Packhorse History in The Duddon Valley
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View up the Duddon Valley from the old packhorse track and coach road over Bleabeck Bridge. Courtesy and copyright Maggie B. Dickinson
The Duddon Valley in the southwestern part of the Lake District in England is a place where the Fell Pony’s history is both visible and invisible at the same time. It is visible because of the historic use of ancestors of our ponies as packhorses. Features associated with packhorses and the industries that packhorses supported are numerous in the valley. These features include packhorse bridges, the remains of mills, inns, and mining activity and iron smelting, and there are Woods. The Fell Pony’s history in the Duddon Valley is invisible in the sense that stories of this valley sometimes ignore the presence of agriculture and industry and the early horsepower that made it possible.
A book about the early iron industry in the southwestern part of the Lake District noted similar visibility and invisibility. From the book Furness Iron:
The Lake District we now see is the Lake District that Wordsworth, Coleridge and their followers taught us to see – a largely natural landscape unsullied by human hand. Yet all the historical and archaeological evidence shows that Cumbria has been shaped by the human race for millennia in pursuit of settlement, hunting grounds, agricultural and pastoral land, religious observance, warfare and industry. In particular, the agricultural and industrial activities have left their widespread mark on the countryside…. (1)
The Duddon Valley was the favorite of William Wordsworth in particular. His most famous poems are often considered to be the Duddon Sonnets, thirty-four pieces celebrating the valley from headwaters to estuary that he wrote between 1804 and 1820. To see a video with excerpts of the sonnets and actual scenes of the river, click here.
The Duddon Valley lies within the Lake District National Park which became a World Heritage Site in 2017. The World Heritage Site planning documents are based on three themes: inspiration, conservation, and identity. Inspiration refers to how the Lake District inspired artists and writers of the Picturesque and Romantic movements. Conservation refers to the global movement of protected areas and recreational experience, a movement that is said to have begun in the Lake District. Identity refers to the agropastoral and industrial past and present of the Lake District.
Wordsworth largely ignored the agricultural and industrial aspects of the valley, in some cases even disparaging them, such as describing the remains of a mill in Seathwaite as “a mean and disagreeable object.” (2) As Wordsworth scholar Saeko Yoshikawa has written, “For Wordsworth the variegated Duddon was an epitome of the Lake District as a whole, guiding us to appreciate its beauties and counselling their protection for the years to come.” (3) Here we see an emphasis on the Inspiration and Conservation themes. Thank goodness for the Identity theme, home to the more practical aspects of the valley, for it allows the role that the ancestors of today’s Fell Ponies played to become visible.
The map here shows the 25-mile reach of the River Duddon, with the valley approximated in pale yellow. The River Lickle is shown in the mid-lower right; the packhorse-related history of the Lickle Valley was covered previously. Click here if you would like to read that article. I am grateful to my colleague Maggie B. Dickinson for her generous sharing of photographs and research about the Duddon Valley’s packhorse-related features.
The Duddon Valley map shown here indicates the rough locations of features that are related to the historic use of packhorses. While ‘packhorses’ is the usual term, history says they were ponies by stature since they were usually less than 14hh. A stout but shorter equine made it easier to lift heavy panniers onto the pack saddles.
Black lines are roads, either modern or ancient. Often modern roads follow the same routes as historic tracks because they were found over time to be the most efficient way to get from point A to point B. Maggie wrote in her article “Bridges of Cumbria County” in Cumbria magazine, “[Until] the turnpike roads, canals and railways rendered it uneconomical, the transfer of goods went via packhorse, the hilly routes being preferable to negotiating badly-drained valleys.” (4)
A 2009 collaborative project between the Duddon Valley Local History Group and the Lake District National Park has substantial information about the Duddon Valley. It is called Ring Cairns to Reservoirs: Archaeological Discoveries in the Duddon Valley, Cumbria. ‘Ring Cairns’ refers to the many sites in the valley dating back two to three thousand years, and reservoirs refers to modern development at Seathwaite Tarn. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs the document echoes the preference Maggie mentioned about the location of packhorse tracks: “[Ancient track-ways] are well above the level of the valley floor which, prior to land drainage, would have been boggy and impenetrable.” (5)
Paul Hindle, in his book Roads and Tracks of the Lake District says, “Before the construction of the turnpike roads, most goods had to be moved around the Lake District by packhorse – indeed it is likely that before 1750 it was impossible to get most wheeled vehicles westwards from Kendal… Along the packhorse routes trains of up to thirty horses, each carrying loads of up to [220 pounds] would move in single file. They went from one village to the next, along routes which had been in use since early medieval times, and which in most cases are still used as roads today. Thus, the majority of these routes have been overlain by more modern roads.” (6)
The Duddon Valley from Kiln Bank. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
On the map, ‘Grounds’ are shown.These are farms with historic associations with Furness Abbey during the monastic period.The packhorse-related history of Furness Abbey was covered previously. Click here if you would like to read that article.Maggie considers the monastic era to be the beginning of significant use of packhorses for moving goods.In one of her articles in Cumbria magazine on packhorse history, she said, “Vital markets and fairs were established to satisfy the commercial needs of a growing consumer society that was centred on the abbeys, priories and castles.Packhorses were fundamental to that economy, moving commercial goods and the necessities of life on their backs, or dragging heavy goods on sleds.…Records of many such routes, still traceable on foot, can be found in abbey documents.” (7)Places like Grounds, then, as part of the Abbey’s network, would have been serviced by packhorses.
