The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the

Anglo-Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England. The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...

between

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

and the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

. The English section is within the

Northumberland National Park Northumberland National Park is the northernmost National Parks of England and Wales, national park in England. It covers an area of more than between the Scotland, Scottish border in the north to just south of Hadrian's Wall. The park lies en ...

. The range includes

The Cheviot The Cheviot () is an extinct volcano and the highest summit in the Cheviot Hills and in the county of Northumberland. Located in the extreme north of England, it is a walk from the Scottish border and, with a height of above sea-level, is lo ...

(the highest hill), plus Hedgehope Hill to the east, Windy Gyle to the west, and Cushat Law and Bloodybush Edge to the south. The hills are sometimes considered a part of the

Southern Uplands The Southern Uplands () are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas (the others being the Central Lowlands and the Highlands). The term is used both to describe the geographical region and to col ...

of Scotland as they adjoin the uplands to the north. Since the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

runs through the region, the hills are also considered a part of the northern

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...

although they are separated from the Cheviot Hills by the

Tyne Gap The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters ...

, part of which lies within the southern extent of the Northumberland National Park. The Cheviot Hills are primarily associated with geological activity from approximately 480 to 360 million years ago, when the continents of

Avalonia Avalonia was a microcontinent in the Paleozoic era. Crustal fragments of this former microcontinent are terranes in parts of the eastern coast of North America: Atlantic Canada, and parts of the East Coast of the United States, East Coast of the ...

and

Laurentia Laurentia or the North American craton is a large continental craton that forms the Geology of North America, ancient geological core of North America. Many times in its past, Laurentia has been a separate continent, as it is now in the form of ...

collided, resulting in extensive volcanic activity (the Caledonian orogeny) which created a granite outcrop surrounded by lava flows. The area enjoys a general right to roam under both the English

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), also known as the CRoW Act and "Right to Roam" Act, is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament affecting England and Wales which came into force on 30 November 2000. Right to roam The Act impleme ...

and the Scottish

Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which establishes statutory public rights of access to land and makes provisions under which bodies representing rural and crofting communities may buy land. Provisions ...

. The Southern Cheviots include the Otterburn Training Area, the UK's largest firing range, where the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

train up to 30,000 soldiers a year. The area is the traditional home of the Cheviot sheep breed. It is also the home of Cheviot primitive feral goats, classified as a "Native Breed at Risk".

Description

is the highest hill in the range at . Other notable tops are Hedgehope Hill, Windy Gyle, Cushat Law and Bloodybush Edge. Of the hills mentioned, only Windy Gyle has its summit on the border. The rest are all within England. The English section is protected within the

. Although many of the summits top , most have a relatively low

prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

. Only three rise or more above the surrounding terrain: The Cheviot itself, Shillhope Law and Housedon Hill, a small northern outlier (see Marilyn). To the south-west the Cheviots merge into the

Kielder Forest Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority o ...

group of hills. Breamish Valley Cheviot Hills - geograph

There is a broad split between the northern and the southern Cheviots. The former encompass most of the high ground and are pierced by five main valleys: * College Valley * Harthope * Breamish * Bowmont * Heatherhope valley The southern Cheviot Hills encompass the slopes running down to the valley of the River Coquet while the northern Cheviot Hills end near the valley of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

Geology

At the centre of the range is an outcrop of Early

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

, the Cheviot Pluton, which is surrounded by

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

and Devonian arc

andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

lava flows,

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

s and

agglomerate Agglomerate (from the Latin ''agglomerare'' meaning "to form into a ball") is a coarse accumulation of large blocks of volcanic material that contains at least 75% bombs. Volcanic bombs differ from volcanic blocks in that their shape records flui ...

s of the Cheviot Volcanic Formation. These are in turn intruded by a swarm of igneous dykes with a predominantly

calc-alkaline The calc-alkaline magma series is one of two main subdivisions of the subalkaline magma series, the other subalkaline magma series being the tholeiitic series. A magma series is a series of compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic ...

chemistry arranged radially around the

pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

. Both the pluton and the volcanic rocks owe their origin to the northward

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

of the

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramaf ...

attached to the former micro-continent of

beneath the

n plate in the course of the

Caledonian orogeny The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building cycle recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Caledonides, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events tha ...

during the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

and

periods. The surrounding lower ground is formed from Carboniferous Limestone, though much of it is obscured by superficial deposits of

