Little Salkeld
Little Salkeld is one of a scattering of villages nestling under the Pennines in the broad and peaceful Eden Valley. It is a delightful hamlet, complete with a fully operational watermill and ancient stone circle, and looks out to Cross Fell, the highest point in the Pennines
Little Salkeld Watermill is Cumbria’s only fully operational watermill producing stoneground organic flours by water power. It is a traditional 18th century corn mill, using the power of water to produce a range of flours. Unfortunately during the covid pandemic the mill tours, mill shop, and popular tearoom all closed and remain so today. Now there are two holiday lets instead, but the mill remains operational and its flours can be bought online.
The mill was built in 1745 – a modest affair – taking grain from local farmers to be milled. When the Carlisle Settle Railway was built, which passes through Little Salkeld, there was a big increase in trade and the mill prospered.
The railway station at Little Salkeld is no longer in use, but the viaduct is there, near to the mill. Just north of the village is the impressive Eden Lacy Viaduct, crossing the River Eden.
Long Meg & Her Daughters is one of the finest stone circles in the north of England, the circle has a diameter of about 350 feet, the second biggest in the country. Nearby is Little Meg – one of the smallest stone circles.
Beneath the stones of Long Meg are the remains of the gypsum / anhydrite industries of the Long Meg Plaster and Mineral Co. Ltd. All that remains to be seen now is the old signal box on the railway.
Colonel Lacy, of Salkeld Hall, famous for once trying to blow up the stones of Long Meg Stone Circle, carved five chambers out of the sandstone cliffs by the River Eden. Now known as Lacy’s Caves, they form part of a circuitous walk which includes Long Meg and her Daughters and the flour mill.
About two miles north of Little Salkeld, on the road to Glassonby, is St Michael & All Angels Church, Addingham, with its well preserved Anglo-Saxon hammer-head cross, and Viking hog-back tombstone. Although Addingham is an Anglo-Saxon settlement, there hasn’t been a village here since the 14th Century, when the River Eden changed its course and washed the village away.
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Grid Ref : NY 567360
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