‘Woods’ were forests managed historically for making charcoal and other woodland products. Charcoal was the fuel source for iron smelting, an early and prominent industrial activity of the Duddon Valley. In Windermere Reflections, a 2012 archaeology report produced for the National Trust, it is noted how the Woods were used in the medieval period when packhorses would have been the primary transporters. “The Furness Fells were primarily utilised in the medieval period for their woodland and iron ore. Substantial areas were cleared of trees to make charcoal, and associated with the woodlands were charcoal burning pits and platforms, as well as bloomeries for smelting the iron.” (8)
Ring Cairns to Reservoirs points out that Woods produced more than charcoal. “The wood that was obtained through the woodland industries was not all used for making charcoal… Bobbins were needed in vast quantities by the Lancashire cotton mills from the early nineteenth century and the bobbin mills of south Cumbria supplied most of their demand.” (9) Maggie says, “These bobbins were sent to the Lancashire Cotton Mills in the mid-1800s, and at this time the packhorses were still in full swing in such remote areas.” (10)
Robert Gambles in his book The Story of the Lakeland Dales expands on the products produced in the Woods. “Other ancient industries of these Duddon woodlands included the making of ‘swills’ or all-purpose baskets, bark-peeling for the tanning industry, the manufacture of barrels, casks and kegs (the cooper’s trade) and of hoops to go with them, the turning of handles for farm and household implements, the brush-making industry and the cutting of timber for fuel.” (11)
Interestingly, many of the woodland industries eventually suffered from competition from imports. Furness Iron says, “…bulk imports of poles and bark from America drove down the demand for these other woodland crafts.” (12) Nonetheless, in their era, packhorses would have been crucial means of transport for these woodland industries.
The original side of Bleabeck Bridge in the Duddon Valley which was extended from its original packhorse width. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
‘Bridges’ are either known to have packhorse associations or are worthy of further investigation for packhorse associations. Bridges have the most obvious connections to packhorses and they have been the most researched and identified. However, some bridges have yet to be given the credit that they deserve. Maggie has found many that are not yet on the most common lists of packhorse bridges or in books about them. Bridges are considered to be packhorse bridges when they are on a known packhorse route, have low parapets to allow paniers to pass over them, are narrow, and were built during the packhorse era. The packhorse era is generally considered to have been prior to about 1750 when the turnpike roads began to be constructed in earnest, though in places road improvements didn’t come until much later, so packhorses continued in use.
On the map, mines, quarries, and drifts are shown. Drifts are near-horizontal mine shafts following beds or veins of ore. We do not have clear information about the dates of the workings of these mines, quarries, and drifts. Hence we don’t specifically know which ones would have been serviced by packhorses. The locations of mines, quarries and drifts on the map come primarily from Ring Cairns to Reservoirs. (13)
Pitsteads are remnants of charcoal making platforms in the Woods. Their locations are also from Ring Cairns to Reservoirs, which says about them, “On sloping ground these were often supported by retaining walls on the down-slope side. Over a hundred such platforms were recorded on the western side of the Duddon Valley alone.” (14)
Not shown are the remains of bark peeler’s huts which the local history group has also mapped. Bark was peeled to be used in the tanning of leather. It is possible that packhorses would have been used in the movement of bark.
The Newfield Inn in Seathwaite has packhorse era connections and is known for its floor made from slate from Walna Scar quarry. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
‘Inns and halls’ are places of lodging and eating/drinking with known packhorse associations. These inns would of course have been near a known packhorse route. Additionally they would have had a place for the packmen to sleep, had enclosed grass paddocks for the ponies to graze in overnight, and had space under lock and key for the packs to be stored.
‘Mills’ were usually water-powered so are found along water courses and were used for corn as well as for processing wool and cloth. Other mills made wood products. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs says, “Wool was not the only material used to produce fabric. We know that flax was grown to produce linen, and hemp for rope, sackcloth and rough ‘homespun’ fabric. The stalks of both these crops needed first to be soaked until the fleshy stems had rotted to release their coarse fibres. This was undertaken in ‘retting ponds’. The fabric produced from these plants also needed to go through a fulling process.” (15) A fulling mill was where raw material was soaked in a mixture of water and urine and then walked on to cleanse and rid the wool of impurities. Prior to good road access, packhorses would have brought raw materials to the mills and taken finished products away to market.
