Wooooo, we are sold out for tomorrow’s walk! Tickets for Bothal and Wearside in the coming months still available. Bothal still going ahead, but need a couple more attendees for Sunderland. Give it a go!

Out and about this morning from the banks of the Tees to the finest named village in County Durham… Station Town! Looking forward to seeing a few ancient churches and railway stations up the old Stockton & Castle Eden branch. Never been up this line though - anyone done it?

Afternoon! After Lambley I nipped over the river onto a trail along the river. Gorgeous scenery on a peaceful day despite the clarts in the field. I'd known what I was expecting, but coming across such extensive remains of this POW Camp was a massive highlight of the day.

Spent the morning perusing over the 1890s maps of the South Tyne, and v surprised how much a water course can change in the space of 130 years?

Tucked into the wooded haugh on the west bank of the South Tyne, just north of Harper Town, once stood one of the most northerly Benedictine nunneries in England.

Out test driving our first walk of 2026, which is happening this Sunday! For the first time too, there’s the option of a digital guide using our Route Mapper to trundle along with. 1 ticket left for this weekend - plenty for Bothal and Wearside

Morning. Small bug fix on the route builder for 1.0. Previously shared URLs would only persist for an hour, but this has now been made permanent. Work on 2.0 is on the way for Patrons only. Once released, 1.0 will be public!

Good morning! Our entry on the Church of Mary and St Patrick at Lambley is now available on the site, our 3rd W S Hicks Church alongside those at Newbiggin and Bensham. This one is built with the stone of a medieval nunnery and 18th century single cell church. Link below

Tonight's post is Patreon only, elaborating on this stunning church at Lambley. It's built upon the foundations of an 18th century single cell chapel which in turn was built from the medieval nunnery. I have Lambley down as one of the most fascinating places in Northumberland!

Good afternoon! This was the absolute milestone of this trek into the South Tyne valley. Perched above the gorge of the river are these stunning remains of a far out mining outpost with unbelievable remains.

Good morning. Next week is our first guided walk of the year, covering a loop of the Quayside and its underbelly of industry, death and spirituality. There’s one ticket left, but you’re welcome to drop me a message if you wanna come as a twosome!

Scarborough has claim to one of the most beautiful banks in the country. High Victorian, French Gothic, deep terracotta on the Yorkshire coast.

Travelling tonight, so just wanted to make a short post on this dramatic road cutting between Northumberland and Cumbria - the Maiden Way. It's a 32km military highway which climbs over the highest peaks of the Pennines, past Lambley up to Magna near Carvoran.

Working with my colleague Alexander Jansen to record the eroding gravestones at the abandoned Jewish cemetery at Ayres Quay, Sunderland

Morning all, I've added the Harper Town chapel to the site as its own entry, complete with a little bit on its surrounding environment. I have it down as the 79th place of worship added to the database so far :-) Link below!

I've just popped on a✨free✨evening read on Patreon about Harper Town Wesleyan Chapel, a gorgeous outpost of Methodism in Tynedale which has been a private residence since the 70s. It was in use for a century, serving the pit families on both sides of the South Tyne.

I'm now writing on Substack. Mainly quirky bits of history as I come across them, very often horse and nature related. Please subscribe for more! drmiriamabibby.substack.com/p/george-orw...

Good morning 😄 I've added 2 new sports grounds at Boulmer to the site. The first being the cricket ground at RAF Boulmer, and the second a historic rifle range over to the north of the village. If anyone has a pic of the RAF Boulmer ground, pls send over! Link below

Morning! v1.0 of the Heritage Route Builder is now available for Patrons. The first full proper release. A full breakdown of how it works can be seen in the link below, as well as the link to use it. If you're planning a walk or cycle this week, have a swatch!

This is fabulous

Good morning! A railway themed double header added to the site, with both Coanwood Railway Station and Lambley Viaduct added to our Library. These mark the last 2 entries along the South Tyne Trail as we veer north along the river. Link below.

This is stellar work and will definitely be checking it out

Just want to say thank you for all your interest on this. Getting the database to work alongside Historic England, as well as the directions stuff, was a few late nights. This is something I’ve clamoured for myself for ages, so I hope others find it as useful.

Hello! It was a pain in the arse to photograph, but how could we continue this trek without talking about Lambley Viaduct?

North-east folk, look at this! 🏰🚲🚶🏾‍♂️🏭

I love seeing where all your hard work, hard walk, time and attention to detail is coming to fruition.

This looks wonderful, thank you for your labour.

Wow. This looks fab.

