northernvicar October 2023

I started October with a Curator tour of the Wartime history of the English Heritge house at Belsay. The house was requisitioned at the start of WW2. The then owner, Stephen Middleton, kept a close eye on it, and there are piles of letters of complaint he wrote to the army. At one point he covered everything with coconut matting – you can still see the marks. There are various signs of wartime – names on doors, a loo door which says “night time use only”, graffiti and items found under the floorboard.

Julie has been busy stewarding at Hexham Abbey for Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon.

There was a fascinating exhibition about Ladybird Books at Bailiffgate Museum in Alnwick. Lots of lovely illustrations. “Tootles the Taxi” was one we both remembered. What I didn’t know was that the artist, John Kenney, also drew some of the “Thomas” stories. The web tells me that there is a blue plaque to this gentleman at Kibworth in Leicestershire, he studied at Leicester College of Art, and died in 1972.

I also liked these pictures by John Berry for the 1972 book “On the Railways” – and his picture of a nurse. John was born in London in 1920 and studied at Hammersmith College of Arts. He got a scholarship to the Royal Academy, but it was the start of WW2. His Guardian obituary – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/22/john-berry-obituary – says “He went into the RAF and was sent to the Middle East. There, as part of a holding unit waiting to go into Tobruk, he offered to make up a poster advertising a national day of prayer. The artwork came to the attention of Air Marshal Arthur Tedder, who promptly had Berry seconded to the army as a war artist. It was a source of pride to Berry that he was the only war artist drawn from the ranks.” There are several examples of his work at https://artuk.org/discover/stories/john-berry-soldierartist-and-ladybird-book-illustratorhttps://artuk.org/discover/stories/john-berry-soldierartist-and-ladybird-book-illustrator

After the War he worked as a portrait painter and as a commercial artist. He painted the
original “tiger in the tank” for Esso, and worked for Ladybird for over 20 years, illustrating about 50 books. My eye was caught by his illustrations for “On the Railways” (1972) – the cover illustration of Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge station, the freightliner depot and electrification train, and the porter. Perhaps the porter typifies the way the railways have changed in the last fifty years. The nurse’s uniform has also changed!

A hospital trip to Manchester took me via the new station at Headbolt Lane. Medically they stopped chemo in September and have decided not to re-start it yet. As one consultant said, we’d give you chemo to improve your quality of life, and your quality of life is about as good as it can be. Part of me is very pleased, another part of me wants them to throw as many drugs at my cancer as they can. I haven’t got another date to go back to Manchester – most of my hospital treatment is now happening in the North East. I am pleased about that, but I still have some of the Manchester Metrolink network that is not coloured in!

On 13 October I went on a “Meet the expert” walk along Hadrian’s Wall from Birdoswald. Our expert was Andrew Roberts, one of their Roman team, and he got us thinking about the Wall, how it was built, why it was built and how it was used. We looked in detail at the bridge abutment at Willowford – the river has moved, so it now stands high and dry. Archaeology has suggested there were three different bridges at different stages of time – ranging from a simple foot crossing through to a wide roadway. How was the river defended, where did the roadway go once the river had been crossed? A fascinating morning.

Later in the month I went back with Julie, who went off and explored.

I had a couple of train rides with my brother – a ride on the Settle Carlisle and a trip round the Cumbrian Coast (plus a jaunt up the Ratty).

I had a jaunt north to see the Govan stones – which I have blogged separately. Then a Sunday to cover some freight lines in Yorkshire being used for engineering diversions. That included tea in Selby Abbey which has a steam loco in one of its windows. The Abbey has already been blogged at https://www.northernvicar.co.uk/2018/05/17/selby-yorkshire-selby-abbey-st-mary-st-germain/