Bloomeries smelted iron ore with charcoal as fuel. Furnaces followed bloomeries as iron smelting facilities. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs says, “At least two medieval ‘bloomeries’ (smelting sites) are known in the valley and it is likely that more await discovery…. Iron ore was most likely brought from the rich deposits in neighbouring Eskdale and smelted with charcoal which was produced by felling the small scrub trees on the lower fells and burning them in covered pits.” (16) Iron ore during the medieval period would have been brought to the bloomeries by packhorses, and charcoal would have made the short trip from the Woods to the bloomeries similarly.
Remains of a potash kiln near Stephenson Ground in the Lickle Valley. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
‘K’ marks the possible location of potash kilns.Bracken and brashing (trimmed lower limbs of trees) were burned to make potash for making soap.Ponies would have been used to pack or sledge the bracken and brashings to the pit or kiln and then possibly to take the potash to the soap makers.The book Furness Iron suggests that potash production could have been underway as early as the 14th century.(17)
Ring Cairns to Reservoirs reported “Once spun, wool needs to go through a ‘fulling’ process whereby it is cleaned and pounded to produce a cloth with a close-knit weave. Cleaning was traditionally undertaken using lye soap. This soap was made from a fine, potassium-rich ash or ‘potash’. The potash was produced by local farmers to supplement their income. Most was produced from burning harvested green bracken which is very rich in potassium sulphate, although sometimes wood was used. During the survey we recorded a number of potash pits where such burning may have taken place. We also recorded several well-constructed potash kilns in varying states of preservation that were certainly used for this purpose.” (18)
‘P’ marks the locations where peat was cut and stored to be used as fuel or where evidence of its transport has been found. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs says, “The boggy sections of open hillside offered a further resource in the form of peat. Peat was cut for fuel until the beginning of the twentieth century. This was a valuable resource, and to take peat you had to have the legal ‘right of turbary’.… We noted many locations where peat cutting and transport had taken place and an unexpected number of previously unrecorded storage huts or ‘peat-scales’ remaining nearby.” (19) We know that ponies were used in the Shetland Isles to pack peat. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs, however, suggests that in the Duddon Valley peat was usually sledged. It is possible then that ponies were used in this way.
A mare I once owned, Newfarm Valencia, has a connection to the Duddon Valley. Her sire was born at the Tarnbeck Stud which at one time was located near Seathwaite.
Finally, shown on the map is the location of the only Fell Pony breeder in the Duddon Valley with lasting impact on our breed. The Tarnbeck Stud even has connections to North America; a mare I once owned was sired by Tarnbeck Lightning. Another Fell Pony connection to the Duddon Valley comes from Bob Orrell, author of the Saddle Tramp books. His mare Jewel came from Dunnerdale.
If we begin, as Wordsworth did in his Sonnets, at the top of the valley, then we will first see the important mountain passes of Wrynose and Hardknott.The source of the Duddon is at the base of Wrynose Pass.These two important passes were traversed by a Roman road connecting two of the approximately 25 Roman forts that were built in Cumbria from AD71 to AD383.The Roman roads in Cumbria were remarkably straight in most places.These are in contrast with the later packhorse tracks which tended to follow grades to make it easier on the loaded animals.And while the Roman roads connected the Roman forts, the packhorse tracks tended to connect market towns, quarries, mills, and farms.
Plate from the 1842 book Rambles by Rivers of the headwaters of the Duddon near Wrynose Pass. (20)
According to Maggie’s research, the Roman route over Wrynose and Hardknott passes was known as Smuggler’s Road and is believed to have been the last of Cumbria’s packhorse roads. During monastic times, this route would have connected the Furness Abbey properties in the Langdales east of Wrynose Pass with other of the abbey’s properties in Eskdale west of Hardknott Pass. Maggie considers the monasteries to have been significant users of packhorses for trade.
Norman Nicholson, another Lakeland poet, confirms that this route was likely unnavigable by more modern conveyances until relatively recently when he said of the route, “I first went in 1929. Above Seathwaite, two-thirds up, you did feel you were getting something about as remote as Iceland. The road didn’t go beyond Cockley Beck then – [Hardknott and Wrynose] passes were just wild tracks – and there wasn’t much of a surface between Seathwaite and there anyway.” (21)
Cockley Beck Bridge in an 1883 etching by Harry Goodwin (25)
Michael Hartwell in his book An Illustrated Guide to the Packhorse Bridges of the Lake District says about Roman road building at the head of the Duddon: “The tenaciousness of the Roman engineers who made this road must have been incredible because their technique of driving roads along straight lines came to an abrupt halt after they left Little Langdale. To be suddenly faced with, and have to negotiate, Wrynose and Hardknott Pass must have set them back on their heels and presented them with seemingly insurmountable problems. One can imagine them encamped in huddles, trying to work out the easiest and most practical way of pushing a road over terrain which was, to all intents and purposes, unpassable. But they did it, and when they dropped down in to the flat-bottomed Esk Dale Valley, they could revert to their traditional method of road building. I’m sure that they would have celebrated with a flagon of local brew.” (22)
Robert Gambles, in his book The Story of the Lakeland Dales, says of the top of the Duddon Valley during the Roman age, “As [the Roman legionary] pounded out the miles of Highway Ten between Ambleside and Ravenglass, his route from Wrynose summit to Hardknott Fort ran alongside or within sight of the infant Duddon, a spectacular but arduous stretch of this short and hazardous road.Along Wrynose Bottom we may follow in his footsteps on the north bank of the river.We cross the river where he crossed it – first about a mile or so from the Three-shire Stone, a second time just beyond Gaitscale Close, and finally at Cockley Beck Bridge.Here the Roman road parts company with the Duddon as it swings in its steep zig-zags up to Hardknott Pass.Except for short distances where it coincides with the line of the modern road, the Roman highway is now only a somewhat boggy footpath.” (23)
Michael Hartwell says in his packhorse bridge book, “Although Cockley Beck Bridge is not a true packhorse bridge, it is almost certain that a packhorse bridge did originally span the river at this point, for this is the main link between the Langdales and Esk Dale.” (24) Cockley Beck Bridge crosses Mosedale Beck, a tributary of the Duddon.
