Beacons were once a means of communication; great fires lit on prominent hills would warn the surrounding community and watchers on far-off hillsides of approaching danger. In the days before the telegraph this was typically the fastest way of spreading news. Penrith’s Beacon has a direct line of sight with Orton Scar to the south, and Carlisle Castle about 18 miles (29km) to the north. Here, the danger that required such warnings was usually a raid by the Scots: they ransacked Penrith on several occasions, the last being in 1745.

The Old Pretender

In an attempt to restore James Stuart (1688–1766), the ‘Old Pretender’, to the throne as James III, the Jacobites rose in 1715 and marched south with an army of Highlanders. Joined by the Earl of Derwentwater and ‘a parcel of north country jockeys and foxhunters’ at Brampton, they advanced on Penrith. Beacons were lit and the Cumberland and Westmorland militia called out. Accompanied by several thousand yeomen, farmers and labourers, they marched to intercept the Jacobite forces at Penrith Fell. However, when they encountered the advance guard, the defending army ran away, leaving their commanders, Lord Lonsdale and Bishop Nicholson, to fend for themselves. Lonsdale fled to Appleby, and the bishop’s coachman drove his master home to Rose Castle. The Jacobites levied a contribution of £500 on Penrith butotherwise left it undisturbed. The rebellion ended in failure and Derwentwaterhad his estates forfeited and his head chopped off.

The Young Pretender

Following the defeat of the 1715 rebellion Penrith enjoyed 30 years of relative peace. Then the Jacobites struck again; this time at their head came James’s son, Prince Charles Edward (1720–88), the ‘Young Pretender’ or ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’. He marched south with an army of Highlanders, taking Carlisle, and in November 1745 arrived in Penrith, where he met no opposition. The rebel army subsequently got as far as Derby, but indecisiveness delayed them and eventually they turned back. Penrith Beacon was lit again to call the countryside to arms. News that the Jacobites were in retreat encouraged people to turn out to cut off the stragglers. On 15 December, at Langwathby, a Penrith party defeated 110 of the Jacobites’ Hussars but later that day Highland troops, under Lord George Murray, defeated a Hanoverian force at Clifton Moor. Murray joined the Prince at Penrith, ready to leave for the long march north and eventual defeat at Culloden Moor.

The red sandstone tower on the Beacon summit was built in 1719 and restored in 1780. It’s thought that the last time the Beacon was lit for warning purposes was during the Napoleonic wars in the early 19th century.

From the bus station car park, exit to Sandgate and turn left. Go right and left at a double mini-roundabout and ascend Fell Lane to Beacon Edge. Go left a short way, then right up a path signed ‘Permitted Footpath Beacon Summit’.

Follow the fenced path up through the trees, soon swinging left. Higher up there’s a short section over exposed sandstone bedrock. Shortly after this the path swings back right. The fence on the left ends, but the one on the right continues, apart from a short break. The main path is never in doubt. The path bends left, levels out, then turns sharp left again, leading to the Beacon tower now visible ahead.

From the top of Beacon Hill, with its views into the Lake District, retrace your route to Beacon Edge. Turn right and follow the road to a path signed to Salkeld Road.

Turn right and follow the path along the back of the town cemetery. Nearing a bench beyond the cemetery, ignore the clear path veering right with the wall up into the woods; instead, pass directly behind the bench and through a gate to arrive at a golf course. Cross the fairways with due caution, following frequent waymarks, to reach a small, red, stone building. There’s a squeeze stile to the left of the building. Go through this and turn left down Salkeld Road. There’s an even wider view of the Lakeland skyline from here than from the Beacon summit. Turn left down Salkeld Road.

At the junction with Beacon Edge, turn left and walk past the front of the cemetery. Almost opposite its end, turn right and go down Wordsworth Street. At the bottom of the hill, at a mini-roundabout, turn left. Walk along here, passing the Quaker Meeting House and soon reaching the double mini-roundabout of the outward journey. Turn right, back into Sandgate, and right again to re-enter the bus station car park.