Rookhope is a former lead and fluorspar mining village in the north Pennines. The last mine closed in 1999 but the shaft head at Grove Rake is still visible. The Rookhope Arch at Linztgarth, just outside the village, is part of a horizontal chimney formerly used to carry poisonous fumes from the lead smelting works up to the moor.
The poet, W H Auden, visited the area as a boy and in his poem, New Year Letter (1941), he mentions Rookhope as the place he became aware of himself as an individual person.
“In ROOKHOPE I was first aware, Of self and not-self, Death and Dread…”