Walking in Northumberland with a Shepherd

Iron Age Hill Forts and Bronze Age Burial Cairns

Jul 15, 2008

Explore the dramatic landscape of Northumberland with an authentic hill shepherd and discover how ancient Brits lived 2,500 years ago.

The Ingram Horseshoe Walk is one of many walks put together by Northumberland hill shepherd, Jon Monks. He has created a small company called 'Shepherds Walks' and used his knowledge of the landscape to create walks of varying degrees of difficulty. Some are gentle, some are more robust, and some are designed for the more experienced hiker.

Northumberland - The Ingram Horseshoe Walk

Northumberland is rich in archaeological treasures and this walk is packed with Bronze Age burial cairns and the remains of Iron Age hill forts. The forts show the remains of hut circles where the people lived and it is thought that they were occupied right up until the Roman occupation which ended just over 1,500 years ago.

The walk takes you over some of the low hills south of the village of Ingram, situated in the Breamish Valley in the Cheviot Hills. There is some climbing, although reasonably easy, and the views are spectacular. It’s particularly worth the effort when you get to the top as here are the remains of an Iron Age hill fort, approx 2,500 years old.

At the top of a hill named Brough Law are the remains of a circular hill fort. There are several circles in the ground which mark where the round huts once were. They would have been made of wood or stone and were protected by stone ramparts or walls. The original entrance to the fort can be seen on the eastern side of the rampart.

Northumberland stretches to the Scottish border and is the least populated county in England as well as one of the most beautiful. From the top of Brough Law one can see for miles across rolling hills and pretty valleys.

You will also, on the Ingram Horseshoe Walk, come across burial cairns consisting of piles of stones. There are many of these in Northumberland, some of which have been sitting in the landscape for 3,500 years.

The cairns were often created to mark ancient burials. When people died in those ancient times they were buried in stone tombs covered with stone slabs. These tombs were known as ‘cists’ and gifts for the afterlife were placed in them.

The first cairn you come to on the Ingram Horseshoe Walk (it has some small white stones at its centre) was robbed in antiquity, but a timber-lined coffin was later discovered which contained the remains of at least five early Bronze Age pots.

Northumberland National Park

The Ingram Horseshoe Walk is one of dozens of walks in the Northumberland National Park. One intriguing legacy from ancient times are the strange stone carvings known as cups and rings. They are cup-shaped depressions surrounded by one or more circles etched into the rock by primitive tools, To this day nobody has managed to discover their meaning.

Northumberland contains the largest number of recorded cup and ring marked sites in Britain, The best place to see them is at Lordenshaws just south of Rothbury.

The copyright of the article Walking in Northumberland with a Shepherd in Historical Travel is owned by Cathy Smith. Permission to republish Walking in Northumberland with a Shepherd in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.