Currock Hill

Last updated

Currock Hill
Currock-Hill-Farm-geograph-2845287-by-Robert-Graham.jpg
Currock Hill Farm
Highest point
Elevation 259 m (850 ft)
Listing County Top
Coordinates 54°55′39″N1°50′03″W / 54.9275°N 1.8343°W / 54.9275; -1.8343
Geography
Tyne and Wear UK relief location map.jpg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Currock Hill
Currock Hill in Tyne and Wear
Location Chopwell and Hedley on the Hill, England
OS grid NZ 10717 59214
Topo map OS Landranger 88

Currock Hill is a hill on the border between Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, England. Although the summit itself lies entirely within Northumberland, the eastern top (at 259 m, or 850 ft) is the highest point in both Tyne and Wear and the metropolitan borough of Gateshead. [1] [2]

Contents

The name ‘currock’ comes from the Celtic word for a cairn or a stack of stones, a development of the word for a rock, carroc, and is still widely used in the North East. [3]

Geography

It is situated between the villages of Chopwell and Hedley on the Hill, on the border with Northumberland to the west of Newcastle upon Tyne. The hill forms part of the watershed divide between the catchments of the River Tyne to the north and the Derwent to the south. [4]

Currock Hill water tower (Northumberland summit) Water tower on Currock Hill - geograph.org.uk - 397560.jpg
Currock Hill water tower (Northumberland summit)

The panorama from the hill is considered to have "commanding views towards the Pennines and Tyne Valley to the West, the Cheviot Hills to the North with Tyneside and North Sea Coast to the East." [5] The county top itself is ambiguously situated on an arable feed directly south of the Lead Road.

Flying

There has been a long association with flying on Currock Hill: during the First World War an area on the southern flank of the hill was designated as a relief airfield or landing ground for No.36 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps, which was based at Cramlington. It was a Home Defence squadron, and patrolled the coastal area around Newcastle to prevent attacks by German Zeppelins. [6] [7]

More recently, the northern part of the hill has been used as the location for the Northumbria Gliding Club. The club has a variety of aircraft including three dual seat gliders, a single seat Astir CS77 and two Aeropro Eurofox tug planes, all of which use the grass runway at the site. [5]

See also

List of English counties by highest point

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Leadgate is a hamlet just outside Chopwell in southern Northumberland, England. It is 4.5 miles (7.3 km) southeast of Stocksfield and 1 mile (1.8 km) northwest of Chopwell. The hamlet borders onto the Metropolitan borough of Gateshead and a small part of Leadgate sprawls into the borough. The eastern edge of the area is the junction between Greenhead Road and Lead Road, which lead to Chopwell and Coalburns respectively. Leadgate is also home to Northumbria Gliding Club and a number of farms. The area is split between the Northumberland ward of South Tynedale and the Metropolitan borough of Gateshead ward of Chopwell and Rowlands Gill. The station is at Wylam to the north.

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References

  1. ↑ Simon Edwardes (2001). "Historic County Tops". The Mountains of England and Wales. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Muir, Jonny (2011). The UK's County Tops: Reaching the top of 91 historic counties. Cicerone. ISBN   9781849655538.
  3. ↑ Watson, Godfrey (1970). Goodwife Hot, and others: Northumberland's past as shown in its place names. Oriel Press. ISBN   9780853620907.
  4. ↑ Ordnance Survey (2012). 88 Newcastle. OS Landranger Map Series. Ordnance Survey. ISBN   9780319229989.
  5. 1 2 "Northumbria Gliding Club". northumbriagliding.co.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  6. ↑ "Royal Air Force Historic Squadrons: 36 Squadron" Archived 2016-11-21 at the Wayback Machine . Royal Air Force. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "North East Aviation Research – Currock Hill Landing Ground". nelsam.org.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
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