Last updated 08:44, Friday, 18 July 2008

The centuries-old mystery of the ‘stone men’ on Nine Standards Rigg

haunting: Some of the Nine Standards above Kirkby Stephen

MAP: OS Explorer map OL19.

START: Near the entrance of the Hartley Quarry, about one mile east of Kirkby Stephen. There is roadside parking nearby, but please park considerately.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Kirkby Stephen is on the Carlisle-Settle railway line and the town is also served by buses 563, 564, 569 and 571 (telephone 0871 200 2233).

REFRESHMENTS: Variety of pubs and cafes in Kirkby Stephen.

DISTANCE: 8.1 miles

TOTAL ASCENT: 1,820ft

TIME: 4-4.5 hours

GRADE: Intermediate

OVERVIEW: The walk up to Nine Standards Rigg, crowned by its mysterious ‘stone men’, has been a popular outing for the people of Kirkby Stephen for many years. Today, it also lies on the route of Wainwright’s long-distance Coast to Coast walk. At 2,171ft, it provides magnificent views, especially to the west.

Starting from near Hartley Quarry, just outside Kirkby Stephen, we ascend from the SW, via little-used farm paths and access land which provides a glimpse down an interesting limestone gorge. Parts of this route can become very boggy in wet weather. The easy descent is via the more popular (and solid) path alongside Faraday Gill.

THE WALK: If you are facing the entrance to the quarry, look to your right and you will see a small gate. This leads on to the disused Stainmore railway line (see “points of interest” later), which you follow for about half-a mile. Soon after crossing Podgill Viaduct, you pass under a bridge. Immediately after this, turn right up the embankment and back over the bridge.

Head up the side of the field, keeping close to the wall on your left. Having passed – and ignored - two stiles along the way, you drop to a gate with a stone stile beside it to your left. Cross this and then, ignoring the stile on your left, bear right to head gently uphill through the grass, passing a barn on your right. There is a faint path on the ground, which never strays too far from the fence on your right.

As you reach a large pile of rubble, go through the metal gate on your right and head towards the buildings at Lockthwaite. (There are no stiles, waymarkers or fingerposts to guide you here.) As you reach the boundary wall, walk with it on your left to reach a gate. Go through this and then another gate to get to the farmyard (1.2 miles from the start).

Follow the surfaced track heading S from the buildings and then turn left to walk along the road for about a quarter-of-a-mile.

At a shallow dip in the road, turn left along a rough track, the beginning of which is marked by a fingerpost (sign reads: “Public Footpath Ladthwaite”). You quickly find yourself walking alongside a wall on your left. This will be your companion for the next mile or so. You are no longer on a right of way, but there is a faint path on the ground as you make your way slowly uphill on access land.

Over to your right, you can see the beginning of the Mallerstang ridge and, to the west of that, Wild Boar Fell. Look over your right shoulder and you’ll see a range of rounded grassy hills – the Howgills. The North Pennines are over to your left and the apparently flat area to the west of the hills is the Eden Valley. Turn around fully and it’s the Lake District fells that fill the far horizon. And if you think that’s a good view, just wait until your reach the summit of Nine Standards Rigg!

Simply keep close to the wall, crossing some damp ground along the way, until you reach a high point on the flank of Tailbridge Hill, the cairn-topped dome to your right.

Just before the wall starts to dip, bear right along a faint, grassy track that climbs gently around the side of Nateby Common (ESE). The track isn’t always obvious – simply maintain an ESE line until you can see a wall down to your left. You now swing SE and eventually reach the wall corner close to the head of Dukerdale, the impressive limestone gorge to your left (3.4 miles from the start). The track is now a lot clearer as it swings left, with the wall, to ford a small beck. It climbs alongside the wall for a couple of hundred yards more and then heads towards a prominent stone structure to the NE. From here, walk E along a clear path across the open moor - towards a fingerpost. This indicates the route of the Coast to Coast, but you ignore it and instead head straight across (NNE).

Climbing all the while, the faint track becomes even less distinct as it crosses a peaty, boggy area. Keep heading NE and you should soon reach the viewpoint on the top of the fell (4.7 miles from the start).

Turn right for a brief detour to the trig point, but the main route turns left to the Nine Standards. From the collection of huge cairns, you pick up a path heading W. The start of the well-walked path is marked by two tiny imitations of the stone men. Running alongside steep-sided Faraday Gill for part of the way, this drops to a wall where you turn right along an old miners’ track (5.75 miles from the start).

This clear track eventually ends at the edge of the access land (6.7 miles from the start). Continue along the surfaced lane for 1.4 miles - until you reach the quarry where the walk started.

POINTS OF INTEREST: The Stainmore Railway between Barnard Castle and Tebay opened in 1861. It was originally constructed to carry coke from Durham to blast furnaces in Cumberland and Barrow-in-Furness and transport iron ore back to Cleveland. Most of the line was closed in 1962, but a section linking Hartley Quarry with Appleby remained until 1975.

Hartley Quarry started operations in 1925, and work there became a reserved occupation in World War Two because the limestone was used in the steel industry and lime was needed to bring marginal land into food production. Today, it provides aggregates for road building.

The origin of the nine “stone men” or tall cairns on Nine Standards Rigg is a mystery. One claim is that they were constructed by the Romans to look like troops from a distance; others say they are boundary markers. Major repairs on some of the cairns were carried out in 2005.

For walks in the Lake District, try Vivienne Crow’s Walk! The Lake District (North) published by Discovery Walking Guides. Available in bookshops and on Amazon.