The Beacon, Penrith, Cumbria

An unobtrusive wooden way marker points the way from the roadside, through a small wooden gate and up a grassy slope.  Turning the corner, the slope is shaded by trees and the ground becomes sandy, with large pieces of sandstone bouldering the ground.

The orignal forests of Beacon Hill were first planted in the late 18th C.  before  the enclosure of common land act. Before this, Beacon was a dreary barren waste land full of sandholes and quarries. Remnants of this can be noted from the rough hewn pathway with large sandstone boulders in places and the rocky sandstone outcrops which appear in woodland clearings.

After being destroyed by fire, Beacon Hill was replanted in 1927  by the Lowther family.

The Path to Beacon Pike, 937 ft (286 m) is quite steep and very rocky in places, so is unsuitable for buggies and

wheelchairs and substantial walking shoes are recommended.

Rich, well managed woodland, including Rowan and Beech is home to a variety of wildlife.  Keep a look out for the Common Lizard and signs of badgers and foxes.

Once at the Summit, the pathway opens out into a plateau of land with a square sandstone beacon built on the top. The present monument

(replacing earlier structures) was built in 1719 of sandstone taken from hill, it was restored in 1790.

Earlier beacons are recorded here since 1296 and would have been piles of wood and branches followed later by pitch boxes.  There has been a building on this site for more than 500 years.

Beacons were used to warn the locals and surrounding villages of impending Scottish raids and would communicate this message for miles across the North of England with others being lit at Carlisle, Kirkoswald and Orton Scar.

During 1745 uprising, the Beacon featured again when Prince Charles Edward attempted to regain the Crown of the House of Stuart. It is even noted to have been used during the Napoleonic Wars.

Stunning views over the Eden Valley, Pennines and Lake District fells indicate why this site was chosen. The mountains of Scotland can easily be seen across the Solway Firth to the north.

A brass dial donated by the Lions Club of Penrith, indicates the names of the mountains and places which can be seen from this wonderful vantage point.

This walk will take around 40 minutes to complete.

Visit Penrith Town Trails for details of this and other walks in the area.

Finglandrigg Wood Nature Reserve

Situated on the lower eastern region on the Solway Plain, about 15Km to the West of Carlisle.

The woodland habitat is managed by English Nature as a National Nature Reserve, primarily to provide a habitat for the indigenous Red Squirrel but many other species can be found here such as Linnet, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

In the rushy areas, the high water tables are maintained for reed bunting, sedge warbler and grasshopper warbler.

Intensive management of the fields encourages devil’s-bit scabious, the food plant of the Marsh Fritillary butterfly.

Hebridean sheep along with Exmoor ponies and cattle, graze areas of rough grassland and scrub.

A peat bog occupies the lowest areas below the arable land. Once drained and cut for peat, the bog still has a 2m deposit.

During the ‘Enclosure Acts’ of the late 1700s and early 1800s, much of the common land at Finglandrigg was placed into private ownership, and by the mid 1800s the site was a mixture of small fields, Scots pine plantations and peat bog, with the heath the only remaining common grazing.

Immediately following Enclosure, the site was used for agriculture, but the fields were gradually abandoned during the depression that swept the farming communities in the late 1800s.

Birch and rowan trees were the first to occupy this unused open ground.

There are two waymarked walks that take you around the reserve and include the main features of interest.

Chalybeate Well Trail

Discover the many aspects of the woodland and rough pasture, as well as the Chalybeate Well, a stone structure marking the presence of a sulphate rich spring.

This 2km walk will take you around 45 minutes to one hour, with easy to soft going on a gravel and bark chipped surface for all but the final 70m.

Little Bampton Common Trail

A woodland walk that also includes open rough pasture and heathland as well as Scots pine plantations.This 3km round trip takes about one- and-a-half to two hours.

The going is relatively easy as the first 0·8km is on firm bark chip and some areas have had special walkways installed over the boggy regions but the remainder continues on mown grass which can be wet and muddy after rain.

Along your walks, look out for a couple of  wonderful sculptures in the woodland (Searches so far have not been able to shed light on the sculptor).

Carved into the trunk of old trees are insects which inhabit the woodland. Open a secret door to reveal carved larvae and resting bugs.

Memorial

A memorial to Derek Almey Ratcliffe,  A renowned conservationist and author, stands towards the end of the walk.  He loved wild places and the creatures and plants that inhabited them.

He is perhaps most famous for his research which saved the Peregrine Falcon from the grasp of  the pesticide, DDT.

It is noted that one of his favourite places was Fingland Wood.

Near the memorial, a stunning bench seat featuring the Peregrine Falcon is carved from a single tree trunk.