Geograph IrelandLatest Images by Elfrieda Waren
https://www.geograph.ie/
2024-03-28T14:42:07+00:00text/html2011-06-04T12:20:45+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.823131 -2.073586NY9547 : Commerce Hall, now known as Jeffries House
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2441233
Back in the 1800s when Derwent Lead Mines employed hundreds of men and the Boltsburn valley was a busy community of small farms and cottages, Commerce Hall was the shop premises for Thomas Pears and then his son William, grocers and drapers. William and his four spinster daughters kept the shop running into the 1930s and 1940s, long after the lead mining population had moved on. There's more about William Pears and the lead mining community of Ramshaw, Hunstanworth, County Durham here: http://www.hunstanworthhistory.org.uk/places/chapel.phptext/html2010-11-08T18:43:39+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.844882 -1.932697NZ0450 : Muggleswick Grange archaeological dig
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2150796
The 13th Century remains of Muggleswick Grange were the focus of the North Pennines AONB Partnership's first community dig as part of its Altogether Archaeology project. Volunteers uncovered the lower walls of the Grange which have been hidden from view for hundreds of years; this week (from Nov 8 2010) on completion of the dig, the excavations will be covered over with soil once again. You can find out more about the dig - and Muggleswick Grange - at http://www.northpennines.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=14545text/html2010-05-24T16:06:35+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.824572 -2.068763NY9547 : Rowantree House, Jeffrey's Rake
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1875185
Up until the 1880s the Bolts Burn valley near Hunstanworth in County Durham was a busy lead mining area, and all the farmhouses and cottages "Rakeside" would have been inhabited by families that mined and farmed for a living. Now many of these houses stand derelict, their names disappearing from the maps as they slowly fall into ruin. Alan Murray of Blanchland is possibly the last person to have been born at Rowantree House - you can read his story here http://www.blanchlandhistory.org.uk/people/murray.phptext/html2010-04-25T17:00:45+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.824480 -2.072810NY9547 : Hard Struggle, Ramshaw
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1824063
The shrubby wall on the right and the rubble behind it are what remains of Hard Struggle Cottages, shown on an 1850s plan of the valley as three terraced homes. The Wilkinson family lived here around that time. Local legend has it that the properties were called 'Hard Stuggle' because the builder ran out of money and never finished the houses. The local farmer still refers to the track running uphill towards Manor House (another ruin) as Hard Struggle.text/html2010-04-25T16:49:01+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.821605 -2.070937NY9547 : Former Jeffrey's House, Jeffrey's Rake
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1824024
Today's Jeffrey's House is further down the hill, but on an 1850s plan of the Ramshaw area, this was Jeffrey's House, and the building lower down was 'The Hall of Commerce' inhabited by grocer Thomas Pears and his family.text/html2010-04-25T16:35:51+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.823042 -2.072029NY9547 : Manor House, Jeffrey's Rake
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1823973
For many years the home of the Murray family in the mid-1800s, now only a couple of walls remain standing.text/html2010-01-02T14:25:21+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.814149 -2.066256NY9546 : Sike Head Chimney and West Farm, Jeffrey's Rake
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1642493
Both legacies of the North Pennines miner/farmer landscape, Sike Head Chimney is thought to be the one mentioned by WH Auden is his poem 'New Year Letter 1940'...
"The derelict lead smelting mill,
Flued to its chimney up the hill,
That smokes no answer any more,
But points, a landmark on BOLTS LAW
The finger of all questions."
West Farm was the family home of the Paull family, who moved from Devon in the mid 19th Century to Hunstanworth to mine lead. For more information go to http://www.hunstanworthhistory.org.uk/text/html2009-12-28T11:32:58+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.467294 -3.040483NY3208 : Lancrigg Hotel, Christmas Day 2009
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1635699
text/html2009-08-03T21:57:46+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.844191 -2.139493NY9149 : Riddlehamhope
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1427055
Once quite a grand hunting lodge, this unusual building looks as if it has been uninhabited since the 1970s.text/html2009-06-13T11:05:58+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.869968 -2.034249NY9752 : The North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1352165
Boundary of the North Pennines AONB on the road heading towards Blanchland - next to it is a Trice recumbent trike - Machine of Outstanding Mechanical Beauty.text/html2009-01-08T22:02:17+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.932418 -1.700022NZ1959 : Rock art on sofa, June 2007
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1112583
Wow, I thought, that looks just like prehistoric rock art lying on an old sofa outside Hollinside Farm. So I photographed it and sent it to the experts. They agreed, and the "sofa stone" as it was known has been logged and recorded and can now be seen at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/section/panel/overview.jsf?eraId=578text/html2008-09-09T20:06:56+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.902097 -2.106010NY9356 : Westerbyers, birthplace of William Charlton in 1806
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/956982
It'll never get a Blue Plaque, but adjacent to this barn is what remains of the cottage where my Great-Great-Great Grandfather was born, first child of Archibald and Mary Charlton (nee Lowes). William was a lead ore smeltor at Allendale for many years, then moved to the West End of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and became quite a prominent Primitive Methodist lay preacher in the area. He died in 1871.text/html2008-09-05T10:45:02+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.823841 -2.086816NY9447 : Curlew Sike, Boltshope Park
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/950530
A World War One star of the London stage came in for a warming cup of tea at this cottage in the 1930s. To find out more, go to http://www.hunstanworthhistory.org.uk/people/violet.phptext/html2008-09-05T10:20:20+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.825737 -2.074524NY9547 : Boltsburn Terrace, Ramshaw
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/950506
On the end of this row of lead miners' cottages is a Primitive Methodist chapel; go to http://www.hunstanworthhistory.org.uk/places/chapel.php to discover the chapel's history.text/html2008-09-04T12:57:27+00:00https://www.geograph.ie/profile/27002Elfrieda Waren54.825033 -2.043549NY9747 : Belmount farmhouse
https://www.geograph.ie/photo/949520
This is the remote farmhouse where Robert Snowball was murdered in his workshop on New Year's Day 1880. Housekeeper Jane Barron was tried for the crime but acquitted, and the killer was never caught. For more on this intriguing tale, go to http://www.hunstanworthhistory.org.uk/happened/belmount/