Posted in Hadrian's Wall Walk, Personal, Railway interest | 2 Comments

Govan Old Church, Glasgow

Saturday 28 October 2023 was the oipportunity for a trip to Glasgow. Govan Old Stones had tweeted to say they were closing at the end of the month for a winter break, so why not visit now? I went Hexham, Carlisle, then the Glasgow & South Western via Dumfries – a beautiful (if long) ride. Then the Glasgow Subway to Govan. Govan Old Church is just down the road – a road with stunning (and uncared for) Victorian architecture on one side, and a 1960s grotty block on the other. The church itself closed in 2007 and is now a museum – with the website at http://thegovanstones.org.uk/. There is also a lot on the Wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govan_Old_Parish_Church. The current church was built 1884-1888, designed by Robert Rowand Anderson (who trained under George Gilbert Scott).

There have been at least six churches on this site over the past 1,500 years. The distinctive teardrop-shaped outline of the churchyard is bounded by a wall along the line of a ditch dating back to at least 800 AD. It is amazing this survived when the whole area around became part of the industrial complex that was Govan in Victorian times. Time Team excavated here in 1994 – all the Time Teams are currently on the Channel 4 streaming service and we are working our way through them (I like being retired). One of the display boards on the path through the churchyard suggests what the site would have looked like around 1000 AD. Doomster Hill was used by the Kings of Strathclyde as a focus for royal ceremonies and public assemblies. It survived until the mid-1800s.

The Church only has stepped access and one small loo – there is building work starting to make flat access, better loos, workspace areas to rent out and (I think) a café. Inside there was a nice welcome and a chance to wander round the stones that are on display. Many of them were originally outside, part of this major religious centre.

To quote a display board: “The Govan stones were the work of skilled and knowledgeable craftsmen. They show artistic styles and influences from across Britain and beyond. … Many of the carvings show crosses, although few remain intact. These crosses are often decorated with interlace and knotwork, a style common in early medieval art. Such carving was not simply for decoration. It also probably had some religious meaning. Perhaps, it represented the many snares to ward off the devil, or maybe its flowing and intricate designs were intended to help worshippers meditate in prayer. … Artistic styles from nearby areas have influenced the decoration of the stones from Govan. The ‘sun stone’, one of the earliest carvings, has a snake headed boss from which it gets its name. This has similarities with cravings from the important early monastery of Iona in Western Scotland. … [It] also features a horse and rider, a common motif on Pictish sculpture from further north in Scotland.”

The animal on The Cuddy Stane has long ears, so must be  donkey (known locally as a cuddy). Is it Christ on Palm Sunday?

The Jordanhill Cross was originally a cross, and is a beautiful bit of carving.

There are various other stones dotted around the church, some of which have been reused.

Another display panel tell us that “This Kingdom was ruled from nearby Dumbarton Rock in the 6th-9th centuries. … By the 9th century [it] was hemmed in by powerful neighbours. Standing between the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria to the south of the kingdom of the picts and the Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riata in the north, Strathclyde was a contested land. Finally, is was attacks by the Vikings that led to the first collapse of the kingdom, In AD870 Dumbarton Rock was besieged for four months before falling. [Then] a new kingdom arose, centred on Govan and Partick. … It was only in the 12th century, when King David founded a cathedral nearby at Glasgow, that Govan finally began to lose its political importance.”

The church displays a wonderful collection of Viking hogback tombstones. These date from the 10th and 11th centuries.

The Sarcophagus is beautiful – you can explore a 3D image at http://thegovanstones.org.uk/the-stones/

The building itself is worth an explore, though my phone photos are not very good. The organ was being played – though it could have done with a tune. It must have been an amazing place of worship in the days it was full – though now we want warm churches I hate to think how much it would cost to heat. There is a photo of recent ministers, and I wonder what they would make of the fact their church is now a museum – I know that the work of the church is much bigger than any building, and I’m sure Christians are hard at work in Govan, and I am well aware that a museum telling the story of the area’s Christian past is a force for good – but I left with mixed feelings.

Posted in Scotland | 4 Comments

northernvicar September 2023

We’re back in Northumberland, and the gardens at Belsay (English Heritage) are looking beautiful.

