IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Catcleugh, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, NE19 1TY

"The Chattlehope we see today, sitting in ivy-trimmed isolation on the shore of Catcleugh Reservoir, dates from 1901. An engraved date-stone on its frontage proves it. But parts of the house are much older, and have moved in space as well as time. The original Chattlehope Farm was built when Queen Anne, not Queen Victoria, ruled, but its original site is now under fathoms of water. Old fashioned features – such as the triangular 'eyebrow' pediments above the three front windows – were probably among the stone salvaged when Chattlehope had to be moved out of the way of the Catcleugh Reservoir. In 1899, it was agreed that desperate measures were needed to improve the water supply for sprawling Tyneside. A new reservoir was needed, and the Chattlehope valley in Redesdale was chosen for sacrifice." 'Breeding ground of a terrier', Hexham Courant, 30th November 2009 The date stone above the door records the rebuild in 1901, while within the pediment are inscribed stones with the initials G.H. and E.F. which came from the older house. They refer to Gabriel Hall, High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1706, and his wife, who owned Chattlehope as part of their huge Redesdale Estates. Elsdon Lairds by J. C. Hodgson in History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club (1914)

For description see Image

View across Catcleugh Reservoir to Chattlehope and Castle Crag Forest. For the same view in summer see Image

Many isolated homesteads in Northumberland and southern Scotland have wind turbines to supplement their electricity supply. This outhouse at Chattlehope (Catcleugh Reservoir can be seen in the background) also sports solar panels.

In the distance, above Byrness Forest rises Byrness Hill and Houx Hill, the route of the Pennine Way to the north.

Lumsdon Law rises above Ramshope on the north side of Catcleugh Reservoir.

The mouth of the burn where it joins Catcleugh reservoir, near Chattlehope. Echo Rigg is the wooded hill in the background, the hill to the left is Lumsdon Law.

Sloping diagonally up to the right are the remains of the self-acting inclined plane used to convey sandstone blocks from a quarry on Chattlehope Crag for use in the building of Catcleugh Reservoir in the early 1900s.