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lat / lon: 54.670089, -3.300542
OS grid ref: NY 16136 31346
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Driving north along the M6 the windsock at Tebay was showing a
strons souther lu wind. When I reached the start of my walk on
the lane by Setmurthy Common east of Cockermouth the wind had
dropped. The weather forecast was for rain later in the morning
so I wanted to get away as soon as possible. My start was
delayed as my Garmin sat tracker had a flat battery and I had to
get some charge in it from my portable power bank. With the unit
charging in the top of my rucksack I set off up the lane heading
west to a gate in the hedge on the right. |
Setting off west. |
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My first objective was Watch Hill. The last time I visited was
10 years ago and I went through this gate as I did then. There
is no path but I followed a fence line up to the edge of the
woodland area and climbed a fence into the woods where there was
a steep narrow path up to the summit. A featureless area of
grassy mound marked the summit but the weather curtailed any
good views. |
Climbing to Watch Hill. |
I turned right to follow a path descending steeply down through
the woods to a forestry track. My route continued east along the
edge of woodland with no marked path. I was fortunate that the
trees had been felled a long time ago and a path had been worn
by walkers. Crossing the desolate area a woman came the other
way walking her two dogs. Out in open fields the path route
vanished on the way to Elva Hill. I turned south and steeply
down to Elva Plain Farm and between the farm buildings. It
seemed used but there were no vehicles or anyone around. Out in
the fields I visited the ancient stone circle shown on the map.
There are a few stones left but they don't protrude very high.
An internet search showed: The arrangement of stones forms an
almost perfect circle with an internal diameter of 33.5m. The 15
stones are all that remain visible of an original number of
about 30. Excavations of other stone circles suggest that they
range in date from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age
(c.2400-1000 BC). |
Elva Plain Stone Circle. |
Elva Plain Stone Circle. |
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Across more fields I descended to the road and continued down
and left along a rough lane to St Barnabas Church, Setmurthy. I
was pleased to see it was open and I spent an enjoyable time
inside taking photos using my Samsung phone. In the graveyard a
man was shaking tree branches into a net. When I asked what he
was collecting he said spiders. |
St Barnabas Church Setmurthy. |
St Barnabas Church, Setmurthy. |
St Barnabas Church, Setmurthy. |
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Looks like a family plot. |
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The parish church of St Barnabas was built in 1794 & is grade II
listed. There were some interesting arrangements of gravestones
that seemed like they were family areas. I could feel rain was
on the way so continued along the road to the west and down to
the River Derwent and over the bridge to the Church of St
Michael at Isel. |
Isel Church. |
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Isel Church. |
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I was last here on my walk 10 years ago but it was locked then.
Today it was open and had a very interesting interior. It is
very old and parts of the church date back to 1130AD and the
site is even older. Inside were parts of a celtic cross shaft. |
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CROSS-SHAFT FRAGMENTS.
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These two large stone cross fragments, which weigh approximately
140 lbs and 115 lbs, were recovered from Isel Churchyard at the
time of the last major restoration of Isel Church in 1878. The
slightly smaller stone on the right, is known at one time to
have been built into the West wall of the church entrance porch.
Although the two stones are not adjacent pieces, they are parts
from the same Anglo Saxon cross-shaft dated circa 900 AD. The
medium grained, white/yellow
sandstone (Carboniferous)
sections, are described on record as being good examples from
the West Cumbrian “spiral scroll school no. 7". Both clearly
show incised spirals on their faces and thick, discontinuous
plait work on their edges.
The right-hand stone has a smooth
surface on the reverse side and on one of it's edges. The
spirals and plait work on this stone are thought to have been
cleaned off at some time after the cross was broken, but the
relevant dimensions of the two
stones are the same, which may
suggest otherwise.
Look closely at the bottom centre face of
the stone on the left and you will see a downward pointing
arrowhead, which is the sacred emblem of Woden. |
Interior. |
Chest tomb of Sir William Leigh
who died in 1484. |
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The organ was designed and made by
Cassons Organ Company Ltd and installed in 1900.
The casing
was designed by Gilbert F.M. Ogilvy. |
Isel Church. |
Artists impression of the church
before the tower was removed. |
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A very interesting Church I reversed my route back to the bridge
and up to the road and up into Hill’s Woods and up a stoney
track through the tree. When I emerged onto the open hill the
rain started so I had to put full waterproofs on and find a
route back down to the road. |
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My original route was west along the path back to the road but
far below I could see a gate and a possible short cut. I took it
and started to head down through an area of dene gorse. I was
concerned about coming to an area where it was impenetrable but
I just managed to get through to the grassy field and gate at
the bottom. It was then a left turn and a mile walk back to the
car in the rain. |
Dog Rose on the way back. |
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