I had a trip on the South Tynedale Railway and a hospital visit to Manchester via Liverpool. At Carlisle I was pleased to see 46115 “Scots Guardsman”, built by the North British Loco Company in Glasgow in 1927. It is the loco which featured in the film “Night Mail”.

Beautiful National Trust gardens at Wallington.

A trip to George Stephenson’s birthplace at Wylam – a rarely opened National Trust property.

A trip to Carlisle, for lunchtime communion and a meet up with Clare. I decided I felt sorry for Bishop Samuel Waldegrave, bishop of the Diocese 1860 to 1869, who lies at the east end of the Quire, hidden behind the altar, surrounded by the frame for the staging block. Born at Cardington in Bedfordshire in 1817, he went to Balliol, graduating with a first in Classics and Mathematics. He remained in or near Oxford until he became bishop here in 1860. He was a firm Evangelical, a very zealous man, working hard to improve the lot of the poor in his diocese. He was bishop for only nine years before illness intervened and he died in service.

Leadgate and Ryton blogged separately for Heritage Open Days – which also meant lunch at the Tanfield Railway and a happy hour watching the main line diversions through Wylam.

A Grand Central trip up the Durham Coast, and another hospital jaunt to Manchester. Life is such fun!

Posted in Cumbria, National Trust, Northumberland, Railway interest | 1 Comment

Humshaugh, Northumberland – St Peter’s (again)

I blogged St Peter’s in 2010 and 2014, and visited again on Saturday 23 September 2023. In 2014 they were debating moving the church entrance to the side where people come. A decade later they have gone for the cheaper option – a new sign! At the main entrance they have built an excellent ramp, and they leave the door open to welcome.

The inside hasn’t changed much – I didn’t photo the food bank box (will we ever be able to stop collecting for food banks?), but it was nice to see tourist leaflets available. The Chancel ceiling has seen it all, and the eagle keeps an eye on everything.

Outside I had a wander round the churchyard – the web means I can see that Susan and Katie died in an RTC on the Military Road (may they rest in peace). There is also information about Joseph Scott – https://d3hgrlq6yacptf.cloudfront.net/5f1f435ddbee4/content/pages/documents/profile-joseph-scott-elizabeth-scott.pdf. I assumed some nasty railway accident, but it seems as if his family lived in a house opposite the station, so we are talking geographical area rather than building itself. Good to visit this church again.

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Ryton, Tyne & Wear – Holy Cross

I came to Ryton just a couple of weeks ago to pick up an Argos order from the little branch of Sainsbury’s, but fortunately I checked as the church of Holy Cross which I wanted to visit this Heritage Open Day (17 September 2023) is not the church in the centre of the town. It is down nearer the river at NZ 151648, so I parked on the old village green. Most of the other cars were parked for walking down towards the river and railway. The map marks a Motte nearby – must go and explore properly. The church has a long drive, but it was open, welcoming, with no guidebook or leaflet – fortunately Pevsner has far more to say that he did about Leadgate. The church website is at https://www.holycrossryton.org.uk/ and they have a heritage page with a series of links (but no where does it say when the church is open). I got a nice welcome and they had had quite a few people through for Heritage Open Days.

The church is Early English, dating to about 1220, with the addition of the spire in 1360. Nice porch and what a wonderful noticeboard – please refresh the notices!

A large church – it must cost a fortune to heat – and a font which dates to around 1660 (the original was, of course, destroyed by Commonwealth troops), but where the fish comes from, I didn’t ask.

They have done a nice job with a kitchen/servery at the back, though I wonder what Frances feels about always being in the kitchen. You have to be thin to get up the (1886) spiral stairs to ring the Millennium Bells – four original, four added, see the church website.

A couple of hatchments, though no details anywhere – I’m trying to think if I’ve ever seen Hatchments with dates and ages on before.

There is a splendid list of Vicars, but – like most of them – it has no space for anyone else. Is this the monument Pevsner describes as “Deacon with book, late C13”?

