A1-The Great North Road
"Broad and pastoral Tynedale, running due west from Newcastle, separates the Pennines from the hilly foreland of the moory, rounded Cheviots. This great upland, full of rude Border romance, is a lonely tract with but few roads. Picturesque are its valleys as they pass out from the hills, and these, together with a good rocky seaboard, are the chief scenic rewards for extending a North Country tour into far Northumberland." AA Road Book c.1920
Let's start with the Romans. There was a Roman road running through County Durham to Newcastle but there it stopped without proceeding further north. The main route to Scotland was Dere Street (or Watling Street as it was more often called in the 19th century documents), which left the A1 north of Scotch Corner to go through Piercebridge and on to Corbridge where it crossed Tyne. It then took a pretty direct route to Edinburgh, mosttly now followed by the A68 but crossing the border high up in the Cheviots at Woden Law rather than the A68's route through Carter Bar and then past Lauder, having crossed the Tweed near Newstead. A branch road, known as The Devil's Causeway, turns east four miles north of Corbridge and then heads north to Berwick where it stops. This road meets the Coldstream Road, a significant alternative Great North Road in the 18th and early 19th centuries, at Longframlington before heading almost due north and very straight for Berwick.
The Devil's Causeway was surveyed and described in detail by H. MacMauchlan in 1864 (Survey of the Eastern Branch of Watling Street). And just as well because there is not nearly as much of it visible now as there was in MacMauchlan's day. Nevertheless, excavations have revealed that this road was very solidly built with a lot of heavy stones used in the foundation layers.
John Aston's 1639 journey from York to Berwick halted a while in Newcastle, before rumour of war drove king and army northward. "But wee were soddainly commanded towards Barwicke and that Wednesday night, May 22nd, I came to Stannington, three miles short of Morpit, and nine miles from Newcastle and my business of preparation for the journey beeing not wholly finished, it was late in the afternoon before I set out, soe I bean my journey just when the sunne sufferrered an ecclipse; it was dark and misty before I came to Stannington, and the way pesterrd with troupers, made mee stay and seeke lodging in this poore villadge, it was not superstition that stayed mee, though rumours being then uncertaine, and our departure soddaine, there wanted not those who construed this ecclipse as an ominous presage of bad successe to the king's affaires."
The route of the A1 was turnpiked from Newcastle to Berwick in 1746, the first such act in Northumberland but for a flavour of the present and future look at this piece from Hansard which list recent developments and notes current and projected traffic flows.
Road builders usually look for gentle gradients but if you prefer the sticky-up bits with a view from the top the Northumbrian Mountaineering Club have a map and guide to the best crags in the county.
The RAC Routes to Scotland fro the 1930s says: "There are three main roads between Newcastle and Edinburgh, The Great North Road is the longest in actual miles, but the recent improvements and the straightforward character make it quite as fast as the other routes...always remembering that in the winter time the Great North Road is much the safest."
Perhaps surprisingly, Northumberland is a great county for gardens to visit. One of my favorites is Herterton House and here's a little map that suggests several others.
Lincolnshire
©Biff Vernon 2001, 2002, 2003