Simonside Hills

In a document dated to 1279 Simonside was called Simundessete. By 1580 the name had become Simontside. The name may be a corruption of Sigemund's seat or Sigemund's settlement. Sigemund or Sigmund is the name of an old Germanic hero from the Volsunga Saga and the Nibelungenlied who is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. WW Tomlinson, in his Comprehensive Guide To Northumberland (1916), stated that "Simon of mythology was, it seems, a domestic brewer to King Arthur, identical with the German Sigmund, and very fond of killing dragons". [https://web.archive.org/web/20100227043519/http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/understanding/historyarchaeology/simonsidehills.htm] This points to the possibility that the Simon of Simonside Hill is the Sigemund mentioned in Beowulf and subsequently Norse and Teutonic myths. In Scandinavia and Germany, Sigmund is not generally associated with dragon-slaying, his son Sigurd or Siegfried is. His killing of a dragon was mentioned in Beowulf, however.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

An alternative derivation for the name is a corruption of "seaman's sight", allegedly because the hills are visible from the North Sea. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100227043519/http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/understanding/historyarchaeology/simonsidehills.htm]. This is almost certainly false etymology, however, as the word (ge)sete means seat or settlement and not sight. The Old English word for sight is gesiht [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Sight&searchmode=none] and the old English for seaman is sæmanna[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Seaman&searchmode=none] and thus Seaman's Sight (or "Sæmannas(ge)siht") is unlikely to have become Simundessete in Middle English.

In Rothbury folklore Simonside Hills overlooking Rothbury has a mythical creature called a deaugar (Norse for 'dwarf'). It is said that the creature lures people at night by its lantern light towards bogs or cliffs in order to kill them.[{{cite book|last=Green|first=Malcolm|title=Northumberland Folk Tales|date=2014|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-0-7524-8998-8|location=Stroud, Gloucestershire|pages=20–23}}] The village below the hills Rothbury has an art gallery called Red Deaugar Art Gallery named after the creature.{{Cite web|title=Margaret Bodley Edwards – a talented and remarkable woman who cares about giving artistic opportunities to all|url=https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/arts-and-culture/art/margaret-bodley-edwards-talented-and-remarkable-woman-who-cares-about-giving-artistic-opportunities-all-630133|access-date=2021-01-12|website=www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk|date=19 September 2019 |language=en}} There is also an annual 10-mile winter nighttime trail run in the Simonside Hills celebrating this folklore, called [https://duergar.run/ The Duergar Nightcrawler]

Simonside Hills are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI){{Cite web |title=SSSI detail |url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=S1001798&SiteName=simonside%20hills&countyCode=&responsiblePerson=&SeaArea=&IFCAArea= |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk}}{{Cite web |title=Protected Planet {{!}} Simonside Hills |url=https://www.protectedplanet.net/137533 |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Protected Planet}}. It is protected because of the diversity of habitats found here that include moorland, blanket mire, woodlands and grassland.

Much of the moorland is managed for grouse. In older stands of heather, moss species include Sphagnum capillifolium and Plagiothecium undulatum. Plant species in heather moorland include Lesser twayblade. In the blanket bog, plant species include cloudberry, bog myrtle, common butterwort and round-leaved sundew.

Woodland is found on valley slopes. Tree species include alder, downey birch, rowan, sessile oak and juniper.

Part of Simonside Hills SSSI is owned by the Ministry of Defence.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-06 |title=Mapping the habitats of England’s ten largest institutional landowners |url=https://whoownsengland.org/2020/10/06/mapping-the-habitats-of-englands-ten-largest-institutional-landowners/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=Who owns England? |language=en}}

Up to 1919 one of the hills of Simonside was the origin (meridian) of the 6 inch and 1:2500 Ordnance Survey maps of Northumberland. After that the maps of Northumberland were drawn according to the meridian of Brandon Down in Durham.{{cite web|url=https://www.charlesclosesociety.org/files/153Meridians.pdf|title=198 years and 153 meridians, 152 defunct|date=|website=Charles Close Society}}

Vera, an ITV crime drama, had an episode that was filmed at Simonside Hills, this being Darkwater (Season 8 Episode 4).{{Citation|last=Jones|first=Lee Haven|title=Darkwater|date=2018-01-28|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7077356/|type=Crime, Drama, Mystery|others=Brenda Blethyn, Kenny Doughty, Jon Morrison, Kingsley Ben-Adir|publisher=ITV Studios|access-date=2021-01-13}}{{Cite web|title=Discover the setting of ITV's detective drama Vera|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/travel/2018-02-04/discover-the-setting-of-itvs-detective-drama-vera/|access-date=2021-01-12|website=Radio Times|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Hodgson|first=Barbara|date=2020-01-16|title=Where is Vera's filmed? Check out locations used in the ITV drama|url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/vera-being-filmed-series-eight-13246656|access-date=2021-01-12|website=ChronicleLive|language=en}}{{Citation|title="Vera" Silent Voices (TV Episode 2012) - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2118476/locations|access-date=2021-01-12}}

• Billsmoor Park and Grasslees Wood SSSI
• High Cove

{{Reflist}}

• Grice, F, Folk Tales of the North Country (Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd, London & Edinburgh, 1944) pp130–133

{{commons category}}

• [http://thenmc.org.uk/onlineguide/index.php?v=3&s=3&id=8&sid=8 From the Northumbrian Mountaineering Club]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070926221749/http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/understanding/historyarchaeology/simonsidesacredmountain/simonsidetheduergar.htm Grice's version of the story of "The Duergar"]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070926221802/http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/understanding/historyarchaeology/simonsidesacredmountain/simonsidestoriesandfolklore.htm Simonside Folklore]

Category:Hills of Northumberland

Category:Northumbrian folklore

Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Northumberland

Category:Special Areas of Conservation in England