Knarsdale

Slaggyford is a village in the civil parish of Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh, in Northumberland, England about 5 miles (8 km) north of Alston, Cumbria. It is set in the South Tyne valley (often called the Tyne Gap). Hadrian's Wall lies to the north of the Tyne Gap. The South Tyne Valley falls within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the second largest of the 40 AONBs in England and Wales. Slaggyford takes its name from the Old English for ‘muddy, dirty ford’, which may originate from quickly moving river water stirring up the river bed at the bottom of a short steep hill, as the river drops from 1,000 feet (305 m) to 700 feet (213 m) from Alston to Slaggyford. The Pennine Way runs through the village on its way northwards from Alston to Greenhead. The Maiden Way Roman road passes through Slaggyford, with the A689 road following the line of the Roman road for a few hundred yards on the way south out of the village.

Slaggyford was historically a railway station on the Alston Line, which ran between Haltwhistle and Alston. The station served the village of Slaggyford in Northumberland.[1] Located 8+1⁄2 miles (13.7 km) from the junction with the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway at Haltwhistle, the station was opened on 21 May 1852 by the North Eastern Railway. Several unscheduled calling points existed on the section between Slaggyford and Lambley, including Whitwham, Softley, and Burnstones. Trains regularly stopped to allow passengers to board and alight, despite the lack of platforms or facilities at these locations. After being closed for 42 years, the station reopened in June 2018, as part of the South Tynedale Railway.

Aules Hill Meadows is the name given to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Northumberland, England. The site, listed since 1992, is a set of four traditionally managed northern hay meadows, now rare in Northumberland.

Whitfield Moor, Plenmeller and Asholme Commons is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the North Pennines in Northumberland, England. This protected area is located south of Haltwistle and includes part of the Bellister Castle estate (now owned by the National Trust) and parts of the Williamston estate and Whitfield estate.

Lintley Halt is a railway station on the South Tynedale Railway, which runs between Slaggyford and Alston. The station is located about 1+1⁄4 miles (2 km) from the village of Slaggyford in Northumberland.

Lambley was a railway station on the Alston Branch Line, which ran between Haltwhistle and Alston. The station, situated 4+3⁄4 miles (8 km) south-west of Haltwhistle, served the village of Lambley in Northumberland. The station was opened by the North Eastern Railway on 21 May 1852, following the completion of Lambley Viaduct. The imposing stone viaduct is located the north-east of the former station, and was designed by Sir George Barclay Bruce. It spans a length of 850 feet (260 m) over the River South Tyne. The viaduct was designated a Grade II* listed structure on 23 August 1985. There were a number of unscheduled calling points on the section of the line between Lambley and Slaggyford, including those at Burnstones, Softley and Whitwham. Trains regularly stopped to allow passengers to board and alight, despite no platform or facilities being available at these locations.

Lambley, formerly known as Harper Town, is a village in the civil parish of Coanwood, in Northumberland, England about four miles (six kilometres) southwest of Haltwhistle. The village lies adjacent to the River South Tyne. The place name Lambley refers to the "pasture of lambs". Lambley used to be the site of a small convent of Benedictine Nuns, founded by Adam de Tindale and Heloise, his wife, in the 12th century. The Scots led by William Wallace devastated it in 1296 [Rowland gives 1297]. However it was restored and one William Tynedale was ordained priest to the nunnery in about 1508 – most likely not William Tyndale, the reformer, as once believed but another man of the same name. At the time of the suppression of religious houses by Henry VIII, the nunnery contained six inmates. Nothing now remains but the bell from the nunnery, which hangs in the church, and a few carved stones. The village lies in the Midgeholme Coalfield and there are reserves of good-quality coal remaining.

Kirkhaugh is a very small village in the civil parish of Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh, adjacent to the River South Tyne in Northumberland, England. The village lies close to the A689 road north of Alston, Cumbria.

Kirkhaugh is a railway station on the South Tynedale Railway, which runs between Slaggyford and Alston. The station serves the hamlet of Kirkhaugh in Northumberland.

The South Tynedale Railway is a preserved, 2 ft (610 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railway in Northern England and at 875 feet (267 m) is England's second highest narrow-gauge railway after the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway in north Devon. The South Tynedale line runs from Alston in Cumbria, down the South Tyne Valley, via Gilderdale, Kirkhaugh and Lintley, then across the South Tyne, Gilderdale and Whitley Viaducts to Slaggyford in Northumberland.

Whitley Castle (Epiacum) is a large, unusually shaped Roman fort (Latin: castra) north-west of the town of Alston, Cumbria, England. It is the highest stone-built Roman fort in Britain. The castrum, which was first built by the Roman Army early in the 2nd century AD, was partly demolished and rebuilt around 200 AD. It appears to have been sited to protect lead mining in the area as well as to support the border defences of Hadrian's Wall. Unlike most Roman forts that have a "playing-card shape" (rectangular with rounded corners), Whitley Castle is lozenge-shaped to fit the site. Numerous banks and ditches ring the stone ramparts, making it among the most complex defensive earthworks of any fort known in the Roman Empire. The site was surveyed by the geologist Thomas Sopwith in the 19th century and the historian R. G. Collingwood in the 20th century. In 2012, a geophysics survey was conducted by a team from Durham University but it has not been fully excavated. Among finds at the fort are altars with inscriptions to Hercules by Legio VI Victrix (normally stationed at Eboracum [York]) and to Apollo by the 2nd Cohort of Nervians, the garrison of auxiliaries. Other finds include a midden containing shoes; coins, fragments of Samian pottery, beads, nails, and a bronze handle shaped like a dolphin.

Halton Lea Gate is a small village in Northumberland, England, on the A689 road close to the boundary of the counties of Northumberland and Cumbria. The village is part of the parish council area called Hartleyburn, and borders the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Halton Lea Farm has a Grade II listed farmhouse, the eastern end of which probably represents a large bastle. The Pennine Way long-distance footpath runs just to the east of the village. The population of Halton Lea Gate was 310 in 1901. The area was subject to extensive coal mining activity in the nineteenth century, with a later phase of mining being undertaken from the 1930s to 1958.