BB1440 : The Land of Abandoned Dwellings

Thursday 13th November 2014

Between the A6 and the three main arteries of road, rail and water (M6, London / Glasgow railway line and the River Lune) lies a more or less unknown stretch of land. Its southern boundary is the Whinfell Common range; visible from Kendal and notable (or should that be noticeable?) for its radio signal repeater masts.

Whinfell Masts

Beyond is territory seldom visited.

First is the Borrowdale valley.  Far less glamorous than its Cumberland namesake, it enables Borrow Beck to make its way easterly towards the Lune.  It is a lonely valley with a couple of farmhouses.  As far as I recall one is intact and the other is in process of restoration.

Across the valley is a range of hills gently standing guard over the beck.  The southern end is Jeffrey's Mount near Roundthwaite.  

Jeffrey's Mount

At its northerly end is the Breast High Road- a rough track which is a “byway open to all traffic” though you would need something rather rugged to use it.  The “road” drops down into Bretherdale which, to my mind, is a rather nicer valley but largely forgotten as judged by the number of long abandoned properties to be found.

Our reason for the visit was not out of curiosity.  We have been here before, most recently in snow on BB1311, but due to seeking a walk for a day in which winds were forecast to start off gusting up to 40 mph and end up at double that velocity.  The morning was expected to be cloudy and dry but rain was due by mid afternoon and becoming heavy as evening approached.  Not a day for going high.

The start point was Roundthwaite but we first stopped to look at St John the Evangelist's Church at Firbank, a simple chapel with a fine view of the Howgills from its graveyard.  

Then en-route we spotted a couple of intriguing old roadside distance markers.  KL is obviously Kirkby Lonsdale, a place of substance.  But what was BB?  We concluded it must be Borrow Bridge although these days that seems insignificant.

Once booted, in quick succession we visited Jeffrey’s Mount, Casterfell Hill, Belt Howe, Roundthwaite Common, Wintersleugh, then Whinash before reaching Breast High Road.

Breasthigh Beck leads pleasantly down to Bretherdale, a place that once must have been a hamlet but is now is mainly a collection of old buildings in various states of ruin (plus a nasty modern silver-topped barn).  

Further up and down the valley are more abandoned buildings but we continued along the byway, crossing the beck by the bridge rather than the ford and traversing the hill eastwards above the valley.

On reaching the tarmacadammed round we crossed and headed first for High Whinhowe (long derelict) then the sadder sight of Low Whinhowe.

How long this has been abandoned is hard to say but it is much more recent and the rooms are still furnished.  It gives the impression of its last occupant dying not many years ago and nothing having been done since.  Tony even wondered if the occupant was still inside!

Not all is doom and gloom.  

The dragon house itself has an 1877 inscription plus a steel flower and cockerel in its garden.

The few premises we passed on Pikestone Lane had mostly been seriously renovated, even gentrified.

It was something of a struggle to climb the road to Roundthwaite.  The wind was becoming more severe and the forecast rain was threatening to arrive.  We were please to reached the car where, on opening the hatch, my boot bag promptly flew away and John kindly ran back down the road to retrieve it for me.

It had been good to see that new life was being breathed into several properties but that breath is unlikely to reach into Bretherdale.  It will remain a lovely but sad land of abandoned dwellings.

Don, Thursday 13th November 2014

Philip's Progress to Khiraule

At the time of writing, the latest we had heard from Philip was that he was about to trek from Jyalsa to Bagol.  To keep track of his trek, visit: Khiraule:  The Trail and the Tale.

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1440 .

To discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing - although it may not be that up to date - see: Which Wainwright When?

For the totals of the mileages and heights (ditto) see: BB Log.

Photos have been gleaned from many sources although mostly from me!
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