There is some lovely woodwork in the Chancel. Pevsner says the altar rails are C16 and the stalls and screen date to post-1660. I wondered if some were Victorian additions.

The pulpit looks later. The lady is Helen, mother of Constantine, finder of the true cross.

Finally, let’s photo the side altar, and go outside to enjoy the churchyard. One booklet says this is where industrial Newcastle meets the countryside – you certainly feel a long way from the City when you are here.

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Leadgate, County Durham – St Ives

Sunday 17 September 2023, one of the Heritage Open Days. St Ives church, Leadgate, NZ130551, was buzzing. A talk was just starting, there were local history displays, some mining art, and a cup of tea available. Sadly there was no simple guide leaflet and no leaflet to take which might have told the punters something about what the church is actually doing (surely you have something to advertise when lots of new people are coming into church?). Bit frustrating, but I thought I’ll get enough information about the church from Pevsner. Having found my copy of Pevsner’s County Durham (reprinted 2002) he deals with the church as follows: “a large, plain, E.E. stone church of 1865-8 by C.H. Fowler. N aisle 1879. Towerless” (page 354). This could be a short blog! We came across Fowler at Hepple – http://www.northernvicar.co.uk/2013/03/05/hepple-christ-church/ – and he has a Wikipedia page – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Hodgson_Fowler

The church has a very active facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/stiveschurchleadgate, and they have a page on https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/church/leadgate-st-ives. The building is on the Heritage At Risk Register – https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/24185. There is a lot about the village at https://leadgatevillage.com/the-history-of-leadgate-village/. This is a railway map I found at the Tanfield Railway. I did travel the line through the village, it used to run opposite the church. I was on a railtour which was one of the last trains to Consett steel works after closure. A coal mine and three blast furnaces used to be nearby – the world has changed in the last few decades.

These picture displays and slide show were fascinating.

I also enjoyed looking at some of the publications produced by the Consett works and those produced more recently – the Local History Society seems to be a very regular publisher. The mistake I made was not to read one written by a previous Vicar about why the church is dedicated to St Ives – apparently the only church in the Northern Province to bear his name. He was a man of Brittany, 1253-1303, a renowned lawyer and champion of the poor (those two attributes are not mutually exclusive, however much we think they are). I did a google, but got sidetracked by the branchline from St Erth to St Ives, and by the Chapel on the Bridge in the Cambridgeshire version.

It is a large church, very high, and must have had some money spent on it recently. They have a nice disabled loo – shame there still has to be a portable ramp to get into church.

Rather nice that the Colliery banner has found a home at the west end of the church, though the churchwarden refused to move the font to improve my picture!

There was an exhibition by Bernard Nixon (I can’t find any more details of him on line).

There is a lovely selection of stained glass. Here are a couple. There are also a couple of War Memorial windows – and look at the number of names on the list. Frightening.

The East window is a “Light of the World” and needs some work. Although the candles were lit, the Chancel was roped off, which was annoying, but the reredos is rather splendid. I enjoyed the church, and I wish them well.

Posted in Durham, Railway interest, World War 1 | Leave a comment

northernvicar August 2023

We started the month with a trip north over the Border to Melrose, and a visit to the Roman Museum at Trimontium – https://www.trimontium.co.uk/. It reminds us that the Romans did move north – by 79 AD they were pushing into southern Scotland and constructed their fort at the place of the three hills, the three peaks of Eildon. There were Iron Age forts here, indeed several thousand people may have lived in the area the Romans conquered. This same site was to be used several times over the next hundred years or more, as the site was abandoned and reoccupied according to the ebb and flow of fortune, both military and political. Its last occupation may have been by the emperor Septimius Severus as he marched north in 208/9 in a final effort to subdue the natives.

