Weardale Way Section 7 (Wolsingham to Witton-le-Wear)
Introduction
Section 7 of the Weardale Way starts from the railway station in Wolsingham and finishes conveniently by the Dun Cow Inn on High Street, Witton-le-Wear. This section is a fairly easy walk on riverside trails, forest tracks and open fields with a single significant climb – through the forested Black Bank Plantation. In all but the driest spells the approach to Harperley Footbridge can be a very muddy one. There’s little space to work around it but it can be done with care – and luck.
There are several interesting sites off the trail in this section. They’re worth mentioning even though two of them can’t be visited casually – Harperley POW Camp and ‘The Castles’. Both would require permission from the land owners. The busy A68 trunk road is a convenient boundary between Weardale lead-mining and the Durham coalfield where many of the villages owe their existence to the historic presence of a local pit.
Stats at a Glance
Distance 11.3 km/7 miles | Elevation Gain 173 m/569 ft | Maximum Elevation 219 m/718 ft (Black Bank Plantation) | Going Generally firm with potentially wet and muddy sections on trails, tracks and road through farmland, woodland (riparian and coniferous/deciduous plantations), urban | Exposure Fairly sheltered first half, then exposed over lowland fields | Supplies & Hospitality Wolsingham [0.5 km] (All); Witton le Wear (PH) | Start Railway Station, Wolsingham NZ 076368 | Finish Dun Cow Inn, Witton-le-Wear NZ 145312 | Grade Moderate | GPS File
Description
Wolsingham is one of two major towns in Weardale, with a history that goes back to the Dark Ages. Apart from its many historic features it offers a full range of hospitality and is well worth a visit. The section starts on the access road outside Wolsingham Railway Station. After crossing the Weardale Railway soon afterwards, the route takes to the trail across several fields before entering a lengthy section of riparian woodland along the River Wear. Deciduous gives way to coniferous as the trail ascends across the Sharnberry Fault onto forest tracks through Black Bank Plantation.
There follows a short section of deciduous woodland at Bracken Hill before turning downhill on a farm track towards Harperley Footbridge over the River Wear. About half a kilometre away – still at the top of the hill – are the enigmatic earthworks of Shipley Moat and further away still, the equally enigmatic but at least extant remains of ‘The Castles’ (investigated on TV by Channel 4’s ‘Time Team’ who left the enigma intact).
After crossing the Weardale Railway at the site of the former Low Harperley Station, the route passes a quarry extracting fluvial aggregates (sand and gravel) before arriving at Low Harperley Farm. In the c17th, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (Civil War) precious plate from Durham Cathedral is recorded as being hidden from Scottish Covenanter forces on the property. Not too far away is Harperley POW Camp. Dating to WWII it’s surprisingly intact and although having heritage status it hasn’t been open to the public for some years. Harperley Hall dates to end of the c18th and lies just off the trail. It too housed POWs – during WWI – but since 1946 has been in the possession of Durham Constabulary.
In a narrow strip of woodland at Harperley Dean the trail crosses the burn via a footbridge on the way to Wadley Farm. After passing through the farm (where there are often a few interesting species of livestock to be seen) the trail turns upwards again, affording some nice views of Bedburn and lower Weardale before continuing over fields past McNeil Bottoms and High Garth Farm to the reach the A68 with its fast-moving traffic. On entering Witton-le-Wear you can climb a set of steps on the left to view Witton Tower, now a private residence contemporary with the medieval village itself. The section finishes at the Dun Cow Inn just around the corner.
Updates
The following updates have been published by The Durham Cow for this section: 060525