Ancient sites above Pooley Bridge

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Our view

"Cross a Roman road and take in prehistoric artefacts, including an Iron Age fort"

Walk directions

From the car park entrance, go through the gate on the right and then immediately bear right to follow the ascending path.

Where a public footpath signed ‘Dacre’ cuts off down to the right, a worn muddy path climbs the bank to the left. This path leads steeply up the wooded slopes of Dunmallard Hill before levelling off slightly. A final section of steep bank leads over the earth ramparts of the fort and onto the tree-clad summit area. Nearing the highest point, keep left at a fork. Gaps in the foliage show how impressive a viewpoint this would be if the trees were thinned.

Return to the fork just encountered and descend left. Watch carefully for the next split in the path, where you should turn right. Join the footpath near the base of the hill just beyond Point 2 and go left, following the path around the hill anticlockwise. This eventually leads back to the gate at the entrance to the car park at Point 1. Cross over the River Eamont on the B5320 to enter the village of Pooley Bridge. Continue through the village and then turn right after the church, along High Street.

At the junction continue over the crossroads. The road rises and becomes tree-lined before ending at an unsurfaced track. Gates lead onto the moor.

Go through one of the gates and climb the wide track, continuing to where the path levels at a fingerpost and another track crosses. (This is the third, and most obvious, path crossing since leaving the road.)

Turn right along the stony path – the route of the High Street Roman road. Just before it bends right, there is a low, circular, ancient wall of earth and stone on the left. This is the Cockpit, the largest of the prehistoric antiquities on Moor Divock.

Take the path, indistinct at first, left of the Cockpit. This swings left round a marshy area before regaining the original track at Ketley Gate. (A little to the right, White Raise burial cairn is worthy of attention.) Cross the wide track, continuing virtually straight ahead on an ascending path. Turn left at a grassy crossing of paths, making directly for the top left corner of a walled wood above. From here head left along the edge of the high ground and then, almost immediately, bear right along a wide path through the bracken. Keep left at a fork to find the little cairn at the top of Heughscar Hill. The flat summit occupies a commanding position, offering rewarding views.

Walk north along the high ground, keeping left when a clearer path goes right, to pass the broken little limestone crag of Heugh Scar, below to the left. At the end of the scar take a path curling down steeply to the left. Cross a track and continue down, bearing left where a faint path comes in from the right. The line of the High Street Roman road is barely discernible here. Head for the left end of a line of trees, with a huge sycamore above the corner of a stone wall. Descend steeply beside the wall. The path then swings away from the wall to rejoin the outward route just above Point 5. Turn right and return to Pooley Bridge by the same road.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Surfaced roads, stony tracks, grassy tracks, open hillside and woodland trails

Landscape - Village, dale, open fell and woodland

Dog friendliness - Under strict control as sheep and ponies roam open fell

Parking - Dunmallard car park on western edge of Pooley Bridge

Toilets en route - Pooley Bridge village centre

Walks in Cumbria

About the walk

This figure-of-eight walk first climbs a small hill topped by an Iron Age hill-fort before heading on to the open, grassy fellside above Pooley Bridge. It offers extensive views west over Ullswater, north across the stone buildings of Pooley Bridge and east to the Eden Valley and the hills of the...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Cumbria's rugged yet beautiful landscape is best known for the Lake District National Park that sits within its boundaries. It’s famous for Lake Windermere, England’s largest lake, and Derwent Water, ‘Queen of the English Lakes', but other lesser-known areas in the south, such as the Lune Valley and the coastal towns, are secret gems of wide cobbled streets and rolling hills.