Trifter

Allen Banks: Northumbrian Beauty and a Sting.

Northumberland has a large number of beautiful dales. The River Allen as it runs through Staward Gorge and Allen Banks on its way into the River South Tyne, west of Haydon Bridge is one of the county’s most breathtaking valleys.

Trees are scarce in the North Pennines, which means that the tree covered slopes of Allen Banks and Staward Gorge are vitally important. Some of these woodlands date back to the Middle Ages and a great deal of planting was done around 1790.

Susan Davidson, who lived at Ridley Hall from 1830 to 1860 landscaped Allen Banks with wilderness planting to augment the more formal gardens around the hall.

Allen Banks car park, which is signposted from the A69 Road is a good place to start exploring the valley. The car park is open all the year round and has a leaflet dispenser.

The Ravine, which has miles of footpath, is mainly noted for three principal areas for walking. The Woods Walk covers two miles of Susan Davidson’’s wilderness walk along Raven’s Crag. A researcher discovered an old photograph which led to the recreation of one of her many summerhouses along the way.

Morralee Wood, over the river provides an interesting short walk which takes in remains of the Swiss Cottage Summerhouse, a house, a hillside tarn and the relics of a once flourishing lead mining enterprise.
The suspension bridge at Plankey Mill enables visitors to complete a circular walk, which covers both banks of the river from the Allen Banks Car Park.

However the most spectacular walk is from Plankey Mill, climbing gradually through the woodland onto Staward. Walkers taking this route could be forgiven for imagining they are on an archaeological expedition with Indiana Jones when they come across the remains of Staward Pele.

Pele towers were indigenous fortified dwellings in this region where border wars and raids were endemic.

Staward is a natural defensive position. It can only be approached from the south-east along a narrow neck of land. Elsewhere the ground falls away in a 200 feet drop. A moat was dug across the narrow entrance strip which is only reached by crossing a field that was once a

marsh.

The site was first developed by the Romans as a signal station and some Roman stonework has been incorporated into the medieval tower. Victorian collectors found an altar to Jupiter on this site.                                                           

Staward Pele is associated with a local medieval cattle thief, Dicky of Kingswood. He stole two cattle from a farm at Denton Burn on the outskirts of Newcastle upon Tyne and drove them over the watershed to Lanercost in Cumbria.

He sold them to a farmer and spend the night there. Next morning Dicky had disappeared along with his host’s horse. On his way back to Staward, he met the Denton farmer tracking his lost beasts.

Dicky told him that they were at Lanercost and sold the stolen horse to him allowing the farmer to travel quicker. It must have been an interesting encounter when the two farmers met.

Another of Dicky’s stings was to steal a small herd of cattle, dock their horns and tails and half bury these in the ground. He then waited for the pursuing owner and insisted that the devil had risen from the earth, claimed the herd which had varnish, except for the horns and tails.

Dicky helped the farmer to haul the cattle up. The tails came free of the ground and Dicky convinced the owner that the devil must have taken his beasts all the way down to Hell.

The gorge and its surroundings is one of the final English strongholds for our native red squirrel. Otters are now making a comeback along the riverbanks.

Most of the paths in the lower part of the valley are reasonably level. It is best to keep a close eye on small children near the Plankey Mill suspension bridge.

Refreshments can be obtained at the Cart’s Bog Inn (which holds an annual snail race) on the A686 road.

Both Plankey Mill and the Cupola Bridge can be reached by using the A686 road. Turn onto the signposted minor road near Langley Castle for Plankey Mill. The Cupola Bridge is near the Whitfield turnoff.