The museum had a good range of material, though much of the stuff excavated at the start of the C20 is in the National Museum in Edinburgh. Some beautiful finds, examples of Roman craftsmanship from elsewhere in the Empire, replicas and reconstructions, and some excellent videos and AV. They also had a wonderful bookshop which (as always) proved expensive. Must go on a day when they are doing some guided walks on the site, which is about a mile down the road, beside the River Tweed. There may well have been a thousand cavalry stationed here, so add on the hangers-on and all the others who gravitated to a Roman fort, and we are talking several thousand people. The Empire did not always stop at Hadrian’s Wall.

We also enjoyed Priorwood Garden and the Abbey, though I didn’t get enough photos for a separate blog.

We enjoyed Chesters Roman Fort, you can read a previous blog at http://www.northernvicar.co.uk/2016/06/28/hadrians-wall-exploration-9-chesters/

I had a Manchester trip on Tuesday 8 August and had a ride on the trams. I am telling myself I am having “railway adventures” – it sounds more fun than “hospital visit”

Cherryburn is a lovely little National Trust property not too far away – https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/north-east/cherryburn. It was the home of Thomas Bewick, the engraver. The Bewick Society have a good website too – http://www.bewicksociety.org/. Lovely house and garden.

I have blogged Lanercost Priory separately. We drove north on Monday 21 August when we should have knuckled down to more unpacking, but it was a lovely day and we went for a drive.“We’ll head towards Bellingham and find a coffee … Let’s turn left and see if the café’s open at Falstone … Perhaps we could stop beside Kielder Water … Let’s follow the road on through Kielder …” We passed a house called “Deadwater”. “I’m sure there was a Deadwater station”, I said. Next thing I knew we were at the Border. This is not a major border crossing. As you can see, we parked in “No Man’s Land” between the stone England sign and the metal Scottish one. I seem to remember there was one occasion during Covid when the Scottish and English rules were very different and Nicola was threatening to have a police presence at every border crossing. I feel sorry for the panda car which got the Deadwater crossing! We continued to Jedburgh and had lunch, before returning the same way.

Who else would go to a hospital appointment in Manchester via the Colne branch line?

A trip on the Tanfield Railway on Sunday 27 August.

The month finished with a ride to Saltburn with my nephew.

Posted in National Trust, Northumberland, Personal, Railway interest, Roman, Scotland, Trams | Leave a comment

Lanercost Priory, Cumbria – St Mary Magdalene (again)

On Saturday 19 August 2023 we drove up to the Military Road and headed west. We ended up at café next to Lanercost Priory. The menu didn’t say that breakfast was only available until 1100 (it was now almost 1200), but the chef said he/she would make us waffles and bacon – “must be in a good mood” said the lass on the till.

We walked next door to St Mary Magdalene church and the Priory – I blogged the church in 2015, nice to visit again – www.northernvicar.co.uk/2015/06/15/lanercost-priory-cumbria-st-mary-magdalene/

This time I didn’t get decent photos of the exterior or interior of the church, and we managed to keep J away from the booksale. There was a lovely atmosphere in the building, although I do wish that tourist hotspots like this would be used as a focus to get visitors out to other, less visible, churches. I would also like to develop some material telling the visitors about Christianity – I suspect the majority have got very little clue what it is all about. It was good to see some work from the local school – be fascinating to do a simple poll as to how many of the church’s visitors could tell the story of the Good Samaritan or that of Jonah.

Last time I photoed the woollen embroidered Dossal by William Morris, which is behind the altar. It was embroidered by Mrs Bulkeley, the wife of the then Vicar, and Mrs Dodgson and Mrs Chapman, wives of previous Vicars, and first hung in the Priory on Easter Day 1887. They had a major restoration programme in 2013 and now have a good display about it too. I wrote last time that “in order to preserve it, the church has put a programme in place to protect the dossal from light, insects, mice and, to quote the book, ‘contamination by candle wax, spillage of communion wine and contact with decorative vegetation and water’.” I dared to wonder how it would work in the face of the flower arrangers. It seems to be OK! Well done.

