The Three Currocks (sometimes spelt “Curricks”) are three prominent stone cairns six miles from Consett on open heather moorland between Muggleswick and Edmundbyers.
They are visible on the skyline from the A68 and other parts of the Derwent Valley. Impressive in appearance, they rise from the remote upland landscape and offer sweeping panoramic views across the Derwent Valley.
Interactive (Google Map Location of The Three Currocks) See below:
Muggleswick has a rich history established before the late 12th century. It was once part of Muggleswick Park, a monastic deer park owned by the Priors of Durham and is first recorded in the Boldon Book of 1183, a northern equivalent of the Domesday Book.
The word “currock” is a Northern English dialect term for a pile of stones, often used to mark boundaries or summits. The precise historical origin of The Three Currocks remains uncertain.
They appear on historical maps, but no books are dedicated solely to the Three Curricks but yhey may have marked territorial boundary markers or routes across the moorland used by shepherds or monks as navigation aids.
Whilst they may have archaeological significance, as a prehistoric marker or burial site, dense heather growth carpets the landscape, and this obscures possible archaeological features hiding underneath, and no formal excavations have ever been carried out.
By Paul Heatherington
