Broomhope Spoil Heaps

When you see these huge green fingers jutting out of the landscape in Ridsdale, you're probably thinking the same as me. "Is this the resting place of the Jolly Green Giant from the 80s sweetcorn adverts?"

But no, these are the Broomhope Spoil Heaps, leftovers from a 19th century ironstone boom that completely transformed this quiet valley.

We thought initially they might have been some mega ancient barrows or some weirdly formed hills, but in fact it's just half a million tons of industrial waste, left behind from mining!

It's difficult to tell the scale from here, but they are massive. That little orange speck you might be able to see on one of the fingers is a cow.

Back in the 1830s, this place was anything but quiet. The nearby Ridsdale Iron Works was set up to tap into the ironstone running through the valley and it quickly turned into a full-on industrial operation. Mines, kilns, transport lines, the lot.

Then in 1864, Lord William Armstrong stepped in. You know, that Victorian lad who built Cragside and the Elswick Works in Newcastle, then bought Bamburgh Castle. So you can imagine it wasn't a small setup. He even built a branch railway line up the valley to shift the ore out.

And here's the mad bit. Iron from these very mines ended up being used in the High Level Bridge in Newcastle. So this random valley in the middle of nowhere was quietly helping build one of the North East's most iconic structures.

However, it didn't last though and by 1879, cheaper iron ore from Spain flooded in and that was that. The whole thing shut down and the valley just stopped. Usually most old mining sites got flattened, cleaned up or turned into farmland. Or in the case of Northumberlandia, into a beautiful, walkable sculpture.

But not here. The Broomhope Spoil Heaps have just been left exactly as they were for over 150 years. It's a blessing though as we're now witness untouched Victorian industry.

Obviously time has softened them a bit. Grass, moss and gorse have taken over, so from a distance they almost blend in.

The finger shapes aren't random either. The heaps often spread out from where the mine shafts were, so you get these finger-like formations stretching across the landscape.

It's a lovely quiet now and hard to imagine this place once being full of noise, smoke and heavy industry.

You can get a great view of the Broomhope Spoil Heaps from the ground, but try and rent out a hot air balloon for the best views.