The 1842 book Rambles by Rivers says about Wrynose Pass, “When only pack-horses were used for the conveyance of goods in these parts, [Wrynose Pass] was the main road from Kendal to Whitehaven, a fact the stranger who sees it finds some difficulty crediting, so rough and acclivitous is it.” (26) Kendal and Whitehaven were significant towns in their day, with Kendal being the center of the wool and other trades and Whitehaven being an international port on the Irish Sea.
Robert Gambles in his book Echoes of Old Lakeland says that tobacco and spices were carried by packhorses from Whitehaven to Kendal for the snuff industry. (27) Paul Hindle, in his book Roads and Tracks of the Lake District, expands on this: “One rather curious industry has specific routes associated with it, and that is the manufacture of snuff, which became important in the eighteenth century. The tobacco was imported at Whitehaven, and two ‘snuff pack roads’ have been identified…. The second went further south through Egremont and Gosforth, over the Hard Knott and Wrynose Passes to Ambleside [to] the centre of the industry at Kendal…. These routes were never used solely for transporting snuff or rather the raw tobacco used in the process. It is likely that these routes were more widely used for the movement of supplies of illicit spirits from remote western Lakeland to the towns further south and east!” (28)
While much focus is on how packhorses entered and exited the top of the Duddon Valley, there is also evidence that packhorses turned south into the valley after crossing the passes. For instance, Ring Cairns to Reservoirs says, “Unlike most other forts in the area, Hardknott does not appear to have attracted a vicus (civilian settlement) around it. The soldiers would therefore have looked to the surrounding settlements, including those in the Duddon Valley, for supplies and services.” (29) And Gambles in Echoes of Old Lakeland says, “[The Langdale to Broughton-in-Furness packhorse route] linked the farms of the Langdales with the markets at Broughton. The route followed the main packhorse trail over Wrynose to Cockley Beck where it turned off [to follow] the River Duddon as far as Birks Bridge to take the track to Grassguards, Stonythwaite, Wallowbarrow and the valley routes to Duddon Bridge and Broughton.” (30)
A mine is shown southeast of Cockley Beck Bridge. This mine was located via a map called ‘Detailed Old Victorian Map 1888-1913.’ (31) This Old Victorian Map says this mine is Cockley Beck Copper Mine, at that time disused.
Birks Bridge as illustrated in Wild Lakeland by MacKenzie MacBride and illustrated by Alfred Heaton Cooper, published 1922-28. (33)
Coming down the Duddon Valley on the map, we next encounter the packhorse bridge called Birks which crosses the river where it runs through a deep gorge.Birks is considered an authentic packhorse bridge with its narrow width, low parapets, and proximity to known packhorse routes.The name comes from the birch trees in the area.Hartwell says in his packhorse bridges book, “Birks Bridge is a true packhorse bridge and was a busy link between the Duddon Valley and Esk Dale.It is highly probable that the footpath which skirts around Harter Fell [west of Birks Bridge], and goes over to Boot in Esk Dale, is the original route used by the packhorses of old.” (32)This route isn’t shown on the Old Victorian Map so isn’t shown on the map here, unless it is referring to the route described below that goes to Boot north of Ulpha.
