Teesdale Way Section 5 (Romaldkirk to Barnard Castle)

Introduction

Section 5 of the Teesdale Way links the village of Romaldkirk to the market town of Barnard Castle. This section of the trail offers mixed terrain with some steep, rugged and potentially muddy gradients. While the river is rarely far way from the trail, they are often separated vertically. There is an alternative trail, also way-marked as the Teesdale Way on the opposite side of the river forming a popular circuit walk (or figure-of-eight) between Barnard Castle and Eggleston Bridge, crossing the river at Cotherstone.

Stats at a Glance

Distance 9.7 km/6 miles | Height Gain 135 m/442 ft | Maximum Elevation 224 m/736 ft (Romaldkirk) | Going Fairly good, though very muddy and rocky in places (particularly through Skittle Bank Wood between Low Garth and Woden Croft). Generally sheltered over farmland and woodlands | Navigation (OS Maps Explorer OL31; Landranger 92); GPS File | Hospitality & Supplies Romaldkirk (PH; Ho; BB; Ca*); Cotherstone [0.5 km] (PH; BB); Barnard Castle (All) | Start St Romald’s Church, Romaldkirk NY 995220 (w3w: launched.certainly.leopard) | Finish Desmesnes Recreation Area, Barnard Castle NZ 050160 (w3w: inflation.validated.warblers) | Grade Moderate | GALLERY

Trail Updates

The following updates have been published by The Durham Cow for this section: 050725

Description

The route, published in our guide book, leaves Romaldkirk following signs for the Teesdale Way via wooded Sennings Lane. Beyond the gate at the end of the lane are open fields and the abandoned farm at Low Garth after which you enter more woodland above the Tees, though it remains out of sight. Straddling an unnamed burn you encounter the first pair of “Marking the Parish Boundaries” boundary markers (Romaldkirk/Hunderthwaite). The trail through Skittle Bank Wood is rugged, particularly so when descending to the river at the “Fairy Cupboards”. Here, a small section of limestone along the river has been eroded in such a way as to suggest the name – you’ll have to clamber over moss-covered, potentially slippery rocks, right alongside the river, to see them though. They’re not marked so you’ll need to check out the photo gallery to get a better idea of where to find them.

Leaving the woods behind, the trail passes through the farm at Woden Croft. The house was once a private academy of the type satirised by Charles Dickens in his novel Nicholas Nickleby (much of which is based on locations in Teesdale, including the school, Dotheboys Hall). Descending gently back to the river, you may get a view of Percy Myre Rock, high up in the woods on the other side (depends on the season though). This exposed crag, across the river, offers panoramic views up the dale. Legend has it that a lord of the manor fell to his death after mistakenly chasing a stag over the cliff.

Over Wilden Beck you cross a field where you physically experience the gentle undulations resulting from medieval “rigg & furrow” ploughing. A short while later you come to Cotherstone Footbridge over the River Tees. You can switch between the two Teesdale Way trails here if you wish though most of the interest is to be found on this side. The next footbridge – no more than a hundred metres away – crosses the River Balder almost at its confluence with the Tees. The Balder separates the parishes of Hunderthwaite and Cotherstone so the bridge comes complete with boundary markers.

Cotherstone, which has a cheese named after it (though it’s no longer made in the village), offers a pub if you want a break. Otherwise the trail bypasses the village by climbing a steep mound (Hallgarth Hill) on top of which stood Cotherstone Castle (the scant remains are heavily overgrown and on private land). It’s undoubtedly a commanding position which offers a superb view over the river.

After an easy, flat stretch along the wooded escarpment – past the Abraham Hilton’s memorial stone – you enter Mill Hill Wood where you’ll find a former sandstone quarry with a handy cave if you’re in need of shelter. On the subject of stones this section of the Teesdale Way includes several obvious “erratics”, boulders – usually Shap granite – that have been deposited as a result of glaciation around 20,000 years ago. Woodland gives way to more fields past Cooper House before descending towards a nature conservation area, including a distinctive pond, known as Mayhew’s Meadow. I’ve read somewhere that Mayhew was a gamekeeper on the Lartington Estate though the hall is recorded as also being in the possession of the Mayhews.

You then cross the Grise Beck via a stone slab inscribed “1816” followed by a dark ascent through a coniferous plantation (or a very light one should it have been felled). This brings you to a gate over more fields approaching Towler Hill farm which once offered a view of Barnard Castle regarded highly by painters.

Into the woods again, you cross the track-bed of the former South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway close to the western end of the demolished Tees Railway Viaduct. A steep descent through more coniferous woodland (though in 2025 it had been felled) leads to an access road that links with the busy B6277 crossing the Tees via Deepdale Aqueduct Footbridge from where there’s one of the most popular views of the castle.

If you bear right, uphill, from the footbridge, you’ll pass the castle entrance before arriving at the busy corner of Galgate and Horsemarket. The route, as published in the book, stays alongside the river, passing the Roman ford, opposite Startforth, to County Bridge, beneath the towering castle walls. After a short stretch on Bridgegate it crosses the road at the foot of “The Bank” on which you’ll find Blagraves House and – at the top – the distinctive “Buttermarket”, then continues on Gray Lane to finish on “The Demesne” recreation area.