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

age.The topology and climate of Northumberland National Park

History

Hillside and woodland plantations west of Hethpool - geograph

To the south of the Cheviot hills was the site of the

Battle of Otterburn The Battle of Otterburn, also known as the Battle of Chevy Chase, took place according to Scottish sources on 5 August 1388, or 19 August according to English sources, as part of the continuing border skirmishes between the Scots and Eng ...

in 1388, and possibly a separate bloody battle between English and Scottish forces, after which only 110 people survived, which is described in "

The Ballad of Chevy Chase "The Ballad of Chevy Chase" is an English ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad 162 (Roud 223Sehere/ref>). There are two extant ballads under this title, both of which narrate the same story. As ballads existed within oral tradition before being wri ...

". (Note the origin of the border skirmishes between Percy, the

Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...

, and the Scottish

Earl of Douglas This page is concerned with the holders of the forfeit title Earl of Douglas and the preceding Scottish feudal barony, feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1 ...

may have been a hunt that strayed into Scotland and was interpreted as an invasion.) Two other related battles were the Battle of Homildon Hill, fought within the Cheviots near

Wooler Wooler ( ) is a town in Northumberland, England. It lies on the edge of the Northumberland National Park, near the Cheviot Hills. It is a popular base for walkers and is referred to as the "Gateway to the Cheviots". As well as many shops and ...

in 1402, and the Battle of Hedgeley Moor, fought north of Powburn in 1464.

Access

Most of the range on the English side is mapped as 'open country' and hence there is a general right to roam over it as prescribed in the

. Traditional rights of access in Scotland, bolstered by the

, provide for similar access for the public to the north of the border. In addition, a sparse network of public bridleways and footpaths stretches around the area, often providing useful means of access from the lower ground onto the open hills. The northernmost leg of the

runs from Byrness in England to

Kirk Yetholm Kirk Yetholm ('kirk yet-ham') is a village in the Scottish Borders region of Scotland, southeast of Kelso, Scotland, Kelso and less than west of the Anglo-Scottish Border, border. The first mention is of its church in the 13th century. Its ...

in Scotland. It is the longest, and most exposed, on the whole of the national trail. The Way follows the high level Border Ridge (literally the England–Scotland boundary fence) for nearly after the ascent to the ridge from Byrness. The terrain is boggy and remote, and two mountain refuge huts are situated on the Way for those too tired or weather-beaten to continue. The town of

in the

Cheviot Fringe Cheviot Fringe ( ) is a geographical region and a Natural England designated National Character Area (or NCA) located in the county Northumberland in northern England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part ...

(the lowlands bordering the hills to the east) is often cited as the "Gateway to the Cheviots" as it is the largest town in the Cheviot region; the town also has easy access being on the major A697 road. Many walking routes have been established, such as: * Breamish Valley Hillfort Trail * Three Forts Foray, a 5.5 mile walk that takes roughly 3.5 hours to complete. The walking difficulty has been graded as moderate. * Humbleton Hillfort * Ring Chesters Round * Hethas Hike * Hethpool to the Curr, a 11.5 mile walk that takes roughly 7 hours to complete. Graded as strenuous. * Barrowburn Family Walk * Harthope Valley Walk * Yeavering Bell Walk * Hethpool Wild Goat Walk * Linhope Spout Walk * Hethpool Linn and Yeavering Bell Walk * Kirknewton Hillfort Trail * Dunsdale to West Hill * College Valley Walk * The Shepherds Cairn Walk * Reaveley Farn Family Stroll.

Otterburn Army Training Estate

The Otterburn Army Training Estate (ATE) covers about of the Southern Cheviots, approximately 23% of the Northumberland National Park. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and used for training some 30,000 soldiers a year. Otterburn is the UK's largest firing range, and is in frequent use — artillery can be clearly heard from

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

to the north-east and Fontburn Reservoir in the south. Because of this, recreational use of the area is restricted, although it is possible for the public to use some parts of the estate subject to the relevant bylaws. The MoD publishes a booklet, ''Walks on Ministry of Defence Lands'', which offers advice on this matter (see link below). Otterburn Public Information Leaflet pdf
hsmt.infoNicholas Schoon (26 April 1997

''The Independent''Northumberland National Park – Otterburn Ranges
northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk

Peaks over 500 metres in the Cheviot Hills

The peaks marked with a warning sign ( Nuvola apps important

) lie within the danger area of the ATE Otterburn artillery range.

References

External links

–

{{Authority control