Whittle Dean

		Whittle Dean		click to return home

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		The waters of the Whittle Dean burn

	Like College Wood, Whittle Dean is owned by the Woodland Trust and cared for with respect to its biodiversity. It is also the remnant of ancient semi-natural woodland. It is in Northumberland, north of the village of Ovingham (OS grid reference: NZ072650)	Click above to read the Trust's information board

	Click here to go to the Woodland Trust's on-line information about the wood


	The way into the wood from the footpath from Ovingham — this field and the first part of the wood are in private ownership and still contain small areas of conifer plantation		most of the wood grows either side of the burn that flows north to south, and joins the River Tyne by the village


	The Woodland Trust administer the wood beyond the old flour mill		The ruins of the mill buildings are on either side of the main path through the wood


	The silted up mill pond is now a willow carr		A wall is colonised by plants


	At the heart of the wood there's a spring		alders drink deeply from the spring

	first frog of spring		among the mossy stones of the wood, this one is special to Molly and me


	oak and coppiced hazel near spring and stone		wild garlic and spring leaves		honeysuckle twists into hazels, birches and other trees


	further into the wood there's a weir		it is overlooked by craggy rock faces


	bluebells hint of summer coming		some other flower???


	may blossom nearly out		ferns unfurl


	mother birch reaches skywards		waters eddy downstream		looking upstream

	Whittle Dean isn't only special because it is a small part of surviving semi-natural forest. It is the Greenwood. Entirely part of this world and also open to the Otherworld. It is a sacred place for a host of reasons, some hinted at in the photos above. But there's more. There's things you can't say in photos.

	In the mid-1980s and onwards I celebrated many festivals in the wood. I was never alone, but sometimes I was the only human there. More often, friends and their friends turned up. Sometimes we had to build an extra fire to sit around to tell stories, share food, keep warm and celebrate through the night.

	For a while I built the festival fire near the old mill, but most years we moved deeper into the wood and had our fires near the stone and the spring. We always made offerings at the spring and sometimes lit candles or lamps there. Sometimes we left turnip or pumpkin lamps there at Samhain / Halloween. But we didn't linger by the spring. It is a friendly wood, but there are times when folk from the Otherworld visit and celebrate. They appear to honour the spring as a sacred and powerful place too.

	More than a few people, all unknown to each other, have said something like "I didn't know you'd be this far into the wood, I only found you because I heard the music". They heard flutes or drums or whistles ... but this was always before anyone around our fire (or fires) was making music. I'd send them to the spring to say thanks and tell them not to linger. The blazing festival fire of the "little people" (who are not little, you understand) has been seen by more than a few people — and not all of them were Pagans and some had no idea what they were seeing. But that's not a story for the internet, only for a long winter night, and then only when there's iron at hand.

	At the north end of the wood (across the A69) is the remains of Nafferton Castle. It has been in ruins since the more powerful owner of Prudhoe Castle objected to it — probably before it was actually completed. But the ruins are perhaps better known as Lankin's Hall or Lonkin's Castle.

	Long Lankin or Lonkin is the subject of a folk song that has been performed by many bands. The lyrics are published on the Steeleye Span lyrics online site. Versions of the tune seem to haunt parts of the wood (especially at the craggy bits that drop into the waters), as does Lankin in local folklore. He can be a bogeyman used to threaten children into obeying their parents. But there is something odd about the song. It has been suggested to me that there are echoes of the grail legend here. Perhaps Lonkin is the spear wielder that Perceval saw ... And perhaps his name does go back to medieval legends about the Roman soldier who pierced Jesus' side with a spear (the same spear that had barred Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden allegedly), whose name refers to the spear he wielded (i.e. Lonkin is possibly a transliteration via Latin of the Greek word for a spear or lance). Anyway, anyway, this isn't a "Lonkin Code" or "Holy Blood" Templars conspiracy website so does it matter? Take a walk up the Whittle Dean burn and see what you think. There's more I'm not talking about here.	Beware of Long Lankin that lives amongst the gorse; Beware the moss, beware the moor, beware of Long Lankin Make sure the doors are bolted well Lest Lankin should creep in

	and that seems as good a place as any to stop

Last updated 1 May 2006