These woods and the steep sided Howburn valley once held coal mines, from as recent as the 1920s right back to Roman times. You can see some traces of the industry from the old bricks that are occasionally used to line the path. You might also see some acient 'bell mines' in the woods, pits that were dug and expanded out underground to dig out the coal seams. The large meadow on the left as you come back from the walk is called 'Pestilence Close' and supposedly the Morpeth inhabitants who died in the plague of 1665 are buried here. The Romano-British smetled iron in the valley, and traces of their works also exist. Hard to believe so much industry existed in what is now a green nature reserve.
While not on the walk itself, the Victorian 'County Lunatic Asylum' existed where the new housing estate is now at the edge of the woods. A little further up, you might see what is left of the Morpeth racecourse, where horses were raced in the 1730s. The grandstand is long gone, but you can see traces of the oval track in the fields