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May 26, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Walk 10 – Heddon-on-the-Wall to Newcastle upon Tyne

On Monday 23 May I caught the 0720 bus from Hexham police station through to Heddon-on-the-Wall. At Hexham bus station a Go-Ahead bus leaves just in front of this Stagecoach and they leapfrog their way to Newcastle. In what sane and sensible world does this make sense? I started walking at NZ134670 before 0800. It was a beautiful morning. There is a little park in the village given in memory of the Knott sons – see my blog of St James and St Basil in Fenham. The track follows the Vallum ditch, then down to the into the village. There...
Categories Cathedrals/Hadrian's Wall Walk/Newcastle upon Tyne/Northumberland/Railway History Comments: 0
May 20, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Walk 9 – Chesters to Heddon-on-the-Wall

On Monday morning (16 May 2016) I caught the 0910 AD122 bus to Chesters. Hexham bus station is due to be replaced next year, so it is a mess. I eventually found the right stop by reading all the timetables and seeing which one mentioned it. The other notice in the timetable case is currently advertising a public meeting about the new bus station … held last May. Why is it that the powers-that-be spend a fortune on rebranding all the Hadrian’s Wall buses, glossy timetable leaflets, maps and advertising – but can’t manage an A4 poster saying “AD122...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland Comments: 2
May 11, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Walk 8 – Housesteads to Chesters

Tuesday 10 May – let’s have another few hours walking. I drove to Housesteads – NY794684 – and parked by 0845. I walked up to the Fort and turned right. Am I the only one who wonders whether men and women toiling up and down the hill to get to the Fort and the Vicus wondered why they built it there? I’m told that one suggested translation of Vercovicium is “hilly place”. This is the Wall as it leaves the fort, and it heads down hill to Knag Burn Gateway. This gateway is rare – one of only a...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland Comments: 0
May 10, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Walk 7 – Shield on the Wall to Housesteads

Saturday 7 May. I had written my sermon and decided there was time to hit the Wall for a couple of hours. I drove to Housesteads and parked. The final AD122 buses of the day arrive together, and I caught the 1739 in the Haltwhistle direction. I was the only passenger, but we picked three more up at Vindolanda. I was dropped on the main road where I ended last time, and walked to the Wall at Shield on the Wall – NY727669. An interesting shoe deposited beside the road – why is it here? I looked back along...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/National Trust/Northumberland Comments: 0
May 6, 2016

Newbrough, Northumberland – St Peter

On the way back I stopped to have a look at St Peter’s church Newbrough – NY867679. Their website is entitled “Newbrough and Warden PCC” – how many people outside the church will know what “PCC” stands for? Police and Crime Commissioner. Nor does it make any mention of when they have services. It does tell us about the history of the churches, so I will use it as I write up what I found. [I visited and photoed snowdrops on 31 January 2024. The new website is at https://sjlwn.org/st-peter] The church sits beside the Stanegate Roman Road, and...
Categories Northumberland Comments: 2
May 5, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Walk 6 – Walltown to Shield on the Wall

On Tuesday 3 May I awoke early, so I drove from Hexham to Walltown NY568658 and parked by 0830. There is a car park here and a National Park visitors’ centre. There are short walks, a peace labyrinth and the remains of a quarry. The history of the conservation of the Wall is told in a fascinating book by Stephen Leach and Alan Whitworth, Saving the Wall: the conservation of Hadrian’s Wall, 1746-1987, Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2011. In 1746 General Wade started to build his Military Road between Newcastle and Carlisle – we will get to know this road...
Categories Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland/Railway History Comments: 0
May 4, 2016

Shotley, Northumberland – St Andrew

I don’t know the churches south of Hexham, and was amazed when I realise this Churches Conservation Trust church is just a short distance from the A68 – NZ045553 – website. St Andrew’s church, Shotley is on the summit of Grey Mare Hill, 960 feet above sea level. Now it is only accessible by a path beside the fields – open cast coal mining in the 1960s removed the vehicular access to the church and it was declared redundant in 1973. A medieval church is mentioned in the records of Blanchland Abbey, but in 1769 a new church was...
Categories Churches Conservation Trust/Northumberland Comment: 1
May 1, 2016

Bywell, Northumberland – St Andrew

On Friday 22 April I joined an English Heritage Members’ Trip to three Churches Conservation Trust churches. We met at Newcastle Central, went to Bywell first, then sandwiches at the pub in Whittonstall, then to Shotley. Then a very long drive through Newcastle to Sunderland. Here is the first of the churches. Bywell is on the Churches Conservation Trust website. I last went to St Andrew, Bywell – NZ048615 – in December 2010, where have the years gone? Going back even further, we know that Egbert was consecrated here in 803, after the Danes had sacked Lindisfarne, and that the...
Categories Churches Conservation Trust/Northumberland Comments: 0
April 29, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Walk 5 – Birdoswald to Walltown

On Thursday 28 April I drove over to Birdoswald Fort (NY616664) and parked there about 0930. My aim was to walk to the Roman Army Museum. There are buses back from there at 1142 and 1522 – I doubted I would make the first. It had been sunny in Hexham and was dry at Birdoswald – but it was cold. Gloves and hat on today. On my last walk I commented how nice it was to see the proper Wall – today there is lots of it. If I had read Collingwood Bruce I might have looked harder for...
Categories Cumbria/Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland/Railway History Comments: 0
April 15, 2016

Bothal, Northumberland – St Andrew

A Sunday afternoon drive – if we’d gone to a garden centre we’d be really middle aged. St Andrew’s Bothal is quite close, and yet I have never visited (though I have done the lovely walk from Morpeth to Bothal and back along the River Wansbeck). The church is at NZ240866, it is an interesting road up and down the river bank. It is not always open, though their website invites visitors to contact them, and the guidebook says it is open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoons in the summer. Today John the Vicar was about to take a baptism when...
Categories Northumberland/World War 1 Comment: 1