Category: History

Cathederal, History, museum, Yorkshire

York

A nice train ride to York for the day. We had a look around the many shops and side streets called the shambles and had a pint in a lovely little pub called the lamb and lion that I see from walking along the city walls. The highlight was a trip to York minster and then a walk up 275 steps to the top of the highest tower. The views from the top were great. We also had a 1 hour river cruise along the river Ouse to see the sights. A good trip out. 

York Minster
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe
The City walls
York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England. They are known variously as York City Walls,

Days Out, History, museum, Yorkshire

Knaresborough

The weather was not great so we took the train from Harrogate  to Knaresborough only a ten min journey. The little village has one of the nicest train stations looks like something out of the 50’s. There is a nice viaduct that takes the train over the river and looks spectacular from the riverside views. Also take a trip to the castle it is free to get in. Have a look at the Wikipedia link for some more info.


Knaresborough viaduct  is a viaduct in the North Yorkshire town of Knaresborough, England. The viaduct carries the Harrogate line over the River Nidd in the town
Knaresborough Castle is a ruined fortress overlooking the River Nidd in the town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England.
The early-fifteenth century Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag is located in an old quarry on Abbey Road beside the Nidd Gorge at Knaresborough and is an early 15th century chapel cut out of the sandstone of the river gorge cliff face
hike, History, Yorkshire

Bronte falls waterfall walk.

A great Circular walk from the town of Haworth in Bronte country. You will find car parking easy enough it costs about £4.50 and the car park we picked was close to the start point of the hike across the moors. The walk is about 7 mile in total and you work your way along good paths for most of the journey, it a bit rocky near to the Bronte bridge but easy for all the family.

The Bronte bridge

The Bronte bridge runs across South Dean Beck and you will find the waterfall close by, at the time we walked there was a lack of water running down it so we never got to see it in all its glory.

Top withens farm

Top Withens (SD981353) (also known as Top Withins) is a ruined farmhouse near Haworth, West Yorkshire, England, which is said to have been the inspiration for the location of the Earnshaw family house Wuthering Heights in the 1847 novel of the same name by Emily Brontë. From Wikipedia.

Mapping Below

For outdoor Active Mapping a GPX date please click the link below.

Please click here or scan with smartphone.
History, museum, Naval, WW2

Bletchley Park home of the codebreakers.

A great trip to Bletchley park home of the codebreakers. Its been ten years or so since our last visit and was pleasantly surprised they has spent a lot of money on the place. Entry fee is £21 for an Adult but we had some free tickets that where given to us by a friend. you will find some great exhibits and its all explained in great detail for you. How it all worked and how the germans never discovered it is amazing for so many people played a part in the cracking of the code thus saving many many lives and shortening the war. make sure you give it a visit you will not be disappointed.

From Wikipedia

Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following 1883 for the financier and politician Sir Herbert Leon in the Victorian Gothic, Tudor, and Dutch Baroque styles, on the site of older buildings of the same name.

During World War II, the estate housed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), which regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis Powers – most importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers; among its most notable early personnel the GC&CS team of codebreakers included Alan Turing, Gordon Welchman, Hugh Alexander, Bill Tutte, and Stuart Milner-Barry. The nature of the work there was secret until many years after the war.

According to the official historian of British Intelligence, the “Ultra” intelligence produced at Bletchley shortened the war by two to four years, and without it the outcome of the war would have been uncertain.[1] The team at Bletchley Park devised automatic machinery to help with decryption, culminating in the development of Colossus, the world’s first programmable digital electronic computer.[a] Codebreaking operations at Bletchley Park came to an end in 1946 and all information about the wartime operations was classified until the mid-1970s.

After the war, the Post Office took over the site and used it as a management school, but by 1990 the huts in which the codebreakers worked were being considered for demolition and redevelopment. The Bletchley Park Trust was formed in February 1992 to save large portions of the site from development.

More recently, Bletchley Park has been open to the public and houses interpretive exhibits and rebuilt huts as they would have appeared during their wartime operations. It receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.[2] The separate National Museum of Computing, which includes a working replica Bombe machine and a rebuilt Colossus computer, is housed in Block H on the site.

Days Out, History, local, steam

Pitstone green farm Museum

We have visited a few times before so as the weather was grim we thought another visit was in order. Close to the village of Ivinghoe underneath the Chiltern Hills is the museum . Only £9 to enter for adults car parking included its great value for money.  From Lace making, vintage cars, traction engines you will find loads of interesting stuff from days gone by on display.  Visit the website to have a look at open days etc. 

Links

Pitstone Green farm Museum home page

Google Maps

Days Out, History

Oundle, Fotheringhay castle , Welland viaduct.

A great trip into Northamshire for a visit with a Tudor theme.

