Knipe Scar
Walk date – 21st March 2025
Distance – 5.6 miles
Weather – dry, some sunny spells to begin with, much cloudier later, light southerly breeze, mild
The last few days have brought more settled weather so we have been busy dealing with the garden damage which has resulted from all the dreadful storms we have experienced over the winter period. Some of the wooden planters have given up the ghost as have some of the plants so there were lots of jobs needing to be done. Having worked our way through a good number of them we decided that we would take a break today to take advantage of the settled conditions as the weather is forecast to turn showery over the weekend. Today’s forecast was for gale force winds at height, a forecast which was completely wrong as it turned out, but which deterred us from going too high today. We also knew that long distance views would not be worth the effort today because we haven’t seen the north Pennines clearly all week and they’re only across the valley. We settled on going over Knipe Scar which isn’t very high and not too far from home with the subsidiary objective of trying once again to locate the stone circle which is to be found up there. We came across a couple of ‘Road Closed’ notices while we were out, the first one being at Askham on the very road that we needed to be on! However, a chap on duty by the roadside waved us through and said something about taking it steady. There were a couple of vans around the Helton turn off but the road wasn’t really closed to traffic at all and plenty of vehicles were using it. We came across the second notice while we were on the walk which again proved to be quite unnecessary. There seems to be an abundance of these signs just lately, the centre of Penrith has been off limits for about two weeks now, all of which becomes very tedious after a while.
Route
Bampton – Bampton Grange – Fieldgate – Scarside – Knipe Scar – Stone Circle – High Knipe – Howgate Foot – Knipe Hall – Suspension Bridge – River Lowther – Bampton
We set off from the Memorial Hall via a handgate, immediately to the left of the car park entrance, onto a footpath behind the hedgerow alongside the road. These back roads don’t get a lot of traffic but it was still useful to have a footpath rather than having to step onto the grass verge every time a vehicle came along. In the shot above we have just emerged from that footpath onto the bridge over Haweswater beck. Once across the bridge we were able to join the footpath again and continue on our way to Bampton Grange just a short distance away.
This shot looks back along the road to Bampton village. Behind the seat on the right of the shot is the hedge and that’s where the footpath we’ve been using is located. Obviously the footpath can’t continue where it meets the beck hence the short length of road walking across the bridge.
At the road junction just a short distance further on we turned left and walked up the hill to the bridge crossing the river Lowther which brings us into Brampton Grange village. St Patrick’s church clock tower, over on the right, was pretty much the first thing we saw as we walked up the hill from the road junction. Lots of cloud around at the moment so everything is looking a tad dull at present.
The Crown and Mitre at Brampton Grange. It can’t be called the ‘village pub’ though since it no longer operates on that basis. Last I heard was that it was nothing more than a B&B and not a very satisfactory one at that. It looked a bit run down and forlorn as we passed by. Villagers (and tourists) who want a pint and a meal should go to the Mardale Inn, just over the bridge (i.e. the Burnbanks road) in Bampton. This is now community owned and opened for business in 2022 after the village raised enough money to buy the property and pay for its refurbishment. Here’s the link – https://www.themardaleinn.com/
Everything still looking grey and gloomy as we walk through Brampton Grange. Up ahead we can see one of those ominous ‘Road Closed’ notices. We’ll see about that when we get there!
A view of Knipe Scar as we reach the end of the village and walk up the hill to the ‘Road Closed’ notice. The road going off to the left of the shot goes around the base of the Scar back to Askham.
When we reached the ‘Road Closed’ notice we ignored it and began walking up the lane towards our next landmark. Just as we did so a Highways Agency van pulled up, the driver got out and removed the red and white plastic barrier, drove his van through, got out again, replaced the barrier and then continued on his way up the lane. As the above shot shows, so far we have met nothing by way of road works or machinery and began to wonder why the road had been closed.
A look back towards Bampton Grange with its backdrop of some of the far eastern fells as we suddenly realised that we were experiencing a sunny spell. The lane rises up the hillside quite gradually for the most part so the fact that we were climbing steadily didn’t really register. There are some steeper sections but they are quite short and are soon over with.
Fieldgate, with a battered Christmas wreath hanging from the gate. It was quite deserted but the presence of the decoration on the gate made us think that the property was probably a holiday let. Turns out we were right – https://www.fieldgatefarmstead.co.uk/
I couldn’t manage a front elevation shot as the walls were too high to get a good enough view of it so I had to be content with what you see above.
