Connections: King Edward I - Lanercost - Holiday Cottages

One relatively well known fact around here is that way back in medieval times Lanercost Priory was, for a short time, the centre of government for the UK. However, the circumstances around this are less well known.

The King at the time was Edward 1st....and we have been reading the biography by Marc Morris: "A great and terrible King"

Anyway...this is how he came to Lanercost. It was 1307 and the King was at the end of his life...he had been earning his nick name as the "Hammer of the Scots". August 1306 saw him travelling across Northumberland and staying at Hexham Abbey. From here progress westward was slow but eventually the retinue reached Lanercost. Here they stayed as 1306 turned into 1307.

However reversals in the Scottish campaigns galvanized him and by mid March 1307 he finally reached Carlisle. It was from here that he planned his next campaign. Even though seriously ill he rode out at the head of the hastily assembled army and headed for the Solway Firth. It took 10 days to cover just 6 miles....a truly sad indication of his health and on the 6th of July he stopped at Burgh by Sands. The next morning, a Friday and the Feast of St Thomas, he died.

STOP PRESS ...
Northumbria-Bways are proud to offer a selection of luxury cottages close to Lanercost Priory for holiday lettings. All of these cottages have been awarded 4 stars + Gold Award by EnjoyEngland and include De Vaux Cottage (pictured left) and De Moulton Cottage (both sleep up to 4 persons). The nearby Lanercost Tea Rooms, after only a few months of opening, made the final in the CN Group Business Awards 2009 for Cumbria's Best Day Out.

Sir William Russell Flint., Bamburgh and Seahouses

Reading a recent publication of North East Life we came across a mention about Sir William Russell Flint ( 1880 - 1969) a Scottish artist with great skill in water colours. He is quoted as saying
" No sands are more beautiful than those between Bamburgh and Seahouses on the Northumbrian coast". He would stay in the Ship Inn and paint his nude models, undisturbed amongst the dunes along the beach.

Other famous residents include

William George Armstrong...he of Cragside fame.

Grace Darling of course

and Prideaux John Selby the Victorian ornithologist and naturalist.

Lanercost, Hadrian's Wall - Enjoy Holiday Cottages With History

Lanercost is almost a forgotten gem set in the heart of the North Cumbrian countryside. Just a few miles north of the market town of Brampton lies the famous Priory founded in 1165. As is usual for Cumbria a quick visit to Visit Cumbria shows the Priory both at ground level and from the viewpoint of aerial photography. English Heritage also have facts to add to the history.

But researching Lanercost on google also brought up the "chronicle of Lanercost" from 1272 - 1346. It's long and quite dry but goodness me, the detail can be fascinating and allows us to start to see the true depth of the history in this part of the world. As if all that is not enough, there's even the world heritage site of Hadrian's Wall nearby! So if you want to stay in this historic area, you might want to consider renting one of several, luxury Lanercost holiday cottages - just give us a call.

Northumbria Byways are pleased to offer a selection of 6 cottages. These include...

Howard House - A Lanercost cottage that sleeps up to 8 - pictured right

De Botherton - A Lanercost cottage that sleeps 6

Greystoke - One of the Lanercost cottages that sleeps up to 4 persons

Dacre - Another of the Lanercost cottages that sleeps up to 4

How was Hadrian's Wall built?

Alastair Moffat gives us this description of the basic construction

" The core of the Wall was filled by rubble,clay and soil laid between two outer skins of masonry.Lime mortar was used for bonding."

He then talks about the evidence for lime kilns and the dangers of this production process.

Next question regards the height of the wall. At 4 metres high the Romans would have needed scaffolding or ladders. And then there were the mile castles and turrets which were even higher.

Experts are said to have estimated that over 150,000 metres of straight cut wooden poles would have been required.

So between 122 ans 123 AD there must have been an awful lot of trees which were felled.

A real change for the Northumberland landscape.

The Dark Ages - when the Romans left

We've been reading some interesting comparisons between when the Romans left Britain and what happened when , for instance, the Raj left India.

Basically the Roman way of life had become so ingrained that the people of the land associated Romans and their ways with success that after they were gone much of what they did carried on.

People still called themselves by Roman names and many of the Roman habits continued down the years.

We should also say that we have launched a small website just for Hadrian's Wall.

Late availability summer 09

This is the time of year when we get the rushed phone calls and our customers ask us to use our expertise and experience to help them find the ideal last minute bookings.

We usually have a selection left ...but very often we say to our customers think positively. Sure there might be nothing left on the coast itself but there are still some lovely cottages to rent....and often they are no more than 30 minutes from the beach anyway.

For instance this house at Kirknewton.

and

this one in Warkworth is quite close to the coast.

So we can still help, there are options if you want a northumberland cottage but we just need to look at it positively!

Pre history in Northumberland

Up here in the Cheviots and across the National Park it is sometimes possible to imagine yourself back in simpler more primitive times. But when you start to read about history in the Borders there is a tendency to start with the Romans. Almost as if those who came before do not matter.

However two discoveries have opened up this time....well in a small way...for us.

First off we have been looking at the prehistoric rock art of Northumberland and nobody photographs than Rockartwolf.

The second surprise was reading Alastair Moffat's book on Border history and what he calls the wildwood time. Sure the story of the ancient hunter gatherers is fiction, but this is fiction which was probably true. Just no one ever recorded it.

So although most of our visitors think of Romans and Border Reivers there is in fact much more history up here in Northumberland.

Hadrian's Wall - the Vallum

One aspect of the Hadrian's Wall had puzzled us for some time. There are sections of the wall where the ditch is on the South side. But surely it should be to the North as the Romans were defending against the Celtic tribes.

The answer is, as usual with the Romans, simple but with underlying complexities. The Wall was designed not just to keep out the tribes from the North but also to separate them from their allies to the South.Basically the Romans wanted to create a military zone , looking both South as well as North. As an added advantage it would also help to keep their stores and provisions safe.

One small point, we call the ditch to the South of the Wall a Vallum, but really it is a Fossa.

Size of the Vallum? Well Alastair Moffat in his book on the Wall says

1. 5.4 to 5.9 metres across the top
2. Depth of between 2.6 and 2.9 metres.
3. 2.1 m across at the bottom.

Basically it was designed for steep, 60 degree slopes . The soil and rubble dug out was moved away from the Vallum to avoid infill and was used to create braod berms of 9 to 12 metres in width.

Over time it is probable that the vallum filled up with water to present an even more formidable obstacle.