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Rookhope Walks

5.6 miles (9 km)

Ordnance Survey Map Open Streetmap This village in County Durham is an interesting place for a walk. There's some great North Pennines scenery, nice riverside trails, hill climbs and evidence of the area's lead mining history to see.
This route from the village uses sections of the Weardale Way to create a circular walk through the area to the south of the settlement.
The walk starts at Bolt's Burn and heads south along the waymarked footpath and the Rookhope Burn. You'll pass Pry Barr and Smailsburn before climbing to the viewpoint at Bishop Seat. You then descend south east to North Hanging Wells and the burn where you'll pass the Turn Wheel Waterfall.
At Eastgate you turn north to head to Ashy Bank and Brandon Walls where there's some woodland trails along the burn. The route then passes Stotfield Burn before returning to the village and finishing by the ford.

Postcode

DL13 2BG - Please note: Postcode may be approximate for some rural locations

Rookhope OS Map Ordnance survey map - Mobile GPS OS Map with Location tracking

Rookhope Open Street Map Open Streetmap - Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking

Walks near Rookhope

Further Information and Other Local Ideas

For more walking ideas in the area see the County Durham Walks and the North Pennines Walks pages.

Photos

Rookhope village - geograph.org.uk - 1235247

Rookhope village. The lead mining community of Rookhope took its name from the valley and grew up from the originally separate settlements of Boltsburn and Stotsfield. The poet WH Auden was inspired by the decaying industrial heritage in this area. In a letter to Lord Byron (1937) he states: "Tramlines and slagheaps, pieces of machinery. That was, and still is, my ideal scenery."

Rookhope Burn - geograph.org.uk - 1273426

Rookhope Burn. Looking downstream from below Frazer's Hushes towards the Grove Rake Mine.

The valley of Rookhope Burn - geograph.org.uk - 728991

The valley of Rookhope Burn

Bishops Seat farm - geograph.org.uk - 994810

Bishops Seat farm. One of the many ruined farmsteads in the Weardale area.

Rookhope Arch - geograph.org.uk - 1509794

Rookhope Arch. The remaining arch and other remains of the chimney at Lintzgarth Smelt Mill.

Pastures below Harrow Bank - geograph.org.uk - 728462

Pastures below Harrow Bank

Waterfall on Rookhope Burn - geograph.org.uk - 728887

Waterfall on Rookhope Burn

Rookhope, Upper Weardale - geograph.org.uk - 1581767

Rookhope, Upper Weardale

Video

GPS Files

GPX File

Rookhope.gpx (On Desktop:Right Click>Save As. On Ipad/Iphone:Click and hold>Download Linked File)

Memory Map Route

Rookhope.mmo (On Desktop:Right Click>Save As. On Ipad/Iphone:Click and hold >Download Linked File)