‘This place ain’t big enough for both of us so its either me or the wall’ said the tree. Looks like the tree won the battle! Similar battles had taken place at intervals as we walked further up the hill with the trees always winning.
The view back down to Fieldgate farmstead and its backdrop of fells. A short distance further up we finally came across three parked vehicles, a flat bed truck, a van and a digger whose human occupants were doing not very much. When we reached the van the driver was sitting in the vehicle so I asked him why the road had been closed. Apparently it was because a fibre optics cable was being installed although nobody seemed to be doing anything about installing the thing. I wondered too about the need for that given the scarcity of people because as the above shot shows this area is not densely populated. The van driver said he didn’t know anything about that side of things as he was just there as part of the Highways Agency’s responsibility for the road closure. Turned out he was from Blackpool, had been working in Cumbria over the past week and freely admitted that he hadn’t a clue where he was. Apparently he’d driven over so many back roads around the county during the week he’d lost all track of his whereabouts and seemed resigned to just going wherever orders from above and his satnav took him. I had a few more minutes of entertaining chat with him before getting going again.
The view over to Knipe Scar from the road junction leading up to Scarside, our next landmark, with the road itself continuing on to Shap. We’ve just experienced what might be called a generation gap. After my conversation with the van driver just a few paces further up the road there was a young man standing beside the open driver’s door of the flat bed truck with three other young men seated inside the cab. As we passed them the lad standing beside the open door apologised for the inconvenience caused, presumably by them and the presence of their vehicles. I replied that I hadn’t been inconvenienced and they were easy enough to avoid as I was using ‘Shank’s pony’. My reply seemed to bring about some uncertainty in all of them about what I meant so I explained that the expression ‘Shank’s pony’ means to travel on foot, i.e. walking, or in other words the use of the feet and legs in order to get from one place to another. I’m still not sure that they fully understood the terminology.
Approaching Scarside farm where there was no sign of life whatsoever. Just a little further back, at the path junction leading over to Low Scarside farm, we had noticed a ‘For Sale’ sign and as we approached we realised that the sign referred to this property and not the Low Scarside one. It seemed to us as though the current owners had started out enthusiastically enough but eventually their enthusiasm, or their money, ran out hence the sale. Some renovation work had taken place but the whole place is quite run down and needs a lot of work and money to make it a viable concern again. There is nothing quite as dispiriting as a desolate and lifeless farm.
The situation didn’t improve as we walked on past the farmhouse in which every room appeared to have been gutted in readiness for modernisation, until the money ran out or some other life event occurred and brought it all to a halt. Passing by this deserted place was not an agreeable experience.
The presence of a sunny spell gave us cause to stop at this point and remove a layer so I took a look back down the rough track towards the deserted farm. The tarmac ends at the farmhouse and the path becomes a bridleway leading up to the open access land behind me.
Out onto the open access land at this point and as we walked up the hill I took a look across to this group of limestone pavements which feature prominently all the way across Knipe Scar.
At the top of the path we turned left but before we did I decided to go through the gate in the hope that I might catch a glimpse of Shapbeck Quarry as we could hear sounds of work taking place. Opening the gate proved a little tricky as the latch was open as far as possible but the gate had dropped. J came to the rescue by heaving it up a little thus lifting the latch and allowing me to get through. I didn’t get a glimpse of the quarry after all that as the field track beyond seemed to go on for quite a distance and I wasn’t so keen to see a quarry that I was prepared to walk half a mile just to catch a glimpse of one. Despite the dire warnings issued by the Lowther estate there were no animals of either description in the field either.
Having turned left from the gate we followed the path between the wall and the gorse bushes and made our way over to the summit of Knipe Scar. We could just about see Loadpot Hill through the haze.
J leads the way as we cross over to walk the rim of Knipe Scar’s escarpment.
Limestone pavements in abundance across here.
The top of Knipe Scar comes into view as does the very top of Heughscar Hill in the far distance.
Just in case the sunny spell disappeared before we reached the topmost point I took a look across to some of the far eastern fells which formed today’s skyline.
The sunny spell was still with us when we reached the high point so, as usual, I took a few individual shots of what we could see. They are all a little indistinct thanks to the hazy conditions but at least we could see something, so to start things off, here’s a shot of Heughscar Hill and the long sweep over to …..
….. Loadpot Hill with Arthur’s Pike being somewhat lost in the haze …..
….. next comes the Wether Hill ridge …..
….. which in turn leads over to High Raise, Kidsty Pike, High Street, Mardale Ill Bell and, just peeping up on the extreme left, Froswick …..
