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Around Allen Banks

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Walk directions

Follow the riverside path into the wood. Keep left at a fork and walk on past a suspension bridge. Rising to a higher path, continue along the valley, later entering Briarwood Banks Nature Reserve. Cross a side stream, then swing over a bridge spanning the Allen at Plankey Mill.

Go through a gate on the right and follow the edge of successive riverside meadows towards Staward Pele. Approaching forest, leave the meadow through a kissing gate over to the left. To the right, the path undulates above the river before dropping to a bridge over a side stream.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Woodland paths, occasionally rugged, 2 stiles

Landscape - Wooded river valley

Dog friendliness - Dogs should be under close control

Parking - National Trust pay-and-display car park

Toilets en route - At car park

Walks in Northumberland Dog-friendly walks in Northumberland

About the walk

After having an easy youth in the high Northumbrian moors and dales, the East and West Allen rivers join forces at Cupola. There’s only 4 miles (6.4km) to go as the crow flies to get to the wide, lazy waters of the South Tyne, but the Allen will be put through its paces as the hills in the east and... west close in. Even in the last stretch the river has to wriggle and squeeze through a tight gorge between Ridley Common and Morralee Fell. This last place is known as Allen Banks and has, for centuries, been cloaked with thick woodland – a spot of great beauty. Designing the grounds Allen Banks was part of the Ridley Hall Estate, whose history goes back to medieval times when the Ridley family presided here. The original hall was destroyed by a great fire in the middle of the 18th century, and the magnificent sandstone mansion you see today is Georgian. John Davidson of Otterburn purchased the estate in the 1830s for his wife Susan, granddaughter of the 9th Earl of Strathmore. In those times the valley was mined for both coal and lead. Susan Davidson took a keen interest in the grounds and not only laid out the formal gardens, but designed a network of paths through the wilder environs of the riverside and woods. The Davidsons were childless, and on their deaths the estate passed to John Bowes and his French wife, Josephine. It was the Bowes-Lyon family who gave Allen Banks to the National Trust in 1942. Nature reserve Beyond the car park, which is sited on the hall’s old kitchen garden, the hills close in, with Raven Crag towering above to the right and Morralee Fell on the far banks to the left. The river bends to the right and soon you enter the nature reserve at Briarwood Banks. After Plankey Mill the route climbs out of the valley and comes across the crumbling remains of Staward Pele. This 14th-century fortified house was once owned by the Dukes of York and leased to the monks of Hexham. Later it fell into the hands of Dickie of Kingswood, a local character and petty criminal. Although today the old house is tangled with scrub, in better times it would have had a commanding view of the valley and any invading border reivers. In Dickie’s case, the police wouldn’t have been confident about carrying out a successful raid if he had been suspected of any wrongdoing.

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About the area

If it’s history you’re after, there’s heaps of it in Northumberland. On Hadrian’s Wall you can imagine scarlet-cloaked Roman legionaries keeping watch for painted Pictish warriors while cursing the English weather and dreaming of home.

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Route details

Difficulty:

Medium

Gradient:

Challenging

Distance:

5.75 miles (9.2kms)

Ascent:

825ft (251m)

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Around Allen Banks

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Walk details

Difficulty:

Medium

Gradient:

Challenging

Distance:

5.75 miles (9.2kms)

Ascent:

825ft (251m)

Walk directions

1 of 5

2 of 5

At a fork just beyond, take the right branch. Later, ignore a path off left by old gateposts, but then, reaching a fork branch left. Climb steeply and keep left again at a second fork, eventually levelling to a gate at the top of the forest. Don't pass through, instead take a path left beside the wall. Beyond its corner, join a path from the right and continue along a narrow ridge, eventually passing a fragment of the old gatehouse to reach the more substantial remains of Staward Pele.

3 of 5

The onward path lies to the right of the ruin, falling abruptly through the trees. Reaching a junction of paths, turn right and then go right again back past the ruin, this time on your left, to the junction passed earlier. Continue forward over the footbridge, reversing your outward route over to Plankey Mill. Back at the bridge, turn right to a field gate by the buildings and walk left up the lane. Leave at the first bend on a descending track, keeping left past a derelict barn. Go through a kissing gate and carry on beside meadow, shortly zig-zagging down closer to the river. Over a stile and footbridge, the path clambers between boulders to pick a higher route along the steep-sided valley. After 0.25 miles (400m), watch for a waypost that indicates a path dropping steeply back to the river by the suspension bridge.

4 of 5

Either cross here and turn right to retrace your outward route to the car park, or remain on this bank, shortly emerging from the wood. Continue at the edge of a couple of fields and leave left at the far end. Pass beneath a bridge and swing right up to a lane. Walk back across the bridge to the car park.

5 of 5

Location

Starting point

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Woodland paths, occasionally rugged, 2 stiles

Landscape - Wooded river valley

Dog friendliness - Dogs should be under close control

Parking - National Trust pay-and-display car park

Toilets en route - At car park

Walks in Northumberland Dog-friendly walks in Northumberland

About the walk

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

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Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

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Get an AA guide

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Been on this walk?

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Walking in Safety

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Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

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About the area

Northumberland

Nearby places to stay

View all (8)

Around Allen Banks

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Around Allen Banks

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