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September 21, 2018

Wall, Staffordshire – St John

I had been to Kidderminster on Monday 20 August to talk trams with an expert. On the way home I stopped at the village of Wall in Staffordshire and picked up a walk leaflet in their car park. The Romans constructed a marching camp here during AD 47-8, and soon a fort was built to defend the highway – this is the Watling Street, London to Chester. There would soon be a posting station, with an official hotel and fresh horses – one is mentioned as being here in the C3 Antonine Itinerary. A thriving settlement, the Vicus, grew...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Roman Britain/Staffordshire Comments: 0
June 25, 2018

Northernvicar walks – a Corbridge circle, 16 May 2018

I had a day to myself, so drove across to Corbridge and parked in the village car park. I had picked up a leaflet for a 10 mile walk up to the Wall and back – a Corbridge Heritage Trail. I crossed the Tyne, went up through the village, past a North Eastern Railway bench. I went and explored some fascinating bottle kilns, part of Walker’s Pottery, which operated through the C19, through until 1910. The kilns are approximately 14 metres high and 10 metres in diameter at their base, although tapering to a narrow hole of 2 metres diameter...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Hadrian's Wall Walk/Northumberland/Roman Britain Comments: 0
February 15, 2018

Martindale, Cumbria – St Martin

We continued up Martindale and came to the Old Church, St Martin’s, NY 434184 – website. This has a regular Evensong in the summer. There were hundreds of names in the visitors books of both these Martindale churches. I know it is January, but why are there no leaflets suggesting other churches worth visiting, offering people pointers for prayer, or even explaining the Christian faith – surely missed opportunities. I have commented before that there is a “Tourism” page on the Carlisle Diocesan website, but you need to know (1) you are in Carlisle diocese, and (2) that you...
Categories Cumbria/Roman Britain Comments: 0
November 29, 2017

Leeds, Yorkshire – “Skeletons: our buried bones” exhibition

Julie and I are thoroughly enjoying our MA in Public History and Heritage at Derby University – website – but trying to work full time and do an MA has taken its toll on this blog. We had a great day trip to Leeds to visit the Discovery Centre – website. Lucy, one of the curators showed us round, and it was a fascinating (and fun) afternoon. I picked up a flyer for their “Skeletons: our buried bones” exhibition at the City Museum, and managed to go back on Monday 24 October 2017. As I have an essay to write...
Categories Personal/Roman Britain/Yorkshire Comments: 0
July 20, 2017

Fortingall, Perthshire – Kirk

I first came to Fortingall in the summer of 1982. Richard Hunt, Chaplain of Selwyn College Cambridge, used to organise long-distance walks, and that summer’s was from Dundee to Iona. I had to leave before we got to Oban as I needed to be back in Cambridge for an orchestra course – I remember that there was a rail strike and I hitch-hiked home. One lift from Oban to Edinburgh, another to Doncaster, and one ten minutes later to the M11 two miles from home. A few days earlier we had arrived in Fortingall, and then made our way...
Categories Personal/Roman Britain/Scotland Comments: 0
November 8, 2016

Lullingstone Roman Villa, Kent

We are in Kent for a week. So northernvicar is almost as far south as he can go. I’ve blogged Roman sites before, though this isn’t Hadrian’s Wall. I usually blog churches, so Lullingstone will tick that box. Saturday 5 November was a bit of a grey morning as we negotiated ourselves up narrow roads, then the M25, and to Lullingstone Roman Villa – website. It has been many years since we’ve been here, and the English Heritage site has had a makeover (a very good one). There is disability access all through, so we started with a trip upstairs to...
Categories Kent/Railway History/Roman Britain Comments: 0
August 1, 2016

Roman Exploration – Piercebridge Roman Fort, County Durham

One more Roman blog from the North. Piercebridge (NZ209157) is a place I have driven through many times – it is a useful diversion that cuts a few miles off when driving from the A1 to Hexham. The road follows the Dere Street, the Roman road that ran from York to Corbridge. There was a bridge here over the Tees – indeed there are remains of the bridge (to be precise, the second bridge) in a field south of the river. The first bridge (probably of timber) is a little downstream of the current bridge, the second (below) was of...
Categories Durham/Roman Britain Comments: 0