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OS Grid ref: NY 31629 24994
Lat/Long: 54.615451, -3.060231
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Low cloud was forecast so I headed back to Threlkeld for another
low level walk along part of the Keswick - Penrith Railway path
I hadn;t been on. I parked in the layby to the west of Threlkeld
then back along the road into the village then right at St
Mary’s Church to take the path across fields to the A66. The
Church was rendered on the outside walls and didn’t look
particularly attractive. |
St Mary's Church Threlkeld. |
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After crossing the A66 I was back on the fields and an
interesting feature of Kilnhow Beck raised above the fields on a
raised embankment. At Mill Bridge I crossed over the River
Glenderaramckin and up the lane to the line of the old Keswick
Penrith railway which is now a path. I turned right to head west
below what were the Threlkeld Quarries. There were many stone
structures where the rail sidings would have been for loading. |
Stairway to nowere.
Threlkeld
sidings. |
Path along the old railway |
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I reached the B5322 and crossed over to continue along the rail
route path. I soon came to the bridge over the River
Glenderamackin and stopped to admire the many rivets holding the
iron riders. The railway was surveyed and engineered by Sir
Thomasa Bouch and the work carried out by Messrs George Boulton
& son of Newcastle. The line opened in 1864 to transport mainly
industrial goods such as coal, coke and stone. The 31miles of
track had 135 bridges. A few years after the opening the design
engineer, Sir Thomas Bouch, became infamous for another railway.
On Sunday 28th Dec 1879 The Tay Railway Bridge that Bouch had
designed collapsed in a storm. The train to Dundee passed over
and crashed into the River Tay killing all 75 people onboard. |
Rail Bridge over the River Glenderamackin. |
Lots of rivets. |
The last passenger train travelled over the bridge in 1972.
I reached the road and turned left to descend down to Threlkeld
Bridge on the old road. It’s an interesting spot as upstream the
River Glenderamackin and St John’s Beck join to become the River
Greta. The road continues steadily upwards towards Burns Farm. |
Rivets. |
Misty St John's in the Vale. |
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At the high point I noticed a structure in the field to the
right. I walked across to investigate and it was as I suspected
a Royal Observation Corps Post bearing the usual feature of
items above ground. |
ROC Monitoring Post no 51
(Royal Observer Corps |
Ground Zero Indicator (GZI)
mounting
plate |
I asked my friend Michael about it as
he’s an expert on them. He sent me a link with the following
information:
Threlkeld ROC Monitoring Post A brief history of
the post.
October 1939 – An Observer Corps post was
originally built at Keswick, designated E2 post of 32 Group
(Carlisle).
August 1951 – The post was re-sited to its
current location, renamed Threlkeld.
November 1953 – It was
renumbered as N2 of Carlisle Group which was also renumbered as
22 Group.
May 1961 – The underground post was opened.
October 1968 – Following restructuring of the ROC the post was
once again renumbered to J3 of 22 Group, at this time nearly
half of the posts across the UK were closed including near
neighbour Greystoke.
In 1981 the clusters of posts were
rearranged and all posts redesignated numerically, Threlkeld
became 51 Post and remained so until stand down in 1991. |
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I followed the road down to Naddle Bridge and once over
turned left into the field to follow a path up to Goosewell
Farm. The property now has a variety of uses including a
climbing wall & activity centre. |
Milepost by the road. |
Keswick Climbing Wall & Activity Centre. |
A short way on I walked into the field to admore the
Castlerigg Stone Circle built around 4,500 years ago. In 1913
Hardwick Rawnsley (1851-1920) organised a local subscription to
purchase Castlerigg stone Circle for the National Trust. It was
one of the first archaeological sites to get this protection.
Dorothy and William Wordsworth visited Castlerigg in 1799. I was
lucky that there weren't many people around and was able to get
some photos without figures. |
Hardwicke Rawnsley (1851-1920) |
Castlerigg Stone Circle |
Castlerigg Stone Circle |
Castlerigg Stone Circle |
Castlerigg Stone Circle - artists impression of a Victorian
visit. |
Back at the road I returned through the Goosewell
buildings and down to the old road where I descended through the
trees to cross under the A66 by a wet muddy underpass. The path
continued down through fields to join the Keswick - Penrith
railway route path which I followed back to the car. |
Looking under the A66 to Threlkeld
Bridge. |
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