Category: Northumberland

Last time I tried to get into St James it was locked, so I wasn’t very hopeful as I drove back from Slaley. I came down past Shepherd’s Dene, the Diocesan Retreat House. They do some lovely things here – see their website – and they are very welcoming. The food is excellent (which is a mark of any good retreat centre). We often use the Wellington Hotel when we want a decent meal – recently taking about 25 people for supper after Evensong at Hexham Abbey. This time the church was open – marvellous! Now all we need is a guidebook …...

I love google. I typed “Wall St George” in and got “St George cross England flag with flag pole and wall bracket” from Amazon, and “Video wall, St George’s University of London”. Wall was part of the parish of St John Lee until 1879 when it was decided to make Heavenfield (St Oswald in Lee) the parish church for Wall). Wall is on the A6079, but the church and the village centre is just to the east of the main road – it’s at NY918691. It is an uphill walk to Heavenfield. On our DAC trip we had gone...

The DAC tour bus powered down the A69, then turned up a very minor road. St John’ church is in the middle of nowhere – NY933656 – though the noise from the A69 disturbs the spot. There is a huge graveyard on the north side of the road, and the church sits surrounded by another graveyard with lots of mature trees. There is a lot of work to do, and some wonderful stones.                                                 There has...

We have spent a lot of time this summer celebrating the Lindisfarne Gospels. They’ve been back in Durham this summer, so we had a trip there. We had a Summer Festival in Ponteland with flowers and art on the Lindisfarne theme, and I had a history display in our garden. There are photos on the church website – http://www.pontelandstmary.co.uk/news-and-festival/festival-2013.html. This wonderful artwork was made by the youngsters of Richard Coates Middle School, designed by Stuart Clogg. It hung in the marquee for the Festival. I went to the island of Lindisfarne a couple of times in July. There was a...

Not having planned our afternoon out we drove north, onto the B6342, and I saw the sign to Thockrington. Being a devoted reader of the Diocesan website I knew the Archbishop of York had just visited – http://www.newcastle.anglican.org/news-and-events/news-article.aspx?id=567, so we went too. Well, Julie stayed in the car when we got there – bit too far for her to walk. NY957789. Somehow they got 60 people in when the Archbishop came – he was there to celebrate the life and work of Lord Beveridge. William Henry Beveridge, born 5 March 1879. Educated at Balliol, joined the Board of Trade in...

Julie and I had a day out on Monday 3 June – it is now Sunday 15 September. Sorry. I’ve got lots of churches to blog about. I’ve been back to Chollerton again with a DAC trip – the DAC is the Diocesan Advisory Committee, the church planning body – so I’ll combine the pictures from the two visits. The church is on the A6079, just past a wonderful viaduct on the Hexham-Riccarton Junction line – photo at http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/chollerton/index1.shtml. The station was next door to the church. NY931719. Good church website at http://www.chollerton-churches.org.uk, and they advertise “Coffee and Home-made biscuits...

Then north over the hills and across Flodden Field. The Battle took place in 1513. There is lots of information at http://www.flodden.net – and I have even found a “Battlefield Access Statement” (it’s a funny old world). It does look as if a lot of money has been spent on websites – you can also read http://www.flodden1513.com. I really ought to try and get north for some of the commemorations this year. I used an older website – http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/medieval/battleview.asp?BattleFieldId=15 – to write this brief history of the battle: Briefly, Henry VIII became King in 1509 and was keen to secure England’s position...

There’s a B road south of the River Tweed – NT797384. The old railway from Cornhill to Kelso/Roxburgh is slightly to the south of the road – apparently the viaducts at West Learmouth are quite impressive (Grade II listed). There isn’t a lot in Carham. The village noticeboard tells you to phone a Ponteland phone number if you want the non-emergency police. Let’s have a nice local bobby – how many miles from Carham to police HQ? Pevsner describes the church as “by an amateur, R. Hodson Huntley (who was lord of the manor)”. He built the church in...