Morning! If you’re someone who loves walking/cycling & history, I’ve built a walking planner & companion for the website. You put where you want to walk, and it will automatically pop up with historic sites from our project and of listed structures. Let me explain a bit more!

Todays post is a Patreon exclusive as its a bit long for X - Coanwood Station! Another lovely intact station complete with a goody bag of railwayana - a weighbridge and sturdy wooden buffers nearby the elevation for old coal drops🚂 Link below

Eyup. Just a little ticket update: Quayside (a fortnight away): 1 ticket left! (But message if you wanna come with someone) Bothal: 50% of tickets left Wearside: Loads, cos for some reason no one wants to go to Sunderland 😔 Link below - come along for one! 🙌

Morning ☀️ I've added Featherstone Park Railway Station to the site as its own entry, a beautifully intact rural station still complete with its platform and station house. The 21st historic station we've added so far across the North East! Link below

Hi all! The Wallace Arms at Featherstone Rowfoot is a lovely whitewashed country pub that sits on the lane down to Featherstone Castle. Its name reflects it too, named after the family who have lived there since the 1780s.

After about 2 years, we're teetering on the last yards to add on Wearside for our Shipbuilding Archive. I've just finalised and uploaded the Castletown Yard, operated by Priestman and later A&P. This yard specialised in tramps, then military ships then ore carriers. Link below

Durham's mining communities were held together not just by the labour of men underground, but by the unsung work of the women above. Absolutely delighted to share @john_tomaney's piece on how grandmothers were the firm and defining presence in the pit village. Link below!

Been a minute since I’ve covered inner Newcastle, so I’m traipsing around to get some shots of the city’s lost public houses and a few other bits this morning. 1st stop - the Birds Nest on Walker Road. Named after the hamlet which stood here until about 120 years ago!

A couple new entries for the Sports Archive this morning, with cricket grounds at Bolam and Bothal added. The map has also been fully updated! - Timeline slider - Clear markers with sport and status - Dynamic list of clubs & teams in view Link below

Following on from Park village, a gorgeous woodland stroll west leads to Featherstone Park. That's just after a huge cutting which seems extravagant for a line catering only small and regional industry. Its railway station is delightfully intact.

The village of Park is now on the site as the third settlement we've got on the books. It's the first which is still alive and kicking, the others went years ago! This lovely little estate hamlet is worth a traipse through if you're walking the South Tyne branch.

This is so sad, but something incredibly common in the days when women were faced with destitution if they birthed a child alone or with no means of support. The scenario is unimaginable, but it’s so important to consider why and how women led to this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I can highly recommend these walks if you like your history a little more realistic and from the roots up

Evening all! Hope you've had a lovely weekend. We continue the trek down the South Tyne Branch Line, the old line which led from Haltwhistle to Alston. After a nice easy traipse from Plenmeller the first major milestone is Park. An interesting name you may wonder...

@neheritagelib.bsky.social thought you might like to see this. It's a Blyth Co-Operative Society picnic. Do not know date. From family album. #genealogy #blyth #Northumberland

If you’re fancying something a bit different on an April morning, we’ve 3 tickets left for our first short walk of the year down on the Quayside. I’ll be nattering on about its underbelly - dead houses, burial grounds, railways and meb the odd murder Link below!

Plenmeller Colliery is an interesting and fairly late working, sat on the common under the Tyne near Haltwhistle. This place is particularly stubborn to mine and contrasts greatly from the Durham coalfields - most much shallower and less productive.

For all you seafaring enthusiasts, the Shipbuilding Archive map has also been updated today to suit the style of the Library map. - Timeline slider - Light/Dark setting - Photos now added - Historic Ordnance Survey maps Still an issue with tofu popping up, but we'll get there!

Banging my Potts and Panns to let you know I've made 3 big updates to the Shipbuilding Archive - all centred around the Potts dynasty. Info added on their 2 yards at South Hylton and that at Low Street, which stood here near the old ferry til 1881. Still a common name today.

Morning all. - The map on our Library now features a timeline slider, allowing you to view our entries from the origin of when they were first built - A full elegant redesign. - A light/dark mode for if you're up scrolling through chapels at 2am (I'll trust it's that)

Also added to the Patreon is a nice long history of Haltwhistle Station, one of the most intact 19th century junction stations in the whole of England. It retains its signal box, footbridge, station house, water tower + more. Free to all, just too long for this place! Link below

Delighted to share this fantastic piece by John Tomaney, Professor at UCL, on the role of women and specifically grandmas in Durham mining communities. Such an underappreciated area of study given their presence was the village backbone. Link below - members only this week.