24
Apr
2009
Burnopfield to Lintz (Co. Durham Border Walks)
Filed under: County Durham BorderApprox. Distance/Time: 10 miles 5.5 hrs
Map: Explorer 307
Start: Layby off A692, East of Burnopfield (GR NZ 183572)
View Start Position on Google Maps
Grade: Medium
This walk finds us on the border of Tyne & Wear and County Durham, and begins in the village of Burnopfield.
Leaving the layby to the east, we cross the main road to take the lane running to the South of Byermoor. This village has a long history going back to medieval times and in 1183 it was called Beechermoor meaning ‘bare moor’. The village existed as a hamlet until the mid 1700s when the first mines were opened. In the 1800s stone rows of pit cottages were built, followed in 1869 by a temporary church where in 1871 a school was established. The bulk of the workers were Irish escaping the potato famine and the church was run by the main church at Brooms near Leadgate. In 1880 the Sacred Heart church was built. The colliery was owned by John Bowes and incorporated 156 coke ovens similar to the ones we saw at Inkerman near Tow Law, as well as some earlier ones constucted by Germans and known as the German Ovens. Output was circa 500 tons per day and a further 350 tons was contributed from the nearby Andrews House pit which was to the east. The pit closed in 1968 before which had been built the council houses further up the hill. These were known as the Dolly houses and that area as Dollytown. Regretably all the old pithouses were bulldozed at the same time that the pit was demolished.
We walk east towards Longfield House on the Gateshead side of the border and at a crossroads of tracks turn north back towards the main road, up to Blackmoor Hill and the mast. On a clear day the views here are extensive across the Northumberland plain and past the Simonsides to Cheviot and Hedgehope. On certain days it is possible to see Peel Fell North of Kielder which is supposed to be the only place in England where you can see both the Irish Sea and the North Sea. Heading north over the field, we head for Fellside Farm and take the bridleway through the farm. We now cross the main road to pick up the footpath almost opposite which picks up an old paved way here. The origin of this route is not known although it could be an alternative back way into the nearby Gibside Estate. After crossing a field, we enter Burnopfield by Sheephill.
The very small stream here called Leapmill Burn is the border and we walk on the Durham side down to Derwent Bridge. There are no footpaths here and this was the place where the red kites were kept prior to release. We turn left just before the bridge through Friarside Plantation on the other side of the River Derwent which is now the border. Rowlands Gill is an attractive suburb infamous for an unsolved murder in 1855 when the local doctor named Dr Stirling was murdered and to this day this is one of the few unsolved murders in Co Durham. There is a great deal on this on the web and there were three suspects of which one known as Whiskey Jack appeared responsible. He still had relatives in the area recently. The motive appeared to be robbery but the case was never proved although it is interesting that many years later Dr Andy Smith, the father of the much loved Dr Andy Smith Jr was given an expensive watch by a descendent of one of the suspects which bore the initials of the departed doctor.
The derelict building in the field to the west is Friarside old hospice. This path is on the route of the old way between Jarrow Monastery and Blanchland Abbey and when built in the 11th century was known as Frere Johanside . It was inhabited by a recluse who had obtained a licence to build a habitation of solitude. We proceed through Scaifes Wood to Middle Friarside, which is also an old settlement site, before crossing the Derwent Walk to go down to Lintzford.
In 1695 there was a cornmill here which in the 1800s was converted to a paper mill. This area had many paper mills with the most famous being at Shotley Bridge. In 1923 the mill became Richardson’s Ink factory and this produced ink for many of the schools in the country as well as having three other factories in India. There are old grindstones in the gardens of the houses near by and in recent times the complex has been converted into housing.
We now climb back to the Derwent Walk at Lintz Green station and curiously this is the scene of another Durham unsolved murder on 7/10/1911 when the stationmaster Joseph Wilson, aged 60, was shot dead. Four passengers who had alighted heard the shot as well as and the porter and the booking clerk who all rushed out. If the motive was robbery there was no gain as the days takings had been put in the safe unusually early that day. Suspicion fell on the relief porter (all these staff for a quiet rural station!) and he was charged but on the day of the trial the police sensationally withdrew the charges and the case remains unsolved to this day.
If you have time you may go along to see progress on Ajax Wood which is a Woodland Trust project to commemorate the battle of Trafalgar and is a new wood to link up other woods that they own.
You now cross the main road and make your way up Lintz Lane towards Pickering Nook. Taking the first path on your left, you now head east through some narrow woods and return to Burnopfield passing Burnopfield Cricket Club (the home club of the late Colin Milburn, the opening batsman for England and a prodigious hitter of the ball!) before entering the village high street. Following the high street east you will soon arrive back at the start of the walk.