An historic market town in Northamptonshire that lies on the banks of the River Nene. We had a stop over on a trip of  east Northamptonshire and glad we did as it contains many old Georgian Buildings with one of the oldest being the Talbot Hotel dating from 1626. It is made from the stone from Fotheringhay Castle and the staircase is said to be haunted  with the ghost of Queen Mary of Scots. 

St Peters Oundle

Fotheringhay castle 

A small distance from Oundle lays Fotheringhay Castle where Mary was Beheaded. All that remains now is the motte and Bailey there are also some remains that lay near to the river. The castle was dismantled in the 1630,s  and Queen Mary was executed in 1587 there.  The site of the castle goes back to 1100  often changing hands many times with various owners please have a look at Wikipedia for more info

Welland viaduct. 

So glad we stopped here and marvelled at this great site of engineering. The viaduct crosses the valley of the River Welland.  The viaduct is 1,275 yards (1.166 km) long and has 82 arches, each with a 40 feet (12 m) span. It is the longest masonry viaduct across a valley in the United Kingdom.[5] Built by the contractor Lucas and Aird, a total of 30 million bricks were used in the viaduct’s construction.[2] Completed during 1878, it has since become a Grade II listed building.[6]

The Welland Viaduct is on the Oakham to Kettering Line between Corby and Manton Junction, where it joins the Leicester to Peterborough line. The line is generally used by freight trains and steam specials. In early 2009, a single daily passenger service was introduced by East Midlands Trains between Melton Mowbray and St Pancras via Corby, the first regular passenger service to operate across the viaduct since the 1960s. The viaduct is on a diversionary route for East Midlands Railway using the Midland Main Line route.

History, Holidays, museum, wales, Walking

Monmouth

The first time out for a while due to the Pandemic , we made a trip down to the borders and a visit & stay in Monmouth Wales. The Town has a rich heritage and History with some grand old Buildings, museums and bridges over the river Wye. We stayed in the [Mayhill Hotel](http://themayhillhotel.com) just a small distance and nice walk across the river right into the Town centre. A Visit to the Monnow Bridge is a must, this old bridge circa 1272 is the last fortified river bridge and it is now pedestrianised so you can walk across no problem.   Other great places to visit are the Monmouth military museum and the old castle . 

History, Holidays

Ross-On-Wye

We stopped on our journey to Monmouth in the town of Ross-on-wye. It’s a small town but has some nice shops and bars. We had a picnic down by the river wye.  I enjoyed this place and would recommend a few hours of your time to have a good visit, there are some good walks along the river bank if you so wish.  

FRom Wikipedia

he name “Ross” is derived from the Welsh or Celtic for ‘a promontory’. It was renamed “Ross-on-Wye” in 1931 by the General Post Office, due to confusion with other places of the same or similar name (for example, Ross in Scotland).[3]

Ross-on-Wye promotes itself as “the birthplace of British tourism”.[4] In 1745, the rector, Dr John Egerton, started taking friends on boat trips down the valley from his rectory at Ross. The Wye Valley’s attraction was its river scenery, its precipitous landscapes, and its castles and abbeys, which were accessible to seekers of the “Picturesque”. In 1782, William Gilpin’s book “Observations on the River Wye” was published, the first illustrated tour guide to be published in Britain. Once it had appeared, demand grew so much that by 1808 there were eight boats making regular excursions down the Wye, most of them hired from inns in Ross and Monmouth. By 1850 more than 20 visitors had published their own accounts of the Wye Tour, and the area was established as a tourist destination.

Cathederal, cumbria, History

Carlisle 7th September 2020

Carlisle Cathedral

Gail says we have visited this city before but I cannot remember one bit of it. We arrived after a hours drive from Rowrah and parked up for a visit. It’s a lovely old city with a castle and cathedral that we visited inside, the weather was not up much but on a nice day it looks like a great place to visit.

From Wikipedia. Carlisle (/kɑːrˈlaɪl/ kar-LYLE, locally /ˈkɑːrlaɪl/ KAR-lyle;[1] from Cumbric: Caer Luel;[2][3] Scottish Gaelic: Cathair Luail[4]) is a border[5][6] city and the county town of Cumbria as well as the administrative centre of the City of Carlisle district in North West England. Carlisle is located at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril, 10 miles (16 km) south of the Scottish border.[7] Originally in the historic county of Cumberland, it is now the largest settlement in the county of Cumbria, and serves as the administrative centre for both Carlisle City Council and Cumbria County Council. At the time of the 2001 census, the population of Carlisle was 71,773, with 100,734 living in the wider city. Ten years later, at the 2011 census, the city’s population had risen to 75,306, with 107,524 in the wider city.[8]