Last time I included a photo of this window and commented that it “replaces a former window, broken by a football during a kick-around involving the then Vicar’s sons.” I had a comment from a family member telling me that they remember it as a cricket ball. The church leaflet still says “football” – I think we need a Commission to get to the truth!

Much more importantly – this time let me tell you a little about Eva Sydney Hone, known as Evie. Born in Dublin in 1894 she suffered from polio at the age of 12, was educated by a governess, and moved to London just before WW1. Wikipedia notes that her three sisters all married army officers, and were all widowed by the War. She studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art, the Central School of Arts and Crafts and Westminster Technical Institute – one of her tutors was Walter Sickert (I’ve heard of him!). She began designing stained glass in 1933. She worked under Wilhemina Geddes, whose work we have visited in Wallsend – www.northernvicar.co.uk/2013/09/15/wallsend-st-luke/ (that church is open for the Heritage Open Weekends next month – well worth a visit).

There are about 50 of Evie’s windows, 40 in Ireland and 10 in England (the most famous being at Eton). Some nice photos at www.manresa.ie/about/manresa-campus/evie-hone-at-manresa a good article at https://roaringwaterjournal.com/2018/09/23/evie-hone-and-the-modernisation-of-irish-stained-glass/ and more information at

https://artuk.org/discover/artists/hone-evie-18941955 and at

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/evie-hone-1308

The Lanercost connection is the artist Winifred Nicolson who was a friend of Evie’s at the Byam Shaw School. She lived at Bankside Farmhouse on the line of the Wall, and the family seat was Naworth Castle, just down the road. Her grandfather, George Howard, was a friend of William Morris – hence the dosall. Evie died in 1955.

In the north west corner of the church is a cross, which I missed last time I visited the church. I looked it up in “Pevsner” – and found he describes Evie’s window as “mucky”. I will accept his words on the cross-shaft: “Dogtooth decoration runs along its edges. Inscription in Roman lettering, translated: ‘In the 1,214th year from the incarnation … Otto being Emperor in Germany, Philip reigning in France, John in England, William in Scotland, this cross was made.’ It was reused to record the death of a child in 1657. The base stands on the cross north of the church” (Matthew Hyde and Nikolaus Pevsner, The buildings of England: Cumbria; Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness, Yale UP, 2010, page 485).

Last time I quoted this memorial. It is worth quoting again. “In this church lies buried Charles Howard Fifth Son of George Sixth Earl of Carlisle also Mary his wife daughter of James Parke Baron Wensleydale, who died at the age of 21 after one year of married love. He mourned for her all his life finding his consolation in sincere and simple piety in unselfish and fervent love for old and young and in a single minded and ardent devotion to the cause of progress and liberty which cause he supported with unwavering steadfastness for 39 years as Member of Parliament for East Cumberland. He died beloved of all AD 1879 aged 65 years. Their son George Howard places this tablet in loving remembrance.” Even the aristocracy know pain.

Then, less than forty years later, two brothers died in WW1 – “the only children”. To quote Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Charlton_(artist): “The Great War brought the pain and suffering of soldiers in battle directly home to Charlton. While he did attempt to record the early days of the war in two canvases painted in 1915 that now hang in Laing Art Gallery, and at Gateshead Art Gallery, nothing prepared him for the tragedy that hit hard in 1916. On 24 June, his eldest son, Lieutenant Hugh Vaughan Charlton of the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, was killed on the Western Front aged 32. Seven days later, his youngest son, Captain John Macfarlane Charlton, serving in the 21st Northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Scottish), a keen ornithologist and author, was killed in action on the first day of the Somme, his 21st birthday. In a poignant canvas, now lost, the two bright young men sit with their grandmother; while in another painting by their father entitled The Brothers H.V.C. and J.M.C., Sandisdyke, two handsome and promising young men with their three dogs look up to the viewer. Heartbroken, the artist painted a posthumous portrait of John that was exhibited in the spring of 1917 alongside Sunset: Cumberland, 28 Sep 1916. The shock of the loss of his two sons on the Western Front was too much to bear and on 10 November 1917, while the war still raged, Charlton died after a brief illness at Banks House, Lanercost at the age of 68. ‘He felt the loss of his two suns profoundly,’ read his obituary in The Graphic.” On a happier note, earlier in his career “he had a job in the Newcastle bookshop of Mr Robinson, a keen collector of the work of Thomas Bewick, ‘the father of wood engraving,’ gave him an appreciation of graphic art. It was here that the budding artist began to imitate the master’s work, much to the delight of two of Bewick’s ageing sisters.”