According to David Ross, editor of the Britain Express website, “The narrowness of [Birks Bridge] has caused some problems over time; according to a local tale there was a resident of Birks who used to go into the Newfield Inn in Seathwaite for drink or three, and when he tried to drive his horse and cart home after too much to drink he would regularly become stuck on the bridge.” (34) In a nod to the Romantic perspective and the Inspiration theme, Hunter Davies, in his book A Walk Around the Lakes, says “"the hump-back stone bridge seems itself to be a work of nature, blending and melding so well with the rocks either side." (35)
Two of the Woods west of Birks Bridge shown on the Old Victorian Map are Little Coppice and Long Coppice. Furness Iron says, “Some woodlands were being coppiced by at least the 14th century, both for charcoal burning and for the full range of other woodland industries” (36) Furness Iron goes on to say, “The [Duddon Blast Furnace] used charcoal as fuel, and the need for increasing quantities led to the management of the Duddon woods on a coppice rotation system. The coppice poles were cut on a cycle of between 14 and 25 years and were cut to length, stacked, covered with turves [plural of turf] and burnt on platforms constructed in the woods.” (37)
Next down the valley we come to the Seathwaite area. Seathwaite Bridge crosses Tarn Beck. According to the well-regarded website Old Cumbria Gazetteer, this bridge has been widened and dates from the 18th century. (38) It is a listed (historic) bridge but hasn’t been identified, yet, as a packhorse bridge. It is shown on the Old Victorian Map as being on a foot path connecting the upper Duddon Valley and its packhorse features with the Walna Scar Road, a known packhorse route to slate and other quarries. The many mines and quarries around Seathwaite Tarn are shown on the Old Victorian Map as being accessed by paths connecting west to the upper Duddon Valley or south to the Walna Scar Road.
Southeast of Seathwaite Tarn we see a marker for peat. This area near Longhouse Close is where Ring Cairns to Reservoirs found peat tracks, and the Old Victorian Map shows peat moss. (39) There is also a feature on the Old Victorian Map called Stallion Head, perhaps harkening back to the use of horses or ponies as power to harvest the local resource.
Tarnbeck Black Prince was born in the Duddon Valley. Copyright and courtesy Ruth Eastwood
Here we also see the only modern day connection to the Fell Pony breed. The Tarnbeck stud began at Tongue House below Seathwaite Tarn and was named for the beck that flowed past. The Tarnbeck stud was later moved further south in the Furness region. While the Tarnbeck stud is the only one to have a lasting impact, prior to 1981 the ‘Duddon Valley’ prefix was registered to Mr. T.A. Ellwood. However, no ponies that carried that prefix contributed to our modern population. A Fell Pony stud with the prefix Dunnerdale that produced ponies in the 1960s and 1970s was not located in the Duddon Valley.
Near to the location of the Tarnbeck stud is another indication of the working of peat. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs shows an aerial photo of an old peat track in this area.
In Seathwaite, the largest settlement in the Duddon Valley, the packhorse-associated features are an inn, a pitstead and a mill. The inn is still operating and dates from the sixteenth century. Called the Newfield, it is known in part for its beautiful floor of Walna Scar slate. The Ring Cairns to Reservoirs project found that a mill for carding wool previously operated on the site of the Newfield. (40)
Wordsworth once wrote, “Upon the Seathwaite Brook at a small distance from the parsonage, has been erected a mill for spinning yarn; it is a mean and disagreeable object…” (41) Wordsworth reportedly stayed at the Newfield, so one wonders if this is a different mill than the one mentioned by Ring Cairns to Reservoirs; wouldn’t Wordsworth have mentioned the Newfield by name rather than made reference to the vicarage?
In 1842, the authors of Rambles on Rivers visited the site of the mill mentioned by Wordsworth and “found it with its roof partly fallen in, its wheel broken; and on trying the door, its hinges rusted from long disuse, gave way. The machinery, too, though in appearance undisturbed since it was last used, was decayed, the web crumbling at the slightest touch. Our poet, were he to visit it now, might find new matter for reflection on the changes wrought by the progress of invention, which has rendered this as obsolete as it made unaided hand-labour.” (42)
Surrounding the Newfield Inn, there are several Woods, so the presence of a pitstead nearby for making charcoal isn’t surprising. According to Ring Cairns to Reservoirs, “The ‘thwaite’ ending of the name Seathwaite also denotes clearance of woodland in the Norse period.” (43)
The Park Head Road also commences its journey south at Newfield. This road makes its way to Stephenson Ground in the Lickle Valley. Kerry Harvey-Piper’s family is the current owner of Stephenson Ground. She shared the following about “…the old packhorse route which leads from The Newfield in Seathwaite up to the lower slopes of Caw, and then over the saddle of the moor before dropping down to Stephenson Ground. I know that it’s a very old track, as it’s part of the network that connects Caw quarries with what we call Park Head Road which also connects up the old quarries beneath Stickle Pike.
“We’ve been told that there was a small settlement along the Park Head Road which acted as a trading point - there are plenty of large piles of stones which are obviously the remains of small buildings/shelters. I’m not sure how well a parson would have been received there, as we’ve heard anecdotal tales of it being a stopping off point for ‘refreshments’ of many different kinds!!” (44) Kerry shared the rough location of the trading point which is shown on the map here. On the Old Victorian Map, a spring is shown at this point, a feature that would surely be an attraction to travelers and those intent on serving them.
Downstream from Seathwaite and across the river, in addition to Woods and pitsteads, we see an indication of peat again. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs found good examples of peat-scales or storage huts at Copt How.
Hall Bridge in 1890. It has since been rebuilt. Its location and appearance beg the question of whether it was originally a packhorse bridge. Photograph by Herbert Bell (45)
The next settlement down the river is called Hall Dunnerdale. In this hamlet is Hall Bridge which was rebuilt in 1938. The bridge connects two roads on either side of the river. A photograph from 1890 of the previous bridge, included here, sparks the curiosity, when paired with its location, about whether the older bridge was a widened packhorse bridge.
