Bastle: Shilla Hill

A crumbling stone tower sits alone on moorland south of Hexham - that's Shilla Hill Bastle, and it's the sort of place you either drive straight past or spend twenty minutes picking through nettles to reach. I'd recommend the latter, though wear proper boots.

Bastles were defensive farmhouses built in the 1600s when border raids between England and Scotland made life genuinely dangerous. This one's been reduced to rubble walls and a lot of guesswork, but standing there you get it - why someone built thick stone here, why they designed it to survive attacks from horsemen. The tower would have held livestock on the ground floor and the family above, with small windows and heavy doors. Simple, brutal, effective.

It's not a polished heritage site with interpretation boards. You're reading archaeology, essentially, and that appeals to people who actually care about history rather than those after a photo opportunity. Allow thirty minutes to scramble around and absorb the landscape. The moorland context matters - this was frontier country, unforgiving and exposed.

Free to visit, accessible year-round, though winter mud makes the approach grim. Given you're near Wild Northumbrian Tipis or Hesleyside Huts, both excellent bases, Shilla Hill works as a quiet morning walk rather than a full day's activity. Pair it with nearby sites or use it as a thinking stop on the way elsewhere. Not for families expecting excitement, but proper worth the detour if you're interested in how people actually lived when living was harder.