{"id":2382,"date":"2022-01-08T01:34:35","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T00:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2382"},"modified":"2021-12-28T08:01:38","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T07:01:38","slug":"frosterley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2382","title":{"rendered":"Frosterley and the Old Quarries, Weardale, Durham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Frosterley.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707478825_a547c325cd_z.jpg\" title= \"Moorland farm above Bollihope Burn\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707478825_a547c325cd_s.jpg\" alt=\"Moorland farm above Bollihope Burn\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51706593726_e1725209ce_z.jpg\" title= \"steep climb up from Bollihope Burn\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51706593726_e1725209ce_s.jpg\" alt=\"steep climb up from Bollihope Burn\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707479610_c64b1e72f8_z.jpg\" title= \"Harehope Quarry\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707479610_c64b1e72f8_s.jpg\" alt=\"Harehope Quarry\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51706869098_700413d0cf_z.jpg\" title= \"crinoids in the car park - Frosterley marble\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51706869098_700413d0cf_s.jpg\" alt=\"crinoids in the car park - Frosterley marble\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707262604_dc7845568a_z.jpg\" title= \"River Wear at Frosterley\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707262604_dc7845568a_s.jpg\" alt=\"River Wear at Frosterley\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707479325_6b1142a4c5_z.jpg\" title= \"lane near Bridge End\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707479325_6b1142a4c5_s.jpg\" alt=\"lane near Bridge End\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707479240_6bd822cd60_z.jpg\" title= \"gravelly flood banks of River Wear\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707479240_6bd822cd60_s.jpg\" alt=\"gravelly flood banks of River Wear\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707262399_40a56069a0_z.jpg\" title= \"velvety delvings of the old Frosterley quarries\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51707262399_40a56069a0_s.jpg\" alt=\"velvety delvings of the old Frosterley quarries\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51705802012_4ab124e77b_z.jpg\" title= \"bridge over Bollihope Burn\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51705802012_4ab124e77b_s.jpg\" alt=\"bridge over Bollihope Burn\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51706868318_e2c32be8f0_z.jpg\" title= \"old tramway near Frosterley\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51706868318_e2c32be8f0_s.jpg\" alt=\"old tramway near Frosterley\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51706868238_09d8ce45d1_z.jpg\" title= \"'Frosterley marble' in a stream bed\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51706868238_09d8ce45d1_s.jpg\" alt=\"'Frosterley marble' in a stream bed\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2382','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nLooking round the Chapel of the Nine Altars in Durham Cathedral, you can\u2019t help but be struck by the beautiful floors and columns of \u2018Frosterley marble\u2019, dark polished limestone speckled with white fossils. <\/p>\n<p>Frosterley lies in Weardale, upriver from Durham. The village is proud of its celebrated product. There\u2019s a great unpolished lump of the stuff in the car park, formed 325 million years ago and covered in circular fossils of sea lilies with delicate rays.<\/p>\n<p>From Frosterley we followed the Mineral Valley Walk as it rose to run round the rim of an old quarry. Sunk below the level of the fields were big lumpy spoil heaps, delvings and trackways, their awkward angles all smoothed and softened by the grass that covered them in a green velvet nap. Looking down on this from the striated limestone crags of the former quarry faces, it was hard to imagine the thunderous noise, the dust, the hard labour and raw surroundings of a hundred years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the quarry we turned down the gorge of the Bollihope Burn on a former railway track. A red grouse scuttled away in a panic. The path squeezed between adjacent rock faces where streaks of dusky red hinted at the presence of iron. Across the burn some hopeful lead miner had driven a speculative adit, a tunnel leading from a crude hole into utter darkness.<\/p>\n<p>A flight of steps led up to open sheep pastures, hillside farms and a glimpse of long ridges of moorland beneath a cloudy sky. Then we dropped back down beside the Bollihope Burn, looping back to Frosterley along the rim of Harehope Quarry, another huge subterranean moonscape now repurposed as an ecological education centre. Field classrooms, wildlife ponds, summerhouses and a wind turbine have taken over from heavy machinery, rubble mountains and polluted pools.<\/p>\n<p>On the way we crossed the dry bed of a stream. There below the footbridge were great slabs of Frosterley marble, dark rock smoothed by water and patterned with an intricate jumble of white fossils. It was remarkable to think of the journey this ancient seabed deposition made in medieval times, cut and shaped to rise in polished glory in the cathedral of the Prince Bishops twenty miles away across the hills.<\/p>\n<p>How hard is it? 5\u00bd miles; easy; field paths, old trackways<\/p>\n<p>Start: Frosterley car park, Frosterley DL13 2QW (OS ref NZ 026370)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus: 101 (Stanhope \u2013 Bishop Auckland)<br \/>\nRoad &#8211; Frosterley is on A689 between Wolsingham and Stanhope<\/p>\n<p>Walk (OS Explorer OL31; Frosterley Walks leaflet downloadable at durham.gov.uk\/media): Right along A689. Left (\u2018White Kirkley\u2019) across River Wear. In 150m, left (022367) beside chapel (\u2018Mineral Valleys Walk\u2019\/MVW). In \u00bd mile, right at kissing gate (029365, MVW); keep fence on right round quarry rim. Through gate (027362); down slope; right (MVW) to road (025360). Left (MVW); by bridge, right (026360, stile, MVW) along Weardale Way\/WW. In \u00be mile pass (don\u2019t cross) bridge (020354); in 40m, right up steps; right at top to gate. Left up fence; in 150m, right (020356) on field track to road (025360). Right; in 150m, left (026360, stile) on WW. In 700m, by footbridge on right, ahead (033361, stile, \u2018Permissive Path\u2019); in 150m, left along WW (035360). In 500m at gate WW turns right (039363); left down road. In \u00bd mile at level crossing, don\u2019t cross (036368); bear left on path. In 600m, right to cross railway (030368); ahead on lane to Frosterley churchyard (026368) and Front Street.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch\/Accommodation: Bonny Moorhen, Frosterley DL13 2TS (01388-526867, <a href=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/thebonnymoorhen\">facebook.com\/thebonnymoorhen<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Info: Durham Dales Centre, Stanhope (01388-527650), <a href=\"http:\/\/thisisdurham.com\">thisisdurham.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/northpennines.org.uk\">northpennines.org.uk<\/a><br \/>\nHarehope Quarry: 07807-002032, <a href=\"http:\/\/harehopequarry.org.uk\">harehopequarry.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking round the Chapel of the Nine Altars in Durham Cathedral, you can\u2019t help but be struck by the beautiful floors and columns of \u2018Frosterley marble\u2019, dark polished limestone speckled with white fossils.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}