Continuing down the river are several Woods and pitsteads and then quarries and drifts up the fell side. Just upstream from Ulpha, a tributary of the Duddon comes in, Crosby Gill.A track follows the Gill towards Eskdale in the next valley northwest. An 1847 description of the route says, “From Ulpha the road to Eskdale lies over a desolate Moor, abounding in peat. Passing through the village of Crosbythwaite, having in view Hest and Birkby Fells on the left, at the base of which runs a tributary of the Duddon; Birker and Harter Fells on the right.” (46)Two bridges cross Crosby Gill upstream: Crosbythwaite and Woodend. Woodend Bridge is especially intriguing because it has been extended from an original clapper bridge, a style of bridge that Maggie says is a type built during the monastic period. Eskdale would have been a destination from Furness Abbey. In addition, this route could have been used for woolen products and was likely used for iron ore, according to Ring Cairns to Reservoirs.(47)
Closer to Ulpha, Crosby Bridge crosses Crosby Gill. Its location suggests at one time a packhorse bridge was at this point, if such a bridge is not the current one. Upstream a short distance is an old corn mill. Across the river is an area called Kiln Bank, including High, Low, and Far, suggesting there may have been potash kilns in this area.
Ulpha Bridge over the River Duddon is probably a replacement of a packhorse bridge, according to Maggie. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
Ulpha is an old word for wolf. In Ulpha is Ulpha Bridge over the River Duddon, which Maggie says is probably a replacement of a packhorse bridge, though further study is needed. Below Ulpha, Holehouse Gill, a tributary of the Duddon, joins the river. Upstream on the gill is a former bobbin mill, not surprisingly surrounded by Woods. There is a ford across the gill below the mill.
Bleabeck Bridge was originally a packhorse bridge and then was widened to accommodate coaches. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
Slightly farther downriver we see Blea Beck joining the Duddon. Upstream on Blea Beck is Bleabeck Bridge which allows the route between the mill on Holehouse Gill and a mill on Logan Beck to the south to cross Blea Beck. Bleabeck Bridge is considered a packhorse bridge. Maggie says that packhorses crossing Bleabeck Bridge would have been servicing Duddon Furnace (more on this below.) (48)
The Old Cumbria Gazetteer website says the more recent history of this bridge has to do with coaches and railways. “This bridge carried a long- established rural routeway through the parish of Ulpha. Between 1844 and 1845, the route was used as a coach link for the railway line then in the course of construction, and intended to pass through Broughton-in Furness to join the Whitehaven and Furness Junction line. This horse link was indicated in the railway timetables of the period.” (49)
Farther up Holehouse Gill and north is a former copper mine. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs says about this site, “Mining and quarrying in the valley had also developed from small-scale origins. The spoil tips and ruined buildings on the southwestern flank of Hesk Fell are all that now remains of a copper mining industry that was of great economic importance for a short while in the nineteenth century.” (50)
The ruins of Frith Hall from Bleabeck Bridge showing the old packhorse and coach route. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
Visible from Bleabeck Bridge are the ruins of Frith Hall which also has packhorse connections.An article in the Kendal newspaper The Mail in 2019 said about Frith Hall, “The hall was built in the 17th Century as a deer hunting lodge for the gentlemen of the Hudleston family of Millom Castle. In the 18th Century it became an inn and in 1730, 17 marriages were held beside the fireside. It was also a hostelry for packhorse teams and their drivers, some of whom would be smuggling brandy, rum, tea, tobacco, soap and other high duty goods illegally imported into Britain via the Isle of Man and Whitehaven. Their cheaply available strong drinks made Frith Hall a lively and at times violent place. A story is told that a man was murdered here and his ghost haunts the ruins.” (51)
On either side of the Duddon in this reach we see a bloomery on the map. The one to the west is in Forge Wood; the one to the east is in Yewbarrow along Cinder Hill Beck, named perhaps for the production of charcoal in the vicinity. In Robert Gambles’ book The Story of the Lakeland Dales, he writes, “In the name ‘Forge Wood’ we make our first acquaintance with the small ‘bloomeries’ or smelting hearths of the early years of this industry. Ulpha Forge was worked in the late 16th and early 17th centuries by the Hudleston family who appear to have become quite prosperous on the proceeds….” (52) During that period, packhorses would have been a likely mode of transportation for charcoal and ore. The Ring Cairns to Reservoirs project dates the bloomery at Cinder Beck to the medieval period, also likely to have been ‘powered’ in part by packhorses. (53)
Further south on the west side of the river we see another bloomery at Beckfoot. Maggie has written, “Iron production at Cinder Hill, and at Beckfoot by Logan Beck, carried on in a modest way until the building of a superior charcoal-fired blast furnace at Duddon Bridge in 1736. To this, ore was fetched from a wide area by packhorses.” (54)
Remains of an inn on High Whineray Ground with the remains of a packhorse track sunken in the foreground. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
Also in this reach of the Duddon, we see numerous Grounds, with historic links to Furness Abbey and its use of packhorses.Southwest of Frith Hall is Whinfield Ground.On the other side of the river in close proximity to each other are High and Low Whineray Grounds.Maggie explored a route with an improved-though-now-aged surface in the vicinity of High Whineray Ground where there was supposedly once an inn that served the packhorse routes between the various Grounds.
