Bolt's Law Standing Engine

The Bolt’s Law Incline Engine House, near Rookhope, in Weardale was, according to the Northern Echo, the setting for WH Auden’s poem New Year Letter, which he published in 1940. He was apparently a frequent visitor to Weardale, which you can look down upon from the hill.

As the name suggests, this was the site of an Engine House that hauled wagons of iron ore, lead and limestone up from the Wear Valley. From here the line connected to the Stanhope and Tyne Railway.