Geograph - photograph every grid square

The North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) became the first area in Britain to be awarded the status of European Geopark in June 2003 and was a founding member of the Global Geoparks Network in 2004.
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The three mile Geotrail from Westgate north along the Middlehope Burn including the lead mining area of Slitt Wood and West Rigg Opencut.
An audio-visual guide can be downloaded here:
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In 1997, Low Slitt became a scheduled monument protected by law and classified as of national importance. In 2008, a partnership between the landowner, Natural England and English Heritage was formed to consolidate the site and preserve the remains.

West Rigg Open Cutting SSSI Link

Weardale is noted for almost 400 years of Christian religious dissent or nonconformity.

The 'Old Dissent' of the mid-C17th which saw the rise of Baptists Link and Quakers or Society of Friends Link had little lasting influence on upper Weardale.

The 'New Dissent' of the mid-C18th though had a huge following. John Wesley, who remained an Anglican clergyman, and his followers, preached widely in the dale after 1740 and set up a strong Methodist movement among the working people. Large Wesleyan Chapels were built in many centres along the valley. Those in authority largely stayed with the Anglican Church but noted the peaceful and crime-free nature of the religious people.

In the early 1800s Primitive Methodists, popularly known as 'Ranters', revitalised the movement among the working class. Preaching was often in the open air but large chapels were also built, often co-existing in the villages with the existing Wesleyan Chapels, which had more of a genteel following.

By the end of the C19th, both strands of Methodism were in decline, along with the end of the lead industry and population movement out of Weardale. The two groups re-united in 1932 usually agreeing to keep just one of the two chapels in each village.

Taken from The Archaeology and Architecture of Weardale by Caroline Hardie and Niall Hammond. The Weardale Society (2007).