On the east side of the river, Parson’s Road is labeled. Also known as Priest’s Path, the Ring Cairns to Reservoirs project said, “The two parishes [Ulpha and Seathwaite-with-Dunnerdale] reveal fascinating evidence of the routes used by people to move around the landscape on foot, horseback and in horse-drawn vehicles…. In some cases the route-ways are now seen as little more than well-worn or sunken paths. Others, however, are solid and well-engineered tracks such as the ‘Parsons’ or ‘Priests’ path that winds from the present day Duddon Valley road to the slopes above Stonestar and then on to Broughton Mills.” (55) A close look at the Old Victorian Map shows this route leading between the lower-valley area of the Duddon to Pickthall Ground in the Lickle. The name of the route alone is enough to link it to the monastic period!
The original side of the now widened Beckfoot Bridge. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
Logan Beck, another tributary to the River Duddon, comes into the river from the west.A tiny settlement called Beckfoot sits at this confluence.Beckfoot Bridge crosses Logan Beck just upstream of the river.It is considered a packhorse bridge, now widened, carrying the route from north to south.Maggie says that in addition to the remains of a bloomery, there is also an old corn mill in Beckfoot.There was also once a sawmill.
Up Logan Beck from Beckfoot is the tiny settlement of Beckstones, now an outdoor school. Here we find another bridge and another mill, this time a fulling mill for cleaning wool. This bridge also carries the north to south route connecting, for instance, Whinfield Ground with Duddon Bridge. The bridge today may not be the one that existed during the packhorse era. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs says, “Good examples [of fulling mills] can be found at Beckfoot Mill and at Logan Beck. At the height of the woolen industry many corn mills were converted into fulling mills when this became the more lucrative business.” (56)
Rawfold Bridge has been extended from its original packhorse width, crossing the River Duddon just downstream from Beckfoot and the confluence of the river with Logan Beck. It connects the important routes descending the valley on either side of the river. Courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson by her friend Maureen Fleming
Just downstream from the confluence of Logan Beck and the Duddon is Rawfold Bridge. Maggie says, “This magnificent bridge has been extended and links with Beckfoot bridge, which is next to an old water-powered Corn Mill (now renovated), a saw mill and a network of ways serving other purposes.” (57)
The remains of Duddon Furnace which operated on and off for 230 years. This relic of the industrial past of the Duddon Valley is one of the few that merited mention in the World Heritage Site planning documents. Copyright and courtesy Maggie B. Dickinson
Just below Rawfold Bridge are several Woods. The Old Victorian Map shows names for these Woods such as Willy, Harry, Stanley, and Ivenscar, then Sheep Shank and Broadbutts.And then comes the large Furnace Wood that is just north of the most well-known of the Duddon Valley’s industrial relics, Duddon Furnace.It is one of the best-preserved blast furnaces in England.
Duddon Furnace was built beginning in 1737 and operated on and off for 230 years depending on availability of fuel and the labor to make it. The book Furness Iron says, “Ore for Duddon Furnace… was transported overland from mines in Low Furness to Ireleth on the Duddon Estuary. From here it was shipped to wharves near Duddon Bridge and then taken by road to the ironworks.” (58) In many places, that overland and road transportation when carts weren’t possible would have been done by packhorses.
A mill is shown on the map near Duddon Furnace. The overflow of the headrace (diversion from the river) that fed the furnace fed this adjacent but later bobbin mill. Also shown on the map is an inn. Maggie points out that today’s Dower House has connections to packhorses. Its website states, “The Dower House is a delightful, late Victorian Country House built on the site of a medieval packhorse inn.” (59) You might expect that with a settlement name like Duddon Bridge that a packhorse bridge might at one time have crossed the river here, but I haven’t found any information about such a bridge.
Robert Gambles in The Story of the Lakeland Dales quotes Wordsworth as saying the Duddon is “the most romantic of our vales.” (60) Certainly the following oft-quoted stanza from Wordsworth’s Duddon Sonnets reflects the poet’s romantic view of the valley:
I thought of Thee, my partner and my guide,
As being past away.-Vain sympathies!
For, backward, Duddon! as I cast my eyes,
I see what was, and is, and will abide;
Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;
The Form remains, the Function never dies.
In the World Heritage Site planning documents, the only nod to the Duddon Valley’s industrial past is mentions of Duddon Furnace and locally produced slate. Yet as we can see from the many research projects cited here, the Duddon Valley has a much richer history than just as an inspiration for poets and other artists and for conservation. It is a reflection of a great deal of human work that has made not only the valley but the entire Lake District what it is today. And packhorses, many of whom were the forebears of today’s Fell Ponies, assisted with that work.
