The Lancastrian troops had just been routed by the Yorkists in the Battle of Hexham, more or less the last armed conflict in a seemingly endless war.
Fleeing the ruin of her army and of her hopes was the Queen of England, a certain Margaret of Anjou. With her was her son the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne.
Open flight being impossible they fled up a wild ravine now known as West Dipton Burn.
The legend gets a little convoluted at this point, but basically the Queen and her small party were set upon by robbers. No dainty flower this lady, she hautily informed the bandits that they had been given a great gift...a chance to set right their many misdeeds by aiding her and their future king.
And it worked. They took her in and sheltered her in their redoubt, a small well hidden cave known to this day as Queen Margaret's Cave.
A fine story, even if scholars are pretty sure Margaret was in France at the time and the whole thing is romantic clap trap.
But that is by no means a reason to defer a mission of exploration, and on a break from excavating at Vindolanda my pal Pete and I set out to find the Queen's Cave.
We talked to a few locals. Some had heard of it, others had not. Of the group who had been down looking for it, I could only find one who had actually located the spot. Armed with sketchy clues and a map that we had been told was inaccurate we set off.
First a bus into Hexham. Then a tedious uphill trek down first East Gate then Dipton Mill roads. A welcome site indeed met us when we reached the Dipton Mill Inn. A classic one room pub with a smoky wood fire and superb ales. It would be easy to become an armchair explorer at this point, but we were made of sterner stuff.
The West Dipton burn is right next to the pub and a public footpath begins on the north side of the ravine. A charming stream runs down the middle of things and you will have to frequently ford it on well placed stones as the ravine alternates narrow stretches to the north and south.
It is a very pretty spot.
This may be an excellent time for a bit of practical advice. You will not have a successful hunt for the cave under anything but favorable conditions. The trail is faint and in some places entirely debateable. Fording the stream if it has been raining recently is not possible...those huge 200 foot cliffs just funnel the water through it. There were tangles of downed trees to negotiate. And when we went in early May there was not a great deal of underbrush to obscure our views. Nor were there the midges for which Northumberland is infamous later in the season.
So, pick your day wisely.
At last, after about a mile and a half of pretty but difficult going we looked up on the southern wall of the burn and saw it.
The cave is not large, even short robbers would have been unable to stand. A regal personage presumably wearing a tall hat would also have a problem. It seems likely that there is a crumbling of rock and sand off the roof that would have to be cleared from the floor to see the true dimensions.
Looking very closely mid photo there is a tiny bright green object. A lost royal emerald? It seems to be the bottom of a soft drink bottle, probably a geo cache.
Here Pete is doing a very creditable robber impression.
After your long trek in there is an easier option for getting out. Cross back to the north side of the stream. Go back about 50 yards and look carefully for a path running diagonally up the north slope. It runs into a nice path along the field wall on the north ridge. From there you have several options for getting your tired legs back to civilization.
8 comments:
My son Haesten(age 8)faithfull newfoundland Pom(age 9 months)and I just found it (April 5 2016) only th OS to guide us. It is not overly difficult with keen eyes, though the cave itself is not directly visible.All of the above is likely true esp. if river in spate. It is a lovely walk in the spring sunshine but only for the pretty able bodied.
My fiancé and I went today (17 May). OMG it was hard work. the path is eradicated in parts by fallen timber and lack of traffic. The river needs to be crossed multiple times; a times we almost gave up as the route seemed impossible, and we never found the cave. I don't think we even got to the waterfall bit because the path disappears and you're left with a gruelling scrabble. We did find the diagonal path to the north but only because another couple came down it and they looked totally lost. The walk back was nice, the woods are stunning, cannot wait to do it a gain but get access from the west side, then have a pint at the pub when its open again
ross
Sounds like you were close....very close. But this is not easy as I hoped I made clear in that years ago account of our little adventure. Since then I understand the area has had quite a lot of heavy rain and the effects on downed trees, silt and path destruction are likely significant. Even the cave may be more in filled and harder to spot.
In the original account of our trek I mention that there seemed to be a geocache on the site. With GPS now being pretty universal that would make it easier. I'm not sure about the etiquette of making cache locations public, but if a person just happened to go to geocaching.com and searched for a site called Queen's Cave Gorge I bet it is pretty close.
Or email me at the address listed on the blog, I'll add what info I can and give you the magic coordinates. Highly recommend the pub btw, long may they continue to pour.
No Northumbria this year. Covid and all. Stuck on this side of the Atlantic.
Tim Wolter
Visited on a really rainy Sunday with the family (July 5th 2020) - only heard about it a month ago despite living in the Tyne Valley for 20 years! A description we had read said that it was only 20 minutes from the footbridge but it turned out to be a lot longer than that - hard work with the path disappearing at some points. Initially thought that it was in the first cliffs on the south bank and by the time we had reached the waterfall and fork in the stream we assumed that we had missed it. Just spotted it as we were about to turn upwards - the track up to it is visible if you are looking for it but not obvious. Unfortunately didn't have a torch/phone with us but crawled inside a bit of a way (surprisingly roomy). Going straight up the opposite side of the valley easily leads to the top path. Went on a bit a whim in the late afternoon but next time will bring some food and a phone/torch and make a day out of it (perhaps follow the top path onwards up the valley until it reaches the Catton-Hexham B road). Would definitely recommend to anyone wanting a bit of an adventure (as well as a chance to visit a truly unspoilt corner of Northumberland) and would just say to persist - it's a surprisingly long way up the stream and the valley seems to flatten several times before you finally reach it (and perhaps visit when the pub reopens - it's quite an effort)! Thanks very much for an excellent description.
Hi Tim. Been trying to find this cave my whole life. Finally today I thought I’d find it following these instructions. I still couldn’t find it. Is it before or after the waterfall? I’m so disappointed that I couldn’t see it. Could you let me know the gps please? You can email them to me at Amy.towler7@gmail.com. I’d be eternally grateful. Thanks
Likewise, I made an attempt to find it yesterday, just by going off the OS Map.
Took me almost 2hours to navigate from the pub to the Catton B road, due to the number of deadfall trees, nettles and brambles, and the repeated crossing of the river!
Great fun, but after failing came on the internet and found this site. Co-ordinates would be welcome to generalandyhoth@gmail.com !
Worst thing about the walk, was the pub was still shut due to covid :-(
Is it near devils water?
Not really near Devil's Water. It is along West Dipton Burn which is a tributary.
TW
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