Langstrath's Hidden Valley

==Background==Study a good map of Stonethwaite, and the Langstrath and Greenup valleys that meet barely 10 minutes’ pleasant walk from the village’s fine pub, and one name will usually leap out at you from the jumble of thwaites and becks and gills and fells. There, beneath Alisongrass Crag, stands Alisongrass Hoghouse, an evocative name if ever there was one. But what could it actually mean? Well, when you get there you’ll find a small stone building, now converted to simple holiday accommodation, but its name and location can tell us lots about how farming in this valley used to work. ==What’s in a Name?==It seems reasonable to suggest that the Alison in question was not a girl, but the surname of a farming family. Add another ‘l’ to make it Allison and you’ll find several in the Keswick phonebook today. The grass, you might also reasonably assume, refers to the meadow land that stretches out in front of the building to the tumbling waters of Stonethwaite Beck. But what about the hoghouse? Is this where the old farmers kept pigs? Not exactly. A hogg is a year old sheep, one of last year’s lambs if you like, and the hoghouse (‘hoggus’) was where they were over-wintered. ==Herdwick Sheep==Stonethwaite can trace its farming records to its days as an outpost of Fountains Abbey in the 14th century. That huge Yorkshire house of Cistercians produced vast quantities of wool, most of which was sold to itinerant Italian merchants. To understand the scale of the operation, Furness Abbey, the great rival to Fountains Abbey, and which also held land in Borrowdale (the village of Grange was their ‘grange’) sold 76 sacks of wool to one Snr Pergolitti in 1315. A sack weighs 364lbs (165kg), so it is estimated that this was the product of over 20,000 sheep! The hoggs would be fed on straw and holly and often ash leaves over the winter time, before being taken back up to the fells to join the ‘wedders’ the castrated males that had been left to fend for themselves all winter. The Herdwick sheep proved perfectly suited to this form of production, and it wasn’t until the end of the 18th century that they began to be wintered on grazing pastures lower down the valley instead of in hoghouses. Their distinctive grey fleeces were renowned as a wool that repelled water, and at the height of Fountains’ production in the early 16th century, they accounted for 8 per cent of the monks’ total wool output. So Alisongrass Hoghouse is a peculiar name, but its story is also the story of this valley.

Walk through Stonethwaite village, passing the Langstrath Country Hotel and continuing on the track to the right as it splits. Follow the brief tarmac continuation up a bank and on, soon reverting to a rough track. Beyond the entrance to the campsite stay on the track though a gate and you’ll find it narrows to traverse a woody shoulder. Down the other side it rounds to a building on the left – Alisongrass Hoghouse.

Continue into open country, turning left to pick up a riverside path beside the roar of Galleny Force. Continue on this path, crossing a stile and swinging to the right, where there’s a chance to cross to the ‘island’ viewpoint and picnic spot known as Smithymire. Otherwise walk up to another stile and an onward path up the valley. Soon you rejoin your original lane and follow it further on through woodlands into Langstrath proper. Round a corner and go through a gate, soon reaching a footbridge on the left.

Turn left again on the far side and follow the path down the opposite bank, downstream. Pass through a gate and reach a second bridge opposite Smithymire Island.

At the gate at the top of the bank, turn left, down the valley. Follow the obvious track through another gate, with a wall on either side. Opposite the campsite, pass through another gate and soon cross another footbridge. Maintain your direction through more gates until you reach a junction.

Turn left, through another gate and over a bridge to join a farm track leading back into the centre of Stonethwaite.