Rookhope Arch

Looking at this cool little arch in Rookhope you may be thinking it's part of a bridge, but why doesn't it span the stream and where did it actually take you?

The answer is simple. It's not an arch from a bridge, it's really one of six arches that carried a two-mile horizontal flue chimney over the ground and high into the moors.

The village had a lead-smelting works in the early 1800s and needed to release any poisonous fumes well away from the houses. The nearby barren moors seemed a perfect choice and additionally this long, sloping flue would allow the fumes to cool and lead particles could be recovered.

On the moors at the end of the flue would have been a wooden chimney where the gas would have escaped.

Just over the road you can see the rubble from another part of the flue and so we scrambled up the slope to have a look.

These are remnants of the flue.

We headed back down for one final photo.

And if you fancied looking upon the arch each day, then why not hang this beautiful painting of the arch on your wall by Out and About in County Durham. Check out their Facebook page for more amazing paintings of our fabulous region.