Hannah's Meadows is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

in the

Teesdale Teesdale is a dale, or valley, located principally in County Durham, North East England. It is one of the Durham Dales, which are themselves part of the North Pennines, the northernmost part of the Pennine uplands. The dale is named after ...

district of south-west

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It consists of three fields, located at Low Birk Hatt Farm, on the north side of

Blackton Reservoir Blackton Reservoir is a reservoir in County Durham, England. It is situated in Baldersdale, about west of Cotherstone, where the River Balder joins the River Tees. It is owned by Northumbrian Water and supplies water for Teesdale. Blackton ha ...

, in

Baldersdale Baldersdale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in England, northwest of Barnard Castle. Its principal settlements are Hury and Briscoe. Baldersdale lies within the traditional boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire. U ...

, some west of the village of

Cotherstone Cotherstone is a village and civil parish in the district and county of Durham, England. Its historic county is Yorkshire, being just south of the River Tees. Cotherstone cheese is a celebrated delicacy of the village, famed since at least 1 ...

. The site is named after

Hannah Hauxwell Hannah Bayles Tallentire Hauxwell (1 August 192630 January 2018) was an English farmer who was the subject of several television documentaries. She first came to public attention after being covered in an ITV documentary, ''Too Long a Winter'', ...

, whose farm it was for over 50 years. Because Miss Hauxwell employed traditional farming practices, with no re-seeding and no artificial fertilisers, the meadows are thought to be the least improved in upland Durham, and, as a result, have a very rich floral composition, including rare species such as frog orchid, ''

Coeloglossum viride ''Dactylorhiza viridis'', the frog orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. It has also been treated as the only species ''Coeloglossum viride'' of the monotypic genus ''Coeloglossum''. Description The plant ari ...

'', moonwort, ''

Botrychium lunaria ''Botrychium lunaria'' is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae known by the common name moonwort or common moonwort. It is the most widely distributed moonwort, growing throughout the Northern Hemisphere across Eurasia and from Alaska ...

'', and adder's-tongue, ''

Ophioglossum vulgatum ''Ophioglossum vulgatum'', commonly known as adder's-tongue, southern adder's-tongue or adder's-tongue fern, is a species of fern in the family ''Ophioglossaceae''. The chloroplast genome was reported to have a size of 138,562 base pairs. Descr ...

''. In 1988, Low Birk Hatt Farm was purchased by the

Durham Wildlife Trust Durham Wildlife Trust is a Charitable organization#Registration, registered charity that was established in 1971, originally as the Durham County Conservation Trust, becoming Durham Wildlife Trust in 1988. The Trust operates across the area of ...

, which now manages it as Hannah's Meadows nature reserve; one of the farm buildings—which are excluded from the SSSI—has been renovated as an unmanned visitor centre. In order to preserve the special characteristics of the site, the Trust continues to manage the farm in the traditional manner. *

Norse Mythology of Baldersdale

River Balder and Hunder Beck

The nature reserve is beside

and is close to the point where the ''

River Balder The Balder is an English river that rises on the eastern slope of Stainmore Common in the Pennine Chain and flows eastwards for about , before joining the River Tees at Cotherstone. The River Balder is in County Durham, but until 1974, it wa ...

''and ''Hunder Beck ''meet and enter the reservoir. The ''

'' is named after the

Norse God In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabit Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature, ...

" ''Balder''".* The ''Hunder Beck ''is named after the

" ''Thunder''".* According to

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, " ''Balder''" and " ''Thunder''" are both sons of the

"''

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

''". The ''

'' rises from its source on Stainmore Common and flows in an easterly direction until it joins the ''

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

'' near

. According to

Roger of Wendover Roger of Wendover (died 6 May 1236), probably a native of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was an English chronicler of the 13th century. At an uncertain date he became a monk at St Albans Abbey; afterwards he was appointed prior of the cell ...

, the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

ruler

Eric Bloodaxe Eric Haraldsson ( , ; c.930−954), nicknamed Bloodaxe ( , ) and Brother-Slayer (), was a Norwegians#Viking Age, Norwegian king. He ruled as List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 932 to 934, and twice as List of monarchs of Northumbr ...

was betrayed and killed on

Stainmore Stainmore is a remote geographic area in the Pennines on the border of Cumbria, County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name is used for a civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness of Cumbria, England, including the villages of North Stainmor ...

in AD 954, while on the run and after being expelled from

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. Following his death a famous poem was written about him called ''

Eiríksmál Eiríksmál is a Skaldic poetry, skaldic poem composed c. 954 at the behest of the Norway, Norwegian queen Gunnhild, Mother of Kings, Gunnhild in honour of her slain consort Erik Bloodaxe. Only the beginning of the poem is extant. According to Rog ...

''.

Eiríksmál Verse 3

In verse 3 the Norse God "''

''" exclaims to the legendary poet "''

Bragi Bragi (Old Norse) is the skaldic god of poetry in Norse mythology. Etymology The theonym Bragi probably stems from the masculine noun ''bragr'', which can be translated in Old Norse as 'poetry' (cf. Icelandic ''bragur'' 'poem, melody, wise' ...

''":* the legendary poet '' ” Bragi ” '' replies :

Shacklesborough and Goldsborough Carr

''Shacklesborough ''and ''Goldsborough Carr ''are isolated, flat-topped hills that dominate the ''Baldersdale ''landscape. * Shacklesborough ( is about South West of Hannah's Meadows * Goldsborough Carr ( is about South East of Hannah's Meadows According to

Norse Mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, ''Balder'' died after the mischief-maker ''

Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...

'' tricked the blind ''

Höðr Höðr ( , Latin Hotherus; often anglicized as Hod, Hoder, or Hodur) is a god in Norse mythology. The blind son of Odin, he is tricked and guided by Loki into shooting a mistletoe arrow which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr. Accord ...

'' into killing ''Balder ''with a spear made from

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...

. ''Odin ''was so outraged by the death of his son ''Balder'', rather than killing ''Loki ''outright, he arranged for ''Loki ''to be bound and ''"shackled"'', so that he would spend the remainder of his days (until

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...

at least) being tortured. The story is narrated in the poem

Lokasenna ''Lokasenna'' (Old Norse: 'The Flyting of Loki', or 'Loki's Verbal Duel') is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki. It is written in the ljóðaháttr metre, typical for wisdom verse. ''L ...

.* Several stone crosses or fragments have been found in the local area that are believed to depict'' "the bondage of Loki''". * The Loki Stone, St Stephen's Church, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, England. * '' Loki, Archaeological record'', Gainford, County Durham, England. *

Gosforth Cross The Gosforth Cross is a large stone monument in St Mary's churchyard at Gosforth in the English county of Cumbria, dating to the first half of the 10th century AD. Formerly part of the kingdom of Northumbria, the area was settled by Scandinavi ...

, Cumbria, England. The name'' Goldsborough'' is derived from a story about ''Loki'' in the poem ''Reginsmál''.*

Sources

Online

* *
Eiríksmál
in Old Norse from «Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad» Norway.

Books

* * * * *

Notes

Citations

{{SSSIs County Durham Sites of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham Nature reserves of the Durham Wildlife Trust Meadows in County Durham