River Browney

Waskerley railway station, also known as Waskerley Park, served the village of Waskerley, County Durham, England from 1845 to 1859 on the Stanhope and Tyne Railway.

Waskerley is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated six miles to the southwest of Consett and three miles southwest of Castleside and the A68. Stanhope in the Durham Dales is a further six miles to the southwest and the Derwent Reservoir and the village of Edmundbyers is approximately five miles to the north. The village of Muggleswick is three miles to the north. In 1283 under a license the land was enclosed around Stanhope and Waskerley Head. The Stanhope & Tyne Railway line opened in 1834 transporting limestone from the quarries above Stanhope. However, the line was bankrupt by 1840 and the Derwent Iron Company took over the route to ensure a supply of limestone to the iron works at Consett. The line reopened in 1845 and the small railway village developed. There were two engine sheds, a station master’s house, two rows of housing, a school, and a Methodist chapel (now used as a barn). With the decline in railway haulage and passengers the line finally closed in 1969 and much of the village was abandoned. The Anglican church of St Matthew’s was built in 1896 and is still lit by gas lighting. Waskerley sits on top of Waskerley Moor, straddling a road between Castleside and Stanhope. The Sea to Sea Cycle Route passes close by to the north – the section crossing Waskerley Moor was formerly known as the Waskerley Way. The main landmark was the Moorcock pub, used by local farmers and users of the Sea to Sea Cycle Route. This pub closed some years ago, and is now a private house. Waskerley, Smiddy Shaw (photographed) and Hishope Reservoirs are situated on Waskerley Moor near Waskerley.

Hisehope Burn Valley is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Derwentside district of Durham, England. It consists of two separate parcels of land, one on the west bank of Hisehope Burn, the other (and larger) a few hundred yards to the east, straddling the headwaters of another small burn. The site is some 3 km west of the village of Castleside and 1 km north of the Smiddy Shaw Reservoir. The larger area adjoins the Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons and Blanchland Moor SSSI. The area adjacent to Hisehope Burn is predominantly a soligenous mire, with a sparse tree cover of downy birch, Betula pubescens, and alder, Alnus glutinosa; the mire is rich in sedges, Carex spp and bryophytes and contains several species that are localised in County Durham, including few-flowered spike rush, Eleocharis quinqueflora, grass-of-Parnassus, Parnassia palustris, sundew, Drosera rotundifolia, and lesser clubmoss, Selaginella selaginoides. The other area has one of the most extensive stands of juniper, Juniperus communis, in County Durham. Unlike most populations of juniper in Britain, in which regeneration is, at best, sparse, this community is freely-regenerating and has a diverse age composition.

Burnhill railway station served the village of Waskerley, County Durham, England, from 1859 to 1939 on the Stanhope and Tyne Railway.

Derwent Gorge and Horsleyhope Ravine is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Derwentside district of north County Durham and the Tynedale district of south Northumberland, England. It consists of two separate areas of woodland, one in the gorge of the River Derwent and the other in the ravine of its tributary, the Horsleyhope Burn, south-east of the village of Muggleswick. On the dry acidic soils of the upper slopes, the woodland is dominated by sessile oak, Quercus petraea. Some areas have been coppiced in the past but where the slopes are steepest, and least accessible, there appears to have been no human interference.

Burnhill Junction was a military railway goods station that served the Saltersgate Ammunition Depot in the village of Waskerley in County Durham, England. It was located at the junction of both the Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway line from Bishop Auckland to Blackhill between Wear Valley Junction and Tow Law and the Stanhope and Tyne Railway between Stanhope and Consett.

Horsleyhope is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the south-west of Consett.

Muggleswick is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the west of Consett. the population was 130 at the 2001 Census reducing to 113 at the 2011 Census.The village has a number of farms and domestic dwellings as well as the Church of England church, generally accepted as dedicated to All Saints, and village hall (previously the school). Amenities other than that consist of the phone box with its adjacent litter bin. Agriculture is primarily sheep farming with some cattle and hay. Listed in the Boldon Book (1183).—“The Prior holds Muglyngwyc, as is expressed in his charter, as well of the Bishop's favour, as in exchange for Herdewic. And in Bishop Hatfield’s survey of c. 1382, “The Prior holds the manor of Mugliswyk in exchange for the vill of Herdwyk. The estate has remained ever since vested in the Church of Durham.” There are the ruins of a hunting lodge, or grange, for the Prior of Durham, which is a listed building. The monastic grange was built for the priors of Durham by Prior Hugh of Darlington, while he held office between 1258 and 1272, on what is thought to have been the site of an earlier grange. The grange lay within a deer park, which Prior Hugh was granted permission to enclose in 1259. The buildings of the grange were in use throughout the medieval period; a document of 1464 records that the buildings consisted of a hall, chapel, grange and a dairy. The names Priory Farm and Grange Farm testify to the influence of Durham as do the stone remains of the grange including a wall suggesting a three-storey building, described as "impressive" by Pevsner.The church (dedicated to All Saints) was built in 1259, probably as part of the grange. The present building dates from circa 1869. The Mayer tomb in the graveyard was made by the sculptor John Graham Lough. In 1663 the so-called Muggleswick Plot took place (also referred to as the Derwentdale Plot, and similar to the Farnley Wood Plot). John Ellrington, a servant of Lady Foster of Blanchland, informed the authorities that there were seditious meetings taking place in the area with a plot to overthrow the government, parliament and the church. Ellrington implicated over 30 people including some of the gentry. The information was false but showed the febrile political situation of the time. The plot was taken seriously and Bishop Cosin sent in the militia and nine people were arrested. The others escaped.John Carr, the schoolmaster and writer, was born in Muggleswick. In the United Kingdom Census 2001 the population of the village was 130 with 66 male and 64 femaleA significant area of the south and west of the village is taken up by Muggleswick Common, an area of upland moorland used for grouse rearing (and associated game (food) shooting) and sheep grazing. This area consists predominantly of heather with encroaching bracken. The Common is part of the Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons and Blanchland Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), designated as such by Natural England for its habitat diversity and the presence of a range of plant and bird species of national and international importance.To the east, the village is bordered by the Derwent Gorge and Horsleyhope Ravine SSSI. This area has been classified as such due to the range of plant species and areas that have remained free from human interference.

