Bill's Walks

Ebchester to Consett (Co. Durham Border Walks)

Filed under: County Durham Border

Approx. Distance: 10 miles

Grade: Medium

Start: Ebchester Station Picnic Area off B6309 (GR NZ 107548)

Click to view start position on Google Maps

Map: Explorer 307 – Consett and Derwent Reservoir

This walk commences at the picnic site on the Derwent Walk at Ebchester. This was the site of Ebchester Station on what was originally the Derwent Valley railway line which opened in 1867. It closed under British Rail in 1962. Ebchester Station opened on the 2nd December 1867 on the same day as the line opened and closed on the 21st September 1953. The line reached its peak around 1914 when it carried half a million passengers annually, but improved roads eventually led to the loss of many of these customers. The line, in gaining height to reach Consett, meant that many stations were some distance from the villages in the valley. The Derwent Walk pub at the entrance to the picnic site was originally the Station Hotel.

The road bridge here carries the A691 which for much of its route follows the Roman road Dere Street which has been visited on other walks. There was a fort at Ebchester which was then known as Vindomora which meant ‘the edge of the black moor’ and the fort dates from the time of the first century in the time of Emperor Agricola.

This walk continues the theme of County Durham border walks and as stated before in this area the border is very simple, being the River Derwent. We leave by walking down the Derwent Walk for a short distance to follow field tracks to Ebchester village. Ebchester differs from the other nearby forts on Dere Street at Lanchester and Corbridge in that the modern settlement is built over the site of the fort, whereas at the others the settlement is separate from the Roman site. Consequently the remains of the fort can be found in gardens and as usual the stone was salvaged for use in buildings. A good case in point was the local church of St Ebba. The fort was actually built in two stages from AD69 to AD117 and then further work was done fron AD150 onwards.

After the demise of the Romans the area became dense forest rising from the River Derwent, which in this area was called the “Smiling Waters” and attracted hermits. In the time of Bishop Pudsey it was known as the place of the Anchorites (hermits).

The church of St Ebba is possibly pre 1066 but probably early Norman and was substantially restored in 1876. Like the church at Witton Gilbert (visited on the Sanctuary Way) there were lepers windows here, where lepers could participate in the service without contact with the congregation. Ebba was the daughter of Aethelfrith, the first king of Northumbria and was a nun. The organ in the church was made by the famous Durham company of Harrisons.

There is a famous ghost story relating to this church involving a Robert Johnson who, following a dispute with his son, stated “I hope my right arm will burn off before l give him sixpence”. They were reconciliated but at his funeral there was the smell of burning from the coffin which when opened revealed a burning arm. This happened in the early 18th Century and without being too sceptical l suspect practical jokers were at work here!

The area also had several mills including a fulling Mill and corn mill, hence Mill Lane.

We now proceed through the village and down to the river. The route of Dere Street was straight over the river at the bottom of the bank but we will now have a brief visit to the Ebchester Woods, owned by the National Trust. As you would expect on a River Derwent walk they contain Oak trees as well as other trees and quite good birdlife. The path through the woods takes you to the Shotley Bridge road and can be used for a short circular walk. However we now retrace our steps and cross the river by the old bridge which opened in 1862 and remained in use until it was replaced by the less attractive new bridge in 1973. It is now uphill initially on the old road and then on a verge before turning left into Newlands village at the Herb Garden, where as well as purchasing plants you can call in for snacks and coffee.

We leave Newlands by the waymarked track in front of the cottages and almost immediately pass over an attractive waterfall over the Small Burn. In the past the next section was always good for red squirrels, sadly no more to be seen here although there is a good chance of seeing grey squirrels here. The path is straightforward, passing Panshield and along the riverbank to Shotley Bridge.

Shotley was originally Scotley – the woodland clearing of the Scotsman. Shotley Bridge was well known as the home of the Shotley swordmakers although the only trace of this as far as l know is the name of the old coaching inn, “Crown and Crossed Swords”. In 1691 the area was colonised by Lutheran swordmakers from Solingen in Germany who were escaping religious persecution. They were attracted by the rich iron deposits and the fast flowing river which was ideal for tempering steel. Their names still live on and the last one Joseph Oley is buried in the churchyard at Ebchester passed earlier. Another Oley was in a challenge once as to who produced the best swords and turned up to face his two rivals without a sword on his person. Eventually after taunts he took off his stiff hat to reveal a sword wrapped within it and challenged the others to remove it. They were unable to do so without badly cutting their fingers and a vice was therefore needed to remove the sword. He won the challenge! Regretably the last of the swordmakers houses were demolished in 1959.

1837 saw the development of Shotley Spa which in its heyday attracted 60,000 visitors including Charles Dickens but the fashion changed although the signboard etc was still around in recent times. The site is now a new housing site. At the same time there was a zoo here and a wolf escaped which was eventually shot at Cumwhinton near Carlisle, but not before it had devoured about twenty sheep.

Shotley Bridge had many mills and the most famous was the paper mill which produced the paper for all of the government documents around 1900. As has been seen on other walks the River Derwent with its clean water served several other papermills at Lintzford and Swalwell.

We follow the road towards Benfieldside and take the track onto the river bank to where the paper mill was situated. The remains can clearly be seen and old photographs exist of it from the 18th and early 19th Century which are available on several websites as well as the local library. It is a steady climb up to Howden wood to emerge at Pemberton Road and even steeper up the steps to the site of the Consett Iron and Steel Works.

Indirectly the swordmakers led to its development when in 1837 they were opened at Berry Edge. This is now a fine viewpoint over the Durham moors to the west and a super view up the Derwent Valley past Allensford. The works, as they were known, produced the steel for our nuclear submarine fleet as well as well as places such as Blackpool Tower and employed directly 6000 people as well as providing employment for a vast number of supply companies. When they closed in 1980 it was the biggest single day redundancy in the world. The red iron dust, which was ferric oxide, tainted every building in the area plus the sight of the massive railway engines pounding up through Beamish and Annfield Plain would be no more. Fortunately Consett has shown itself to be resilient as the large number of new houses can testify.

We now cut across the restored site to pick up the Derwent Walk to go through Blackhill and continue down the line. On our left is Shotley Bridge Hospital which did much early work on heart transplants. It is a nice gradual downhill stroll back to the start at Ebchester Station.