Edinburgh to The lakes district

August 22, 2017

Edinburgh to The lakes district

So this morning we sadly farewelled Scotland and travelled across the border into England.

Our first stop today was

Birdsowald roman fort

Birdsowald is the best preserved of the 16 forts that are positioned along Hadrian s wall. The fort is believed to have been occupied by roman soldiers from about 112 - 400AD.

It is believed that the fort was originally called Banna , which is Latin for Spur or tongue. This was because the fort is strategically positioned on a triangular spur of land bounded on the south and east by cliffs, the view above is from the east cliff looking down over a peaceful meandering river. The romans built forts every 5 Roman miles along the width of the wall. This area has had a lot of archeological work completed on it and they have been able to identify that long after the romans abandoned the fort it continued to be used for hundreds of years.

Hadrian s wall

Wow talk about things coming together, last year gadget and I visited Hadrians villa near Rome and on this trip we visited his wall.

Hadrian's Wall was defensive wall that stretched from the river Tyne ( near the North Sea) to the soloway firth on the Irish Sea. It is believed that the wall was built to protect the romans from the barbarian's , in this case the Pict's (Scots) however their is no documented proof that this was the purpose of the wall.

It is believed that they started building it in about 122 AD during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. The above image shows Hadrian s wall stretching westward toward the Irish Sea. The wall was 80 miles long and was usually built of stone , however in some places they did create earth walls and they believe that in places the wall was originally about 3 metered wide and about 5 - 6 meters high. It was pretty impressive seeing something that was built almost 2000 years ago.

As we left Hadrian s wall and headed out onto the road we came across this sign, I couldn't help snapping a shot to send to my girls. For those of you who don't understand why, these are the names of where we live and one of it's suburbs.

After leaving the wall we headed to

Lanacost priory

Lanacost was an Augustinian priory and was founded around 1165 and was built largely with stone from Hadrian's wall, with some stones in the walls bearing roman inscriptions. The priory operated for some 300 years until the reformation of the church by Henry VIII. Throughout the years the Abbey was attacked on several occasions with Robert the Bruce , the Scottish king taking the priory at one point. however Henry VIII was the priory death knell, with the roofs of all the prior buildings being removed and the church stripped of it's treasures. However the roof of the church was left intact and it continued to be used as the local parish church.

by 1847 the Priory was in a state of disrepair to the extent that the east end roof collapsed. However, by 1849, The church was in use again after a major restoration and In the 1870s, there was further restoration. So part of the original building today continues to be used.

I just loved this building and had the camera stuck to my eye as I snapped photo after photo, I loved its beautiful lines and the Rose colour of the stone.

We decided we needed to see inside the current church and you could clearly see where they have created a wall between what is being used and what is ruined. As we wandered around in the church we came across this interesting sign board.

The information board outlined how they had received funding and had been able to restore and rehanged their dorsal. The dorsal is a 24 foot long embroidery of worsted wools on a felted ground, that was hung behind the priory altar in 1887, however this is no ordinary tapestry, it was an original design by William Morris created from a friend, during the peak of his career. The church also boasted several Morris designed windows.

After leaving the priory we travelled onwards towards the Lake District, we found ourselves travelling beside the ullstwater lake and then we travelled up on to Kirkstone pass

The pass is a narrow two laned road, that winds constantly through the mountains and we had to be wary not only of oncoming traffic but also the local inhabitants.

We arrived in the beautiful village of bowness on Windermere, this town is gorgeous , seriously cute, it could be a Disney set it is so cute. It is filled with lots of very cute little shops and cafes.