Slaggyford then and now - Haltwhistle Walking Festival route 13

This route takes in the history of Slaggyford, anciently known as "Slagginford". It is suggested that the name means "muddy ford". Another explanation is that the ancient village was further north, where a ford crossed the Knar Burn on a bed of solidified clay known locally as "slag", hence the name. At one time, it was the market town of the valley, with its own Crown-granted annual fair every September but was eclipsed when Alston's wealth from mining made it the capital of "Alstonedale". When the railway arrived in the 1850s, things looked up for a while and a lot of coal and lime came from around the village.