Framlingham and Orford Castles

On Wednesday, in the scorching 33 degree heat of the English spring, I was able to take the kids to a couple of castles in Suffolk: Framlingham and Orford. I usually visit these two castles on the same day as they go together historically. I have visited these castles on a couple of occasions previously, but not for at least 30-35 years! The sites have been thoroughly modernised in the intervening years and there is more to see at both sites than I remember seeing when I last went. 

Framlingham Castle was originally built in timber by Roger Bigod in 1101 after being granted the manor by King Henry I. The Bigods were a lowly family when they arrived with William I to conquer England, but rapidly rose to power. The first stone castle was built around 1154 by Roger's son Hugh who, via a variety of machinations and side-swapping during The Anarchy, eventually became powerful enough for King Henry II to want to reclaim East Anglia for himself to reduce the Bigod's power. The king confiscated the castle and all of the other Bigod holdings in Norfolk (this included two other castles (Walton and another) I think) in 1157, but he returned Framlingham in the 1160s. Hugh Bigod did not learn from his mistakes and supported a rebellion against the king in 1173 which was defeated, so lost teg castle again. He died on pilgrimage to Jerusalem around 1176.

Framlingham Castle

Framlingham is also famous for housing Queen Mary during the Lady Jane Grey fracas; it was here that she gathered support and later learned that she was to be crowned the first female monarch of England.

Orford Castle was built by King Henry II to counterbalance the power of Hugh Bigod in East Anglia whilst he reasserted his authority in the region.

Orford Castle

From the top of the castle you can see why the position at Orford was so strategic - the views over the Ness are amazing; you can see for miles. In fact, on a good day and without a few trees in the way you should be able to see Framlingham Castle.

Byrhtnoth and the Battle of Maldon

The second trip out over the school break also included my youngest daughter (who is actually at university) as well as my youngest son. This time we went for something a little closer to home both time-wise and geographically; we went to visit the town and local environs of the Battle of Maldon from late Anglo-Saxon times.

The Ealdorman of Essex, Byrhtnoth, died at the Battle of Maldon on 10/11th August 991 AD and a tragic poem about the event was written in Anglo-Saxon soon after - we still have over 300 lines of it surviving.

The plaque at the bottom of the statue at the end of Maldon promenade.

Our day started by visiting the small museum in Maldon that houses the Maldon Tapestry (really an embroidery). It costs nothing to enter but I left a few pounds in the collection jar to help keep it running. The first two panels were of most interest to me but the rest of the embroidery was worth a look at and a quick read of the guide book the staff lent me explained what everything meant.

The 1st Panel

The 2nd Panel

These first two panels tell the story of Maldon's foundation and the battle that occurred nearby just over one thousand years ago. I won't go into the details as all that history can be found elsewhere on the web.

After spending a little more time looking at a few more of the exhibits we wandered up the road to view a couple of churches. The first had a statue/carving of Byrhtnoth on the outside, whilst the second has the only triangular tower in the UK.

Byrhtnoth carving on a local church

The only triangular church tower in the UK apparently

I had heard internet rumours that there was a stained glass window in his honour in one of the churches, but I was unable to find that on our travels.

Next we headed down to the estuary, via a local bakery where we picked up some lovely cakes for a snack, to the modern statue of the ealdorman at the end of the promenade. This is a nice little walk as it takes in lots of local historical flavour; Thames barges, historical fishing huts and local crafts stalls, as well as lots of places to eat and a huge recreational park.

We got to the end of the promenade and took a few moments to look at the modern bronze statue of Byrhtnoth. The plaque from the first picture is located here (it can be seen just behind the statue, to the right, in the first picture below).

Ealdorman Byrhtnoth (front)

Ealdorman Byrhtnoth (rear)

The plinth tells the story of the Battle of Maldon

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the sun was very strong today so none of my pictures of the plinth turned out particularly well (the best of them is shown above).

