Stonehaugh Totem Poles

The village of Stonehaugh (pronounced Stone-Hoff) is a fabulous destination if you want to do a bit of dark skies star gazing, but on your wander here you will also come across three totem poles.

Although not the originals, these totem poles have stood here for over 50 years.

The village of Stonehaugh was created in the 1950s to house the Forestry Commission team who established Kielder Forest and the initial totem poles were erected 20 years later in 1971.

The poles themselves were an idea of Allan Hutchinson and Joe Potts and soon became a bot of a tourist attraction for the village. However with most outdoor wooden products, decay and rot set in and the poles have had to be replaced roughly each 10 years.

New poles were installed in 1982 and 1992, but after they also decayed, the skyline was left totem pole-ness until the current poles were erected in 2018.

The new poles used three 24m (80ft) larch trees from Warksburn Forest and to help with their longevity, water pipes were inserted to help protect against rot.

The designs on the totem poles are all different. One is traditional, one has animals carved onto it showcasing the local wildlife and the third has designs from Wark Primary School children.