….. following on from Froswick, over on the left skyline is Harter Fell, Branstree and Selside Pike. There was little point in going any further round as everything else on view just became a blue-grey mush.
We decided that this time we would have another look around to see if we could locate the stone circle on Knipe Scar. We tried once before some years ago but the bracken was up and was too tall and dense for us to be successful. We could barely get through it never mind find a stone circle but I think we managed it today. Everything is very overgrown but the wooden post marks the spot and it was possible to make out the circular shape of the limestone rocks used in its formation.
A definite circular shape was visible and …..
….. some of the larger stones have not been completely covered over. The location of the circle is some distance from the escarpment rim path and is closer to the woodland wall. From the circle we made our way back towards the rim path, found a suitable sheltered spot and treated ourselves to a coffee break. The wind up here was livelier than that which the fell top assessors experienced on Helvellyn today. They reported an average speed of 8.4 mph whereas the average on Knipe Scar was 13.3 mph and we were only at 1122′ height. In both cases the forecast for gale force winds at height was way off the mark, as usual.
Looking back to the high point of Knipe Scar as we made our way back to the path across the rim.
Another view of the high point from lower down …..
….. and the last look back as we reached the path again.
We continued on the path passing a couple of small quarrying areas along the way.
Eventually we arrived at a wall and just in front of it we followed the path veering left down the slope and bringing us out at High Knipe Farm. J holds the gate open for me accompanied by some moo-ing from the cows .
Today is the first day of spring and as I spotted clusters of primroses beneath the hedgerows I thought I would include this little group of them to mark the occasion. The Met Office can spout on for all it likes about the 1st of March being the first day of spring but I will continue to maintain that the first day of spring is the day after the Spring Equinox which was yesterday, 20th March, which makes today, 21st March, the first day of spring. Nothing and nobody can ever change that fact no matter how convenient they try to make it. So there!
The hedgerow where I took the above photo is on the left of the lane leading from High Knipe down to Highgate Foot. There were more little clusters of primroses all the way down plus these two fine oak trees.
Help for any new postie – just follow the lane up to High Knipe farm if you have mail for them.
Down at Howgate Foot and …..
….. then immediately up the hill, with another view of Knipe Scar in the distance, turn right at the top and follow the lane down to …..
….. the telephone box at Knipe Hall. We turned off to the left here, there is a signpost indicating the way, and made our way down to …..
….. the river Lowther and …..
….. the suspension bridge across it.
J prepares to cross the bridge while I stay on this side to take some shots of him crossing over …..
….. halfway across so he turns and gives me a wave before carrying on to the other side of the river.
This shot looks back along the bridge after I had reached solid ground again. I’m not good with high bridges whether they cross rivers, roads or railways at the best of times, and I’m especially not good with bouncy ones such as this one. J was banned from setting foot on it while I crossed just in case he made it even more wobbly. That may sound contradictory from someone who walks up and down fells but its all down to the way any high bridge affects me.
The river Lowther meandering along through the valley on its way to join the river Eamont at Brougham Castle. The sunny spells are long gone now and the sky has morphed into unwelcome grey. We begin the walk back to Bampton with a lovely riverside walk, well it would have been if we still had some sunshine.
The course of the river changes slightly at this point where stones washed down by the river have formed themselves into a weir over which some of the river water was flowing and thus creating a subsidiary channel of water.
Lovely river views all the way along the path back to Bampton.
Not quite so lovely was the view which greeted us a little further along. The heavy winter storms together with all the snow melt have flooded and battered this section of the bank, ripped out the fencing and dumped a considerable quantity of stones along the former pathway and field leaving devastation in its wake. New fencing has been erected and a step stile has been provided to allow walkers to drop down to the lower pathway which has been provided.
We used the step stile to get down to this pathway so I could take a shot of the devastation.
The path eventually regains its original route and as we pass the Memorial Hall J spots a horse in the field which he promptly goes across to say Hello to the horse.
J can’t see a horse without stopping to talk to it and giving it a pat. We’re almost back at the Memorial Hall although several high walls prevent us getting to it from the field side so we carry on along the path, eventually reaching the gate at the end of it which we pass through, turn right and walk the hedgerow path back to …..
….. Bampton Memorial Hall where the car is parked. We’ve had a very enjoyable short walk, which was made even more enjoyable as we finally managed to locate the site of Knipe Scar’s stone circle. The only time we met anyone was during our walk back along the riverside path so its obviously a popular walk with local villagers. All in all its been a very pleasant short walk and we’ve both thoroughly enjoyed it. Its a great little walk.