IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
WYLAM, NE41 8BL

The track on the left leads past The Rift Farm and continues south-east to the rear of Stephenson's Cottage. The path on the right has been diverted around the farm cottages, crosses Rift Dene and heads for Wylam.

The farm takes its name from the nearby Rift Dene, a narrow wooded valley.

The Robin's Pincushion (also known as the 'Bedeguar Gall') is a gall caused by the larvae of a tiny gall wasp, Dipoloepis rosae. The gall is widespread and common, and can be found developing on the stems of Dog-roses during late summer; it acquires its reddish colour as it matures in autumn. Each gall holds many grubs, which feed on the gall tissues throughout the winter and emerge in spring as adults. The adults reproduce asexually and only a tiny number are male. https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/galls/robins-pincushion The countryman's name, Robin's Pincushion, is very old and refers to the woodland sprite, Robin Goodfellow, another name for Puck, the son of Oberon, and the fairies' jester. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_(folklore)

It is sometimes considered that the word 'dog' has a disparaging meaning in this context, indicating 'worthless' as compared with cultivated garden roses. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the English name is a direct translation of the plant's name from classical Latin, rosa canina, itself a translation of the Greek κυνόροδον ('kunórodon'); the name arose out of the belief in classical times that the root was a cure for the bite of a mad dog. It is known to have been used to treat the bite of rabid dogs in the 18th and 19th centuries. The origin of its name may be related to the hooked prickles on the plant that have resemblance to a dog's canines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_canina

See description here Image Photo taken on footpath west of Rift Dene in opposite direction to that shown here Image

The scrub woodland conceals foundations of buildings (mine engine houses and Rift Cottages), a spoil heap, and (on the right) the start of a waggonway which led due south towards North Wylam Railway Station. Hope Pit was known locally as 'Chuckee Pit' and was worked periodically during the C18th and C19th, although finally closed in 1893-94.