Category: Railway History

We left Berwick over the Old Bridge (you can only drive south over this bridge) – 1611-1626, surveyor James Burrell. Berwick was a lovely town which felt as if it was struggling a bit. Pevsner says Tweedmouth “has some distinct character of its own” – the word “depressed” sprang to mind. Tweed Dock is the only wet dock on the Northumberland Coast – another thing you learn reading my blog – and there are sad offices labelled “Tweedmouth Stevedores”. St Bartholomew’s church – NT995523 – looks almost as sad. The door is graffitied and locked, the noticeboard is falling...

The weeks have passed, and nothing has been blogged – sorry. On Monday 10 October we had two friends staying. Over lunch at the Blacksmiths Tearoom in Belsay Julie and Anne said there was a nice patchwork shop in Jedbergh, and Rob (mad fool/loving husband … take your pick) offered to drive North. Shame the shop is shut on a Monday. On the way back we stopped at Byrness church NT023771 – St Francis of Assisi – a tiny little church, sadly locked. (You used to get the key from the petrol station next door. That is now closed,...

Although some sources suggest that this church – NZ049614 – is later than St Andrew’s, but Pevsner says that the north nave wall and the west parts of the chancel side walls are now more generally recognized as parts of a large Saxon church. In 802 Bishop Egbert of Lindisfarne was consecrated at Bywell – here? Today it had a marquee attached from an art festival last weekend – an art festival I had seen no mention of anywhere!?! Nice scratch dial on the south side, and I assume this is the oldest work on the north. Inside a...

You can’t visit Edlingham church and not walk down to the Castle. Owned by English Heritage, it is managed by the PCC – I like the idea of having “Castle” as an item on the agenda. The first castle, more a fortified manor house, dates to around 1295. In 1328 they started to make it more of a castle when the gatehouse, tower and curtain wall were added. There is more information at www.northofthetyne.co.uk/Edlingham.html. It is a free English Heritage property, so I can’t claim to have saved any money! The viaduct in the background is on the line from...