Huddeshope Beck
After the excursion to Kirkcarrion I drove back to Middleton to have a walk along Huddeshope Beck. Middleton-in-Teesdale is a very picturesque little town with a lot of history related of course also to lead mining. I have not yet had the time to explore the town properly so I just include a few shots of some of the attractions.
The Bainbridge Memorial Fountain is a drinking fountain located in the Horse Market. It was built in 1877, in honour of Robert Walton Bainbridge, on his retirement as superintendent of the London Lead Mining Company. The company had made Middleton it's main administrative centre in the 19th century. There is a memorial pump with an identical canopy, also dedicated to Bainbridge, in Nenthead which is the birthplace of my wife´s parents and - as family members know - the "Wishing Well"; - as we call it - has a lot of family history.
There has been a church on the site of St. Mary the Virgin, Middleton-in-Teesdale for over nine centuries. The 13th century medieval church was demolished in the spring of 1878 and a new building was consecrated on Thursday 23rd October 1879. The East Window of The Old Church is standing in the graveyard.
Huddeshope Beck turned out to be really nice. On the steep road leading away from Middleton towards Middle End Farm there is a tarmac lane leading down into Huddeshope Beck. I parked at the top just after the turnoff and walked down towards the Beck where I found the first of many waterfalls just underneath a footbridge.
I crossed the stream and walked upstream through the dense forest for a while until I hit the tarmac lane again. There is a small lay-by and a car was parked there. So I planned on coming down there another day by car and do some more waterfalls. When you come to the end of the tarmac (as you can see on the map the yellow lane ends at the bridge) there is a small bridge with a wonderful little waterfall. Up above are the remains of a Lime Kiln. On the way back I already scouted where best to climb down the embankments to take further pictures of the remaining waterfalls on my return visit. The last four pictures were taken the following morning when I had my wellies on and were able to climb down to the bottom of the waterfalls of which I only took pictures from the top the day before.
