Brough

This small town, standing at the point where the Stainmore Pass opens into the Vale of Eden, is, in fact, two settlements: Church Brough and Market Brough. Church Brough is a group of neat houses and cottages clustered around a little market square in which a maypole stands on the site of the former market cross. Brough Castle (English Heritage), built within the ramparts of the Roman camp of Verterae, was constructed to protect the Roman road over Stainmore Pass. The building of this Norman castle was begun by William Rufus in 1095, but it was largely destroyed in 1174 by William the Lion of Scotland. Another fortification restored by the remarkable Lady Anne Clifford, the castle, with its tall keep
60 feet high, is well worth visiting, if only for the superb panorama of the surrounding fells seen from the battlements.

The distinctive low hills that lie to the west of Brough are drumlins - heaps of material deposited by Ice Age glaciers. In this area many drumlins are marked by broad, grassy ridges, remains of ancient lynchets or ploughing strips.

Available Guidebooks for this region:

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