Early Neolithic in Northumberland

The early Neolithic from about 3000 to 4000 bc was the time when hunting gave way to farming in Northumberland. The vast forests of oak,elm, birch and pine were felled to make way for crops and grazing animals. Pottery was fired in kilns and the cup and ring motifs which are still visible as rock art were carved.

Flooding in Northumberland

These days heavy rainfall and flooding are being talked about as if it is unusual. Well there might have been a few years of peace and quiet but its nothing new.

For the border floods of 1948 see

here

and

here

and for those of us who wonder at the impact of gravel extraction on the flood plains see here.

One final comment from a local who has lived many years in Glendale....she mentioned that historically you could use river bed stones ...but with this no longer being the case the beds were shallower than they should be.

Just a relatively small price to pay for living in beautiful Northumberland.

RAF Millfield and their Cumbrian Connection

This is one of the information boards from Maelmin and the RAF memorial. What we hadn't known was that the 59th Operational Training Unit, the first users of the airfield during the second world war , they came over from Crosby on Eden in Cumbria.

You can see a summary of the RAF postings here.

There is so much history up here in Northumberland, not just the ancient history, not just the medieval wars and the Border Reivers...but also more recent history.

Maelmin, ancient heritage trail near Millfield

Maelmin is a strange place. It's just off the A697 between Wooler and Coldstream and hiding behind a memorial to the fallen in WW2. Not an obvious place of interest.


Basically when excavating the nearby airfield a house from around 500 AD was unearthed. This house has been reconstructed here...


The site has the following attractions

A dark age house

A mesolithic hut.....pictured here

A henge





and lots of story boards.

Overall this is a much understated attraction.It's well worth a visit and the chances are you will be the only one here.

Other local attractions include Flodden and of course the College Valley.

WW2 Memorial at Millfield

We had previously blogged about the memorial to lost airman in the Cheviot so it was a surprise when we came across this unexpectedly




The memorial is just off the Wooler to Coldstream Road on the right hand side.Its just before the Gliding Club and next to the Maelmin Heritage trail.

You can see some of the names of the fallen here




Sometimes it's surprising what you can turn up in corners of Northumberland.

Flodden, 9th September 1513.

We had previously written a small blog about the Battle of Flodden on 9th Sep 1513, just to the north of Wooler and a short way off the Coldstream road.


Here is the link to Wikimapia

and here is representation of the battle...click on the image to see it full size

The Battle of Otterburn, 19th August 1388

Carrying on with David Clark's excellent book on touring northern battlefields
( Battlefield walks, pub.Grange books) it's the turn of Otterburn.

We pass through the village when taking the northern route from Cumbria over to north Northumberland, so it's familiar to us...but as a battlefield?

Anyway...the history first.

Two key points

1.In Scotland there were the Douglas's and south of the border the Percy's.

2.There was pressure from the Scottish crown to continue the border wars....and not surprisingly the offer was gratefully accepted and the raiding continued.

The Douglas's had been as far south as Durham, tried to capture Newcastle on their way back and were by all accounts more than ready to tackle the Percy's when they caught up with the Scottish raiders.

The battle itself has several interesting notes.

When the English attacked they found the camp full of non combatants. These they set about killing and the main Scoys army gained valuable time to regroup.Interestingly it has been suggested that Douglas left his non combatants in that place to serve such a purpose.

The main fighting was by moonlight which hindered the arrival of the Umfraville party which had been sent out to outflank the Scots.

Anyway....Douglas was killed, Percy captured and the Scots won the day.
It wouln't be until Homildon Hill in 1402 that the Percy's had their revenge.

This is the wikimapia view of the battleground


Here is Percy's cross , the memorial






And here is the map




See also our blog on the Battle of Hexham.

Border Gliding

Great excitement, when we were up in the Cheviots we went Gliding!
It's quite a common sight at week ends to see these graceful sail planes gliding above the Millfield plain and over the foot hills of the Cheviot.

The Border Gliding Club is based just outside Millfield. Many times travelling north towards Coldstream we have seen the "beware of gliders" signpost, however this time we turned off and went flying.



So what was it like?

First you have to get into the glider.For a tall person this isn't always easy...shall we say its a tight fit.

The take off behind a "tug" is quick , a little bumpy but you are soon in the air.

Being towed up to 2,500 feet is the real scary part.It's quick but you bounce all over the place.
But the peace and quiet when the tow rope is released is truly amazing.Everything goes quiet and you just hang in the air ( as it were).

Unfortunately the lift wasn't great which meant a short flight.The landing , which we had expected to be the most difficult part ,was really quick and no problem for a passenger.

If you would like a house near to Millfield then why not try Croft Cottage.

The Battle of Hexham Levels

The Battle of Hexham on the 25th April 1464 is one of the least documented important battles in our history.So little is recorded and so little known. What we can say is that it was significant enough to herald an end to Lancastrian resistance in the wars of the Roses for seven long years.
This gave a welcome respite to years of intermittent fighting and trouble.

With the death of Somerset at Hexham ( he was executed in the town after the battle) the last of the main Lancastrian leaders in the North was removed.The important castles of Dunstanburgh and Alnwick surrendered within a week of the battle.

The key to exploring the battle field is to start at Linnels bridge and to remember that Somerset decided to fight with the devils water behind him.This was a two edged sword in that he couldnt ne outflanked but he also had no retreat.

To get an idea of the layout go to wikimapia.





Just to the south of here is Allendale and all it's mining history...so truly a wonderful area to explore

A year of blogging

Just realised we have been publishing blogs for over 15 months now. What seemed at the time a long set of tasks has in reality been easier than we thought. Northumberland is such a beautiful county with so much heritage that its been a pleasure to talk about it.

What are the highlights?

Well there has been plenty to say about the Cheviot and the College Valley.

The coastal region has also had a fair share with walks around Craster and the Bathing House.

Then there is Hadrians Wall with all the history.


So a good start, nearly 100 posts and much to look forward to.

Hadrian's bust

Something of a coup for our local museum, Tullie House.

They are showing the original marble bust of Hadrian from the British Museum.


It is of course very familiar as time and again this likeness of Hadrian with "greek" curls is used as his representation.
Three unexpected comments came out though

a.The deep groves in his ear lobes are thought to be indicative of health problems and a sign of authenticity ( being carved from a sitting as opposed to carved from a picture)

b.There was a second identical bust which is now in America.

c. This bust lay undiscovered in a swamp near his Villa at Tivoli.

Hadrian's Wall - was there also a sea wall?

To most people the Wall runs coast to coast. But it was much more than this. Hadrian had extended the Wall down the west coast. Not content with controlling the fords along the Solway he also wanted to control genuine sea traffic as well.

It is possible that there was a sea wall as far south as Ravenglass. Maybe not a proper wall, as that wouldn't have been needed. But certainly

1. A connecting road
2. Maybe a small ditch
3. And of course the regular forts, turrets and mile fortlets.

All in all a much larger civil engineering project than is apparent today.