1. Furness Iron: The Physical Remains of the Iron Industry and Related Woodland Industries of Furness and Southern Lakeland, 2013, p. 77
2. Thorne, James. Rambles by Rivers: The Duddon, The Mole, The Adur, Arun, And Wey, The Lea, The Dove. London: Charles Knight & Co., Ludgate Street, 1844, p. 28.
3. Yoshikawa, Saeko. “A Guide that does not Guide: The Duddon Sonnets as a Guide to the Lakes.” Paper presented at 42nd Wordsworth Summer Conference held at Ryda1 Hall, Cumbria, UK, on the 11th of August 2013.
4. Dickinson, Maggie B. “Bridges of Cumbria County,” Cumbria, September 2010, p. 15-19
5. Ring Cairns to Reservoirs: Archaeological Discoveries in the Duddon Valley, Cumbria. (R2R) Duddon Valley Local History Group, 2009, p. 36
6. Hindle, Paul. Roads & Tracks of the Lake District, Cicerone Press, Milnthorpe, Cumbria, 1998, p. 123
7. Dickinson, Maggie B. “Drunk in charge of a packhorse,” Cumbria, November 2016, p. 13-17
8. Windermere Reflections: Fulling Mills In Easedale, Grasmere, Elterwater, Great Langdale And Graythwaite. Oxford Archaeology North, 2012, p. 35
9. R2R, p. 68
10. Email from Maggie B. Dickinson to Jenifer Morrissey, 4/27/21
11. Gambles, Robert. The Story of the Lakeland Dales. West Sussex: Phillimore & Co., 1997, p. 79
12. Furness Iron, p. 11
13. The locations of mines, quarries and drifts on the map come primarily from Ring Cairns to Reservoirs.
14. R2R, p. 62-4
15. R2R, p. 69
16. R2R, p. 11
17. Furness Iron, p. 6
18. R2R, p. 68
19. R2R, p. 64
20. Plate from the 1842 book Rambles by Rivers of the headwaters of the Duddon near Wrynose Pass
21. Pepper, John. Cockley Beck: A Celebration of Lakeland in Winter. Dorset: Element Books, Ltd., 1984, p. 83
22. Hartwell, Michael. An Illustrated Guide to the Packhorse Bridges of the Lake District. Earnest Press, 1994, p. 93
23. Gambles, p. 73
24. Hartwell, p. 91
25. Goodwin, Harry. “Cockley Beck, on the River Duddon, Cumberland,” published by Swan Sonnenschein and Co, Paternoster Square, London, 1890. Found at http://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lk02532.htm
26. Thorne, p. 12
27. Gambles, Robert. Echoes of Old Lakeland. Carlisle: Bookcase Books, 2010, p. 151
28. Hindle, p. 144
29. R2R, p. 10
30. Gambles, Echoes, p. 159
31. Victorian Ordnance Survey 6 inch to 1 mile Old Map (1888-1913) at https://www.archiuk.com/
32. Hartwell, p. 100
33. Birks Bridge as illustrated in Wild Lakeland by MacKenzie MacBride and illustrated by Alfred Heaton Cooper, published 1922-28 and found at http://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/topics/packbrgf.htm
34. Ross, David. “Birks Bridge, Duddon Valley,” at britainexpress.com
35. Davies, Hunter. A Walk Around the Lakes. Arrow Books, 1989. p. 68. ISBN 0099504804
36. Furness Iron, p. 6
37. Furness Iron, p. 12
38. Old Cumbria Gazetteer re Seathwaite Bridge, http://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lk10227.htm
39. R2R, p. 27
40. R2R, p. 62
41. Thorne, p.28
42. Thorne, p. 28
43. R2R, p. 10
44. Email from Kerry Harvey-Piper to Jenifer Morrissey, 5/21/21
45. Hall Bridge in 1890. Photograph by Herbert Bell. Found at http://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lk13011.htm
46. Johnstone, John. Sylvan’s Pictorial to the English Lakes, as cited at http://www.pastpresented.ukart.com/eskdale/sylvan.htm
47. R2R, p. 11
48. Dickinson, Maggie B. “What Lies Beneath,” Cumbria, October 2016, p. 19
49. http://www.lakesguides.co.uk/html/lgaz/lk01089.htm
50. R2R, p. 13
51. Mullen, Adrian. “Walk: Lower Duddon and Frith Hall with John Edmondson,” The Mail, “2/1/19
52. Gambles, Story of the Lakeland Dales, p. 79
53. R2R, p.67
54. Dickinson, What Lies Beneath, p. 18-19
55. R2R, p. 36-7
56. R2R, p. 69
57. Email from Maggie B. Dickinson to Jenifer Morrissey, 4/27/21
58. Furness Iron, p. 38
59. http://www.dowerhouse.biz/
60. Gambles, Story of the Lakeland Dales, p. 73
