Home  >  Northumberland

Category: Northumberland

July 17, 2016

Hexham, Northumberland – St Andrew (Hexham Abbey)

I have several hundred photos of Hexham Abbey. Our son Gareth was verger there, we enjoyed worship there, we own a house in Hexham. They have a daily pattern of worship and a choral tradition, places to pray, a website, an excellent guidebook, a Visitors’ Centre, a cafe, and lots of lovely things to photograph. Here is a selection. One of the oldest things in the Abbey must be this Roman tombstone for Flavinus. He was only 25 when he died, but had served in Britain for seven years. It dates to the end of C1, and may well...
Categories Evetts' windows/Northumberland/Personal Comments: 3
July 16, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Exploration 16 – Corbridge Bridge Abutment

My final Wall Exploration was on the evening of Wednesday 8 June. I need to visit the Roman Army Museum on the Wall, which is run by the Vindolanda Trust and has a good cafe and excellent aerial view film. I need to visit the fort at South Shields, and it would be a good idea to blog Jarrow. Further south, the Roman fort at Binchester and Saxon church at Escomb never got the Northernvicar touch. Further north I could walk the Antonine Wall. (Did I mention I walked Hadrian’s Wall?) An evening walk of 2½ miles beside the...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland Comments: 0
July 16, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Exploration 15 – Corbridge Museum and Store

On Thursday 12 May 2016, English Heritage were offering “hands on” Romans exploration at Corbridge as part of the “Museums by Night” season. My evening photos on the last blog were taken before it started. When I booked, and you phone a national number, I checked there was disabled access – when we got there, there wasn’t. Rather annoying. The hands-on session was led by the lass who is Curator and she was very good. She showed us, and usually let us handle, a variety of things. The two right hand photos are of the remains of a small statue...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland Comment: 1
July 16, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Exploration 14 – Corbridge

I have already blogged the village and the church, now let’s have the Roman site, the stores and the Bridge Abutment. This might take a while, and I’ll do three blogs! It is an English Heritage site – website. There’s a good audio guide which I much enjoyed.   I have always known Corbridge as “Corstopitum”, but it is now thought its Roman name was Coria. This means “hosting place”, so it may well have been a meeting place for the peoples of the Tyne Valley before the Romans – archaeologists have found a pre-Roman building under the current...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland Comments: 0
July 15, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Exploration 13 – Vindolanda

Vindolanda is a very special place. All this blog can do is to give a flavour of it. If you haven’t visited, why not? Their website is here. The main entrance is at the west of the site, car park and welcome centre, with a lovely fountain. From here it is a flatish walk to the main remains. More on them in a moment. Those of us with a wheelchair usually go to the other end, the eastern end. The shop, café and museum are easily accessible, and you can easily get through to the gardens with various reconstructions....
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland/Personal Comment: 1
July 15, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Exploration 10 – Housesteads

Although I ended a walk at Housesteads and started a walk at Housesteads, I did not manage to find time for a proper walk round the fort and the museum. Here are some old photos, some taken on a visit with Gareth in 2013. It is an English Heritage managed site and National Trust members get in free as well. As I am a Life Member of both EH and NT I think they should pay me to visit. It should be noted that it is a steep uphill walk from the car park, which is on the Military...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/National Trust/Northumberland Comments: 0
June 28, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Exploration 9 – Chesters

I am not going to write full histories of all these wonderful sites – there are many others who do that far better than me. This is an English Heritage Fort at NY911705, with website. Welcoming shop and an excellent cafe. In AD 124 a turret on the Wall was demolished to make way for this new fort, on the west bank of the Tyne, and a 500 man cavalry unit was stationed here. In AD 138 we know that an infantry unit, the 1st Cohort of Dalmatians, was stationed here. 40 years later, the Second Asturians (‘ala II Asturum’),...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland Comments: 0
June 27, 2016

Halton, Northumberland – St Oswald, St Cuthbert and King Alfwald

  David Hewlett is the Vicar of Corbridge, and was a friend of Neil Collings (Dean of St Eds). On Wednesday 22 June he bought me a very nice lunch at The Wellington in Newton – the waitress told us we should be on the stage. We then went to explore Halton church, one of his. A little church with a long name – St Oswald, St Cuthbert and King Alfwald. It is at grid reference NY998678, next to the Castle which I photoed from the Wall Walk a few weeks ago (did I mention I have walked the...
Categories Northumberland/World War 1 Comments: 4
June 20, 2016

Meldon, Northumberland – St John (again)

When I visited in 2012 I commented I should have photoed Meldon station on the Wannie Line. This time I did. It was opened in 1862. Passenger services lasted for 90 years, and freight for another decade after that. I put some video of the line on an earlier post – this one. The church is in the middle of the hamlet – NZ119838. It dates from the 13th century, and was restored by John Dobson in 1849. On the churchyard wall is a “Thankful Village” notice – see my last blog about Ousby in Cumbria – and a certificate...
Categories Evetts' windows/Northumberland/Railway History/World War 1 Comments: 0
June 17, 2016

Celts, Carmichael and some railway films

If you are in Edinburgh (or can get there before September) I urge you to visit the wonderful Celts Exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland – website. Julie and I went last Monday – did half the exhibition in about an hour, had coffee, then did the other half. A marvellous collection of items from across Europe. As photography isn’t allowed, here are three photos lifted from websites – both with a Roman connection to fit the (current) theme of this blog. “A souvenir of Hadrian’s Wall” – the inscription on this bowl commemorates some of the forts...
Categories Derbyshire/Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland/Personal/Railway History Comments: 0