Stainmore

Stainmore is drained by the River Belah to the west and, to the east, the River Balder, Deepdale Beck, and the River Greta.{{cite web|url=https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB102076070620|title=Belah (lower) Water Body|website=DEFRA|accessdate=22 November 2024}} It is crossed by the Roman road from Bowes to Brough, now part of the A66, and formerly by the Stainmore Railway. Each of these lines of communication has made use of the relatively low broad saddle between the higher hills to north and south which is commonly referred to as the Stainmore Gap. The summit of the former railway is around {{convert|420|m|ft|-1}} above sea level, though the roads climb to slightly higher elevations.Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Explorer map sheet OL19 Howgill Fells & Upper Eden Valley The Gap is coincident with the Stainmore Summit Fault which throws the relatively flat-lying Carboniferous rocks of the area down to the south.British Geological Survey 1:50,000 scale geological map sheet no 31 (England & Wales) Brough-under-Stainmore It acted as a conduit for Lake District-originated ice to pass eastwards during one or more glacial periods.

There are several Regionally Important Geological / Geomorphological Sites (RIGS) in the Stainmore area, and Bowes Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The locality gives its name to the Stainmore Trough, a geological structure originating during the Carboniferous period and which lies between the Alston Block to the north and the Askrigg Block to the south.

The place-name 'Stainmore' is first attested in a document of circa 990, where it appears as Stanmoir. It appears as Stanmore in the Charter Rolls for the reign of Henry II, and as Staynmor in the Placita de Quo Warranto of 1292. The name means 'stony moor'.Eilert Ekwall.The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.436.

According to Roger of Wendover, it was where Eric Bloodaxe (d. 954), recently expelled from York, was betrayed and killed, an event which some historians believe to have taken place in a great battle.Roger of Wendover's Flowers of History, Comprising the History of England from the Descent of the Saxons to A. D. 1235 Formerly Ascribed to Matthew Paris, trans. by J. A. Giles, 2 vols (London: Bohn, 1849), I, 256 (s.a. 950) https://archive.org/details/rogerofwendovers01rogemiss.

There is a Roman marching camp at Rey Cross which is a Scheduled Monument{{Cite web |title=Rey Cross Roman temporary camp and signal station, and prehistoric stone circle, Bowes - 1016929 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1016929 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}} and, immediately east of the camp is the Rey Cross itself ({{coord|54.5056|-2.14861|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline|name=Rey Cross}}), also called Rere Cross which is both a Scheduled Monument{{Cite web |title=Rey Cross, 670m west of Old Spital, Bowes - 1016467 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1016467 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}} and a Listed Building{{Cite web |title=REY CROSS, Bowes - 1323025 {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1323025 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.roman-britain.org/places/rey_cross.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219211058/http://www.roman-britain.org/places/rey_cross.htm|archivedate=19 February 2015|title=Roman Marching Camp Rey Cross, Durham|website=Roman-Britain.org}}

The Ecclesiastical parish of Brough with Stainmore has two churches: St Michael's, Brough under Stainmore and St Stephen's, South Stainmore.{{cite web|url=http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parish/570010/|title=Brough with Stainmoor|accessdate=20 June 2015}} St Stephen's was built by Cuthbert Buckell in 1600 and rebuilt by Henry Tufton, 11th Earl of Thanet in 1842–1843.{{cite web|url=http://www.achurchnearyou.com/stainmore-st-stephen/st-stephens-church.html|title=St Stephens Church (Stainmore St Stephen)|accessdate=20 June 2015}}

{{Gallery

|File:The stump of the ancient Rey Cross - geograph.org.uk - 846388.jpg|Rey Cross

|File:St Stephen's Church, South Stainmore - geograph.org.uk - 1527864.jpg|St Stephen’s, South Stainmore

|File:Brough under stainmore st michael.jpg|St Michael's

|File:North Stainmore Chapel - geograph.org.uk - 136762.jpg|North Stainmore Chapel

|File:The Punch Bowl, North Stainmore - geograph.org.uk - 136760.jpg|The Punchbowl

|File:Boundary of south and middle stainmore.JPG|Boundary marker

|File:Boundary of South Stainmore with Kaber.JPG|Boundary with Kaber

|File:Stainmore Pillbox.JPG|Pillbox near summit

}}

{{portal|Cumbria}}

• Listed buildings in Stainmore

{{reflist}}

• {{citation |last=Collingwood |first=W.G. |title=Rey-Cross |journal=Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society |series=Series 2 |doi=10.5284/1063347 |number=27 |date=1927 |pages=1–10 |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/002/1927/vol27/tcwaas_002_1927_vol27_0003.pdf}}
• {{citation|last=Ramsden|first=D.M.|title=From Stainmore to the Tees|publisher=The Dalesman Publishing Company|date=1948}}
• {{citation |last1=Richmond |first1=I.A. |last2=McIntyre |first2=J. |title=The Roman marching camps at Reycross and Crackenthorpe |journal=Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society |series=Series 2 |doi=10.5284/1063141 |number=34 |year=1934 |pages=50–61 |url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2055-1/dissemination/pdf/Article_Level_Pdf/tcwaas/002/1934/vol34/tcwaas_002_1934_vol34_0011.pdf}}
• {{citation|first1=Pip|last1=Robinson|first2=Blaise|last2=Vyner|title=Archaeology on the Stainmore Pass – the A66 Project|publisher=English Heritage|year=1993|url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1108602&recordType=GreyLitSeries|isbn=0 9520836 1 2}}
• {{citation|first1=Blaise|last1=Vyner|first2=Pip|last2=Robinson|first3=R. G.|last3=Annis|first4=John|last4=Pickin|title=Stainmore. The Archaeology of a North Pennine Pass|publisher=Tees Archaeology Monographs 1 and English Heritage|date=2001|isbn=0 9532747 0 5}}

• [http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/stainmore Cumbria County History Trust: Stainmore] (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)

{{commons category|Stainmore|position=left}}

{{Cumbria}}

Category:Geography of Cumbria

Rey Cross

Category:Civil parishes in Cumbria