Gelt Woods are situated a few miles from Brampton and have a long and varied history which goes back to Roman Times. On the path down from Middle Gelt Wood to the riverside path in Low Gelt gorge, you pass a large quarry which the Romans used in order to get stone for Hadrian's Wall. The quarry is home to the Roman “Written Rock of Gelt”. Dating back to 207 AD, and it
records the quarry workings of Roman soldiers belonging to the Second
Legion.
The River Gelt is also rich in legends of
bloody battles, cattle rustling and of a sheep thief who fell from a crag
to his death while trying to escape his pursuers. Also, a local gamekeeper called Abraham Bird supposedly cut Abraham’s Cave into the red
sandstone of the quarry cliffs in 1814 on the orders of the Lord of Hayton
Manor, which was probably used to catch poachers in the act, but there have
been local legends about other occupants, including a World War I
deserter and an escaped convict.
Brampton Parish Council acquired Lower Gelt gorge in 1978 and
has since been trying to encourage wildlife by leaving dead trees for
insects, woodpeckers and roosting bats and by removing conifers and
beech and replacing them with native broadleaf species.
The walk I did was a circular one, going up through Middle Gelt, down past the Roman Quarry to the River Gelt and then following the riverside path back to where I started. The river is never wide, but I should imagine that parts of it could be quite dangerous. In a fair few places, it strikes a remarkable resemblance to The Strid on the River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey, where fast flowing waters rush through narrow channels.
I should imagine the woods will be quite spectacular in autumn, so I will have to pay them another visit over the next few weeks. The more alert viewers of the blog, will already have noticed that the photos have been uploaded in reverse order, the first ones are of Lower Gelt gorge and the River Gelt and the remainder are of Middle Gelt Woods.
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River Gelt
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| River Gelt |
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| River Gelt |
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| River Gelt |
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| River Gelt |
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| River Gelt |
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| River Gelt |
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| River Gelt |
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| River Gelt |
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Middle Gelt Woods
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| Middle Gelt Woods |
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| Middle Gelt Woods |
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| Middle Gelt Woods |
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