Let’s finish with a happier face. High on the wall by the Chancel.

Posted in Cumbria | Leave a comment

northernvicar July 2023

Our last month in Derbyshire, and we can still find new experiences. Kedleston was a favourite spot during lockdown, but my days of walking “The Long Walk” are over. On Monday 3 July I found they now have a Tramper to hire, so I accepted my condition and enjoyed the ride. Memo to self – reduce speed before seeking to go through a gate!

My brother and I decided we needed a day’s jaunt round Lincolnshire to do the railway lines I should have done over the last seven years, and I managed a day in London to do HS1 and the western end of the Central Line.

Two visits to The Christie in Manchester for chemotherapy – on both occasions delays in the blood department meant several hours of waiting. I wish they were as good at doing bloods as they are at doing gardens!

We ended our time in Derbyshire with afternoon tea at Oakhill in Cromford (a lovely 60th birthday present that needed to be used) and lunch at Croots in Duffield (which has always welcomed us).

Moving was stressful. These days firms do a video survey, and seem to think that is enough – even when they get the contract. Do not complain about the number of books you have to move if you haven’t come and seen them! We got there in the end – northernvicar is northern again. So here is Hadrian’s Wall at Heddon (in the pouring rain), and the signal box at Hexham.

The final train ride of the month was a trip from Hexham to Manchester. I had forgotten how gorgeous the line is from Hexham to Carlisle – there will be more photos as time goes on.

Posted in Northumberland, Personal, Railway interest, Roman | 1 Comment

northernvicar June 2023

The Ecclesbourne Railway have done a superb job with a disabled access coach – other railways, please take note. We had a visit on Sunday 4 June, and I got on the footplate at Shottle.

We went to Hardwick Hall on Monday 5 June, meeting our friend John. It is rather amusing that he was my Best Man forty years ago, now he gets free admission as Julie’s “essential carer”.

Then a series of train trips as I went to and fro to Manchester for various hospital jollies.

We managed a week in Wales, and called in to the Roman City at Wroxeter en route. I had listened to an English Heritage podcast about their revamped visitor experience at Wroxeter. They hadn’t done a huge amount to the museum, but they had some lovely things on display. There was also a lad with some replicas, and it was fascinating to talk to him. I grabbed the audio guide, and that was good. Simple to use – point at the sign and you get the introduction, then press A, B, or C to get the curator, or the archaeologist, or some Romans. There were plenty of seats, so I took my time and listened to a legionary, a rich woman, and the slaves – we forget how much the Empire depended on enslaved people.

Most of the Welsh holiday seemed to be trains – I have a very patient wife! Ffestiniog, Conwy Valley Line, Welsh Highland Heritage, Llangollen (to their new station at Corwen), and the Fairbourne.

When we got home, my roses are gorgeous and I am now retired. The white one is “Rambling Rector”, the pink one “St Edmund”.

On Saturday 24 June, Julie had a date at the “Bodies in the Library” conference at the British Library – she has blogged about it here. My nephew and I explored London – the east ends of the Victoria and Central Lines, and all the way to Barking Riverside!

Hannah and Amy had a break in Devon. Ilfracombe advertised itself for the likes of me in 1867. I have never been to Ilfracombe.

Posted in Personal, Railway interest, Roman, Wales | Leave a comment