Breamish Valley Archaeology Project
Breamish Valley 
Breamish Valley
The Breamish Valley Archaeology project is a joint venture between the Northumberland National Park Authority, the University of Durham Department of Archaeology, and the Northumberland Archaeology Group. The project began life in 1993 as the ‘Ingram and Upper Breamish Valley Landscape Project’, the original Research Design for which states that it was set up with two main aims:
“To build an environmental, chronological and historical framework for the large number of visible monuments in the landscape, and to provide information and interpretation for management and public enjoyment of the archaeology of the area.”
Why Here?
The original inspiration for the project arose from the desire to better understand the results of the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments (England)’s splendid South East Cheviots Survey, which covered the whole of the Breamish Valley. The initial five year project was extended by three years under the umbrella of Northumberland National Park Authority’s Discovering our Hillfort Heritage project, and a further two years’ fieldwork occurred in 2002-03 within phase II of the project.
Every year since 1994, with the single exception of 2001 (when the planned fieldwork was cancelled due to Foot & Mouth Disease and a small scale investigation of the Old Vicarage garden was completed instead) Summer (and occasional Easter) fieldwork campaigns have been mounted in the hills of Ingram Farm.
Ingram Farm includes three splendid hillforts (Brough Law, Middle Dean and Wether Hill, which differ greatly from each other in character) and two other sites which could be considered as hillforts (Cochrane Pike and Ingram Hill). These sit within a complex multi-period landscape which includes visible remains from the Bronze Age onwards, including extensive rigg and furrow field systems and agricultural terraces.
The project has produced a comprehensive annual report each year, and these are available for consultation at the Northumberland National Park Authority headquarters in Hexham.
