when the first monasteries and abbeys were established. Queen Etheldra of Northumbria gave Bishop Wilfred land by the river and here, at Hexham, he would build his priory. Wlifred’s Priory Wilfred had travelled far and wide, including to Rome, and had been impressed by the splendour and majesty of many European churches. His would be a magnificent one with ‘crypts of beautifully finished stone… walls of wonderful height and length’. Many of the stones in his great building were Roman, removed from the fort at Corbridge. The monastery became a cathedral and a renowned centre of learning. However, these were dark days and places like this were rich pickings for Viking raiders. The priory was attacked on many times, but in ad 875 Halfdene the Dane, who had ransacked much of the county, finally burned it down. It wasn’t until 1113, when the Augustinians were awarded the land and started the present abbey, that it was restored to its former majesty. The abbey buildings survived Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries of the 1530s because they were was also used as a parish church. Instead of being demolished, Hexham was embellished and extended. The original crypt was retained intact too, and is now surely one of the finest Saxon structures to be found anywhere in Britain. While the nave and transepts date back to the 12th and 13th centuries, Dobson’s East End and Temple Moore’s nave were constructed between 1850 and 1910. The Riot Act. In the shadow of the abbey, and also constructed with the help of Roman masonry, are the 14th-century Moot Hall and also the Manor Office, which was the first purpose-built gaol in Britain. The two buildings will be the first points of interest you’ll see on the walk. Through the arch of the Moot Hall you come to the Market Square, which in 1761 became the scene of a major tragedy. Angry lead miners from Allendale, who were objecting to their conscription to the local militia, descended on Hexham in protest. On this spot they were read the Riot Act. Fighting broke out and, by the end of the day, over 300 miners were injured and 50 were killed. The North Yorkshire Militia subsequently became known as the Hexham Butchers. View of the Town. Past Benson’s Monument the walk comes to the edge of the old part of town and side-steps most of the new by climbing the southern hillsides along a wooded dell, known as Cowgarth Dene. The little stream here provided water for the monks of the priory. At Black House you’re at the top of the walk and can see Hexham and the valley that Wilfred inherited. While you're there: Great Chesters, known to the Romans as Cilurnum and set on the banks of the North Tyne near Chollerford, is a wonderfully preserved cavalry fort with a fine museum founded by keen archaeologist John Clayton. What to look out for: St Wilfrid’s Seat, a 1,300-year old frith (sanctuary) stool from the original priory was sculpted from a block of stone and survived the Danish attacks. Some believe it to have been the coronation throne of the early Northumbrian kings, though it may well have been a bishops’ throne. You’ll find it in the middle of the choir in Hexham Abbey. Where to eat and drink: At the County Hotel on Priestpopple in the heart of Hexham you can dine well at their Cromwell Restaurant where they use prime produce, sourced wherever possible from local farms. Directions: From the car park (not the supermarket end) take the exit between the tourist information centre and the café to follow a narrow street past the Old Gaol. Go under the arches of the Moot Hall and enter the Market Place. Take a tour of The Sele, the park grounds surrounding Hexham Abbey, before aiming roughly south-west across them to the Queen Hall on Beaumont Street. Turn right along here to reach Benson’s Monument, then continue straight ahead on an unnamed street. After taking the first turning on the right, ignore Elvaston Road on the left, but instead go straight ahead on a tarred lane that leads to the foot of Cowgarth Dene. When you get to a bridge, turn off into the woodland where the now unsurfaced track crosses a footbridge and climbs out to a little park at the edge of a modern housing estate. Follow the woodland edge, then a track past a water treatment works and some new houses. Turn left through a gate before you reach the estate proper into the Wydon Water car park. Turn right along a grassy ride, dipping left through the hedgerow after 100m to round the head of the reservoir. When you reach a lane, turn left, following it up the hill, where it becomes unsurfaced, past a house. Emerging on a road, turn left then, at Intake farm, turn right along a path that leads into the thick woodland of Wydon Burn’s upper reaches. A narrow path continues through the woods to reach the lane at Causey Hill where you turn left past the campsite to a junction with a road known as The Yarridge. The modern building here is part of the Hexham Racecourse. Turn left along the road and go straight ahead at the crossroads. Beyond Black House a stile on the left marks the start of a downhill, cross-field path into Hexham. Beyond a step stile the path veers right to round some gorse bushes before resuming its course alongside the left field edge. Just before reaching a whitewashed cottage, go over the stile on the left and follow the road down into the town. Turn left along the shopping street at the bottom, then right along St Mary’s Chare, back to the Market Place.

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