Killhope to Cowshill
The Way of Hope
The route follows the Weardale Way/Mineral Valleys Path, and is mostly (with three short
exceptions) along good hardcored tracks. There are a few steep gradients, and the distance
is about 4.2 miles (7.2km).
Killhope – Grid Reference NY853405, W3W Supposing.Toxic.Fixated
Cowshill – Grid Reference NY853405, W3W Lakeside.Preheated.Soups
Points of interest:
It is well worth spending time at The Killhope Lead Museum (https://killhope.org.uk/
https://www.thisisdurham.com/things-to-do/killhope-lead-mining-museum-p25241).
St Thomas Church Heatherycleugh (at Cowshill) has an excellent stained glass of Doubting Thomas, and is generally kept unlocked
Geologists will be interested to see the whinstone quarry at Cowshill, and the nearby
exposure of the Burtreeford Disturbance in the streambed.
There is an information board describing the leadmining in Cowshill at the entrance to the
carpark on the same side of the A689 and to the right of the Cowshill Hotel. A possible
extension route would explore these workings in the Sedling Burn and Sedling Fell.
If you are arriving by car, it is worth driving the 1.7 miles (2.75km) along the A689 past the Killhope Lead Mining Museum to Killhope Cross, with it’s excellent views to Cross Fell (we do not recommend walking this).
Facilities:
Note that, at 500m above sea level, the weather at Killhope is likely much colder, wetter and
windier than in Bishop Auckland. Please check weather forecasts, and come prepared for
the conditions you are likely to meet.
There’s good parking at the Killhope Lead Mining Museum, as well as toilets and a café. It is worth noting that the Killhope Lead Mining Museum is only accessible via a ford over the river. This becomes impassible after prolonged or heavy rain, and the museum, car park
and all it’s other facilities close.
There is free parking at Cowshill, and St Thomas’ Church is generally kept open (but has no toilet or other facilities). The Cowshill Hotel opens intermittently for food and drink, and the
https://www.cowshillvillagehall.org/ serves tea, coffee and Bacon Sandwiches on a Saturday
Morning. There is bed and breakfast and Self-catering accommodation available in the area.
There are no public toilets in Cowshill.
Transport Links:
The bus timetable is accessible from this link:https://www.weardale-travel.co.uk/stanhope-killhopewheel.html
Note that the bus only goes beyond Cowshill upon request.
Experienced Fell walkers:
Might like to try and locate The Bishop’s Stones, a cross allegedly erected at the command of King Stephen to mark the edge of The Bishop of Durham’s authority (Grid reference NY795416, W3W Opera.logger.cavalier).
Similarly, the old carrier’s way starts across the road from the museum, and crosses the fell
to Allenheads. Experienced walkers might like to use this to gain the summit of Killhope Law
(Grid Reference NY819448, W3W tiling.amounting.hears).
Detailed Route Descriptions
Walking East
Walking West
From the Killhope Museum car park, follow the good hardcored track that leads upstream, away from the museum. This passes a number of hushes and quarries, and soon curves away from the river and climbs the valley side. At a tee-junction follow the left fork, with thereservoir of Kidds Dam to your Left.
About a kilometre after the tee junction, the hardcored track dips down back into the valley, at a stream. At this point the route leaves the track, and cuts across some boggy moorland (via walkboards), over a couple of rickety stiles associated with the Cowhorse Hush and then takes a zigzag line down and across the slope of Cowhorse Hill, joining a hardcore track just before another reservoir. This section of the route is not clear on the map, and the
waymarking is not always obvious. It could be difficult to follow in mist.
Follow the track to the right to a tee junction, and take the left fork through a plantation of conifers to another tee at Woodside (not named on the map). Turn left again, over the cattle grid, and follow the track to the bridge over the Wellhope Burn.
Go straight ahead from the bridge, and follow the good hardcored track steeply uphill past Blakely Field and High Rush before dropping down to the Heathery Bridge over the Killhope Burn.
Do not cross the bridge. Instead, duck down to the right, and after about 10m cut diagonally up the muddy hillside to a kissing gate (not visible from the riverbank). The way then passes two sides of a reservoir on the left, and then heads right, on the far side of a wall, before joining a double-walled track to Low Allers. Again, this section is unclear on the map, with
poor waymarking.
Pass through Low Allers, and immediately before the bridge, take a gate to the right. This leads to a good path through a riverside meadow, crosses a bridge over a subsidiary stream, and brings you out at the roadbridge at Burtreeford, Cowshill. All of the village facilities are up the hill to the Left, and then left at the tee junction.
The Bus stops by the Cowshill Hotel (Grid Reference NY855406, W3W elders.realm.entry). Take the road opposite the hotel (past St Thomas Church and the Village Hall), then left down the hill to the start of the walk at Burtreeford Bridge. There is good parking on the left of the road to Burtreeford Bridge or on the same side of the A689 and to the right of the Cowshill Hotel.
Take the stile or gate on the far side of the bridge, and follow the river on a good path to Low Allers, crossing a subsidiary stream on a wooden footbridge. Turn left through Low Allers and, where the path forks, take the right-hand double walled track. This soon fizzles out, but keep the wall on on your left for 50metres or so, and then cut up the hillside to pass a small reservoir on your right, with a kissing gate beyond. After the kissing gate a very muddy path cuts down the hillside to a point about 10m from the Heathery Bridge.
Don’t cross the bridge. Instead follow the track to the left, steeply uphill and round by High Rush and Blakely Field, and then steeply down to the bridge over Wellhope Burn. Go straight on over the bridge, climb steeply, then turn right onto a good track after the cattlegrid at Woodside. Follow this through a conifer plantation, then right again on another good hardcored track.
After about 500m, the route leaves the track, just after a reservoir (it is not clearly signed). Keep the reservoir to your left, and a little beyond the end of the reservoir follow a path benched into the hillside, climbing diagonally up the hill to the right. This leads to a couple of rickety stiles associated with the Cowhorse Hush, and across some boggy moorland by way of walkboards. This section of the walk is unclear on the map, not so well waymarked, and could be difficult to navigate in mist.
At the hardcored track, turn left, and after about a kilometre (after you’ve passed the reservoir of Kidds Dam on your Right), take the hardcored track to the right, which curls round to the Killhope Lead Museum.