Healeyfield is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. The population of the civil parish taken from the 2011 census was 1,544. It is situated to the south west of Consett. First documented in the Boldon Book as Heleie, “Alain de Chilton, holds Heley, as is contained in his charter, for Cornforth...”. The village is also listed in Bishops Hatfield's survey (1381) as Heley, "...being held by John de Chilton". The Chilton family seem to have held the manor and vill of Healyfield for 200 years as there is a charter of 1280 describing John of Chilton as Lord of Heleyfield (sic). As part of bishop Hugh du Puiset's extension and protection of his demesne, agriculture was pushed in the upper reaches of the Derwent valley including grants made to Healeyfield and other villages in the area. The place name probably means “the high clearing”.There may have been a medieval chapel located at Healeyfield (though there is some confusion in the records with a chapel at Rowley). The chapel at Rowley/Healeyfield is first mentioned in 1228 and again in 1291 (as Ruley). The site of the chapel is not known though in the nineteenth century a ruin described as a chapel was noted near Healeyfield.Healeyfield and the surrounding area had three lead mines; Healeyfield mine, Silvertongue mine and Dean Howl mine which were all disused by the 1920s. There was a smelting mill at nearby Watergate, Castleside. The mill was built in 1805 and this smelted ores from the Healeyfield mines changing over in 1913 to the smelting of lead residues. The mill ceased functioning in the 1920s.The village was the site of a prisoner of war camp during the First World War from where two prisoners escaped. The camp was established in August 1916 and the prisoners extracted ganister from a nearby quarry.

Burnhope Burn is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Wear Valley district of north County Durham, England. It consists of a 12.6-acre (5.1 ha) area of woodland, carr, fen and mire in the valley of Burnhope Burn, just below the dam of the Derwent Reservoir, a mile (1.6 km) north-east of the village of Edmundbyers. It contains a range of habitats that are characteristic of poorly drained soils and that are rare or local in County Durham; such as smooth-stalked sedge (Carex levigata), bogbean (Menyanthes) and globeflower (Trollius). In a small basin-mire in the northern part of the site, there are abundant communities of a number of species that have a localised distribution elsewhere in the county.

Castleside is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the south-west of Consett. Castleside is covered by the civil parish of Healeyfield.The village centre is located on the main A68 road which runs between Edinburgh and Darlington and the village crossroads allow easy access to Consett, the North Pennines and Stanhope. To the northeast lies another small village called Moorside. The parish church, dedicated to St John, was designed by Ewan Christian and is a reproduction of a church he had seen and admired while on holiday in Switzerland. The church was consecrated on 7 March 1867. There was a Wesleyan Chapel at Watergate, Castleside, which was erected in 1805. The chapel was extended in 1877 and closed in 1970. A Primitive Methodist chapel was erected in 1843 on the Consett Rd, and extended in 1884. It closed in the 1990s and is now a residence.The nearby dwelling of Wharnley Burn is a 14th century cottage and was home to the moss trooper Thomas Raw (d. 1714). He was buried in a field near his home believing he could not be buried in a church. In the early 1860s the grave was opened and the grave slab removed, supposedly to Satley.

Allensford is a small country park and hamlet in County Durham, in England. It is on the River Derwent, about 2 miles SW of Consett, and 1 mile north of Castleside. Allensford was first recorded as Aleynforth in Bishop Hatfield's survey of c. 1382. The placename is sometimes listed as Allansford; "At Allansford...is a bridge over the Derwent into Northumberland, surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery on that stream; there are a few cottages on each side of the river".It is uncertain when a bridge replaced the ford. However, a bridge was in existence in the late 17th century when the structure was in a "very ruinous and in greate decay” according to the Northumberland Quarter Sessions for 1687–1697.Allensford Mill farmhouse was originally called the Belsay Castle Inn, named after the estate of the Middleton family of Belsay Castle. Part of the inn was built in the late 17th century and may have been a bastle. Later additions continued throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The inn was licensed until 1869. The upper room in the outbuilding served as a nonconformist chapel.Denis Hayford (c.1635–1733), a pioneer of the steel industry, acquired the lease of Allensford furnace and forge in 1692; this was upstream from his established business in Shotley Bridge. The lease seems to have lapsed in 1713. The site of the furnace is marked on Ordnance Survey maps.It has a dedicated campsite. The adjacent woodland forms the Allensford Woods Local Nature Reserve, covering 17.5 hectares (43 acres).