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

Sunderland – Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity church in Sunderland is between the city and the coast, not far from the original port area. The church was built 1718-19, perhaps designed by William Etty. It was paid for by local business people as the town expanded down to the docks. The CCT website is here, and there is a website which tells the exciting things they want to do there. As we entered we saw the big task they have ahead of them. The nave is currently a hard hat area (not that the CCT website says that). You can see how much work...
Categories Churches Conservation Trust/Durham/World War 1 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 28, 2016

Walton, Cumbria – St Mary the Virgin

While walking Hadrian’s Wall I visited St Mary’s church in Walton. I was very good and went for a look round before I went to the Reading Room for coffee. The church is in the middle of the village NY523645. A preaching cross was erected between 850 and 950, I assume this is what is in the churchyard. In 1060 Enoch is recorded as the first Parson. In 1092 Walton was transferred from Scotland to England (or, at least that is what the noticeboard says – I’m not sure whether the border was as fixed as that), and the...
Categories Cumbria/Hadrian's Wall Walk Comments: 0
April 27, 2016

Hadrian’s Wall Walk 4 – Newtown to Birdoswald

  Saturday 16 April was a bit of a greyer, colder day. I drove to Newtown, parked the car, headed east. They are a proud village, but I wonder what happened in 2015 … The sun shone as I left the “Tidy Village (Small)”. The path follows the line of the Wall, past several farms. One lucky child has a mega-treehouse. There is a lovely bridge over the Cambeck. When the Wall was demolished in this area in 1791 it was found to be 8 feet wide and faced with large stones. The space between was filled with alternate...
Categories Cumbria/Hadrian's Wall Walk/Railway History Comments: 0
April 17, 2016

Northernvicar moves South

Sunday 17 April, and at this morning’s services I have just announced that Julie and I are leaving Ponteland. This is what I said: After eight years in Ponteland Julie and I have decided it is time to move on, and we will be moving, in the next couple of months, to the parishes of St Matthew’s Darley Abbey and St Edmund King and Martyr in Allestree. These are two parishes on the north side of the city of Derby. They are two busy parishes, both with good congregations, both with choirs, both with schools and children’s work. I’ll...
Categories Derbyshire/Personal/Railway History Comments: 11