Steng Cross Gibbet

Steng Cross Gibbet: On the eastern moorlands of The Cheviot Hills stands this grisly reminder of our turbulent past, Steng Cross Gibbet, complete with representational swinging wooden head! Summoning up spirits from the past, a most gruesome, memorable place where justice and punishment meet.

Winter's Gibbet, to give it its correct title, was the place where William Winter was strung up for killing an old woman in 1791 and placed beside the former Drover's Track from Elsdon, now a tarred road, where all could be reminded of what sort of justice would be dolled out to the guilty.

Steng Cross itself actually rests at the foot of the Gibbet and consists of just the stone base of a Saxon Cross which formed a boundary marker beside this ancient road. Even on a semi-sunny evening in August this place of big skies and rolling vastness is quite invigorating, when scudding clouds, blown by an unrelenting breeze cast their magic, adding to the mystery and atmosphere of this unique spot.

Removal of a wooden splinter from the Gibbet is supposedly a cure for toothache, if rubbed on the offending tooth!

Location: 4 miles S E of Elsdon, off B 6341 or B 6342 (off A696), North Northumberland.

Rated for a visit: 8/10.