You can’t go far in Northumberland without stumbling across a hillfort. Humbleton hillfort is famous as the site of Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy’s annihilation of the Scottish army in 1402, while the Breamish Valley hillforts are a honeypot for lovers of the ancient past due to the extremely well preserved cultivation terraces you can find there. Lordenshaws, however, gets rather unjustly overlooked, probably due to its proximity to the Simonside Hills. Visitors flock to Simonside to see the weirdly wonderful rock formations and views towards the Cheviots, all the while enjoying the carpet of purple heather in August. However, if you cross the road and head in the opposite direction, you’ll find that far fewer people venture to the fort at Lordenshaws (you’ll still see a few people though – as with most places which are easily accessible from a car park).
I arrived at the Lordenshaws car park (free) at around 11.30am on a Wednesday morning – and for the first time ever visiting Northumberland, only just managed to nab a parking space! An anomaly I’m attributing to school summer holidays and a car park right next to a popular, easily accessible walk which is definitely one of Northumberland’s ‘Insta hotspots’. I followed the circular walk of just under 3 miles from the Northumberland National Park website, although I followed it backwards using a map rather than following the step by step instructions.
The route itself was pretty easy to navigate, using the way marked St. Oswald’s Way for about 50% of the walk. The remainder followed enclosed lanes and grassy field tracks to return to Lordenshaws, where I spent a while lingering to enjoy the views and the vibrancy of the heather across the moor. I had contemplated wearing my running trainers as it was such a short route, but I was glad I’d put my boots on after a few squelchy sections lower down – although on the plus side there were no steep sections of ascent or descent.
For such a short walk, this route packs in a lot of history. In addition to the 2,000 year old hillfort (complete with remains of the ramparts), Lordenshaws is an excellent place to find the Cup and Ring marked rocks which Northumberland is also known for. One of the largest clusters in the whole of the UK, this pre-historic art is between 4000 and 6500 years old, making the hillfort seem positively modern by comparison.
Once I’d spent a bit more time loitering by the Cup and Ring marks, it was time to head back to the car to pick Sam up from his run. I had planned to call at the Running Fox in Longframlington for a slice of cake in between, but I’d spent too long hanging around taking photos and had to shoot straight off to the pick up location. Maybe next time…
Dog friendly rating – 2/5. While this walk is great for both views and history, you’ll need to keep your dog on a lead most of the way around due to livestock and ground nesting birds. There are also two stiles which Merry managed to squeeze under, but dogs bigger than a cocker spaniel might need some help to get over. Both of the streams on the route were massively diminished due to the dry spell we’ve been having, with one totally disappeared and the other reduced to not much more than a muddy puddle – I was very glad I’d taken extra for Merry as it was a warm day. This would be a good route for a reactive dog owner: I only saw a few other people on the hillfort itself, and on the tracks away from Lordenshaws I didn’t see any people at all.
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