No visit would have been complete without visiting the actual battle site. This was a lot harder to find than initially expected. We looked all over the place but could not find the National Trust sign that I found on the internet that denotes where it is thought the battle took place.

The National Trust sign for the battle site

We found the causeway (or a modernised version of it) and looked around there for several hundred meters in each direction but only found a modern National Trust sign that only mentioned the battle in passing - it was more about the wetlands recovery and bird species in the area (fascinating in its own way but not what I was looking for today). Maybe the above sign has been removed in favour of the newer signage? If anyone knows about this I would love to hear from you about it in the comments.

Northey Island causeway

My daughter was becoming a little tired from all the walking (at least 5 miles was covered today), so only my son and I walked over the causeway (we had to be careful as it was very slippery), but there was nothing within easy reach that was of interest. What looks like water in the above photo is in fact a huge expanse of mud flats as the tide was out at the time of our visit.

We headed back to the car park after the visit, almost exactly three hours after we left (just in time, as the ticket expired after three hours). We chatted about all that we had seen on the walk back but were a little upset by the fact we didn't see the actual battle site according to the missing signage. That said, we were heartened by a comment one of the ladies in the museum made whilst I was chatting to her about the tapestry - a local historian seems to think that the battle site might not have been where The National Trust sign was but further into town, due to the fact a Viking Age (10th century) sword was found at a construction site a few decades back. This may have been a coincidental find, but nothing has been found at the "official" site anyway to corroborate that theory. Something for future historians and archaeologists to ponder?

Like Tuesday's visit to the Ramses exhibition, we had a wonderful day out and caught some of the spring sun's early rays to boot!

Ramses and the Pharaoh's Gold Exhibition

As it was the school holidays last week, I decided to take my youngest son to see the new Ramses and the Pharoah's Gold exhibition at Battersea Power Station in London on Tuesday 7th April 2026. I had kept it a secret from him until the actual day and he only got to know exactly where we were headed when we stepped outside the tube station close by the venue and he saw the advertising signs.

Exhibition Flyer

I have a passing interest in Egyptology and warfare of the time (hence why I generally comment about these kinds of outings on the blog) but I have never actually studied the period. I have various qualifications in Palaeontology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Archaeology and History (mostly Greek, Roman and Medieval), but the nearest I got to studying Egypt was probably just a few modules on the Levant and its environs.

So, this was going to be fairly new ground for me, and I think I was as exited as my son when he finally found out where we were headed this day. The exhibition itself runs through a potted history of Ramses' life and there is a selection of around 180 artifacts related to the 19th Dynasty and a few items from dynasties either side of his reign.

I won't go into too many details just in case anyone wants to see the splendour on offer, but I can say that I heartily recommend this exhibition for those with any interest in the period at all. It is a limited time-span exhibition, so will most likely nothing like it will be seen again in the UK for several years/decades.

That said, in keeping with this blog, there are a few exhibits/items that I would like to mention; there were a couple of weapons alongside the other dazzling golden jewellery on display, and one hall was devoted to the Battle of Kadesh - Ramses great victory over the Hittite Empire.

I was quite surprised to find out that quivers used in Egyptian warfare from this period were made of wood and painted to represent animal hide.

Bow and wooden quiver

There was also a very ornate bronze dagger on display.

Bronze Dagger

Some blurb about the dagger

The photos do not do the dagger justice - it really was a thing of beauty.

Anyway, we both thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition - we were in there for just over two hours. Despite it being a school break visit, it wasn't too busy, so we got the time to explore at our leisure and we were able to see and read about every item in that time. For what it was, it was not too expensive either. Unfortunately the exhibition hard-back guide book (that contains details of all the exhibits in glorious colour) was a little out of my reach at £45 - if I had the money, it would have been a must-have memento.

Historical Holiday Interlude - Warwick

My partner and I got away for a mini-break to Warwick last weekend. We spent four glorious days exploring the quiet town of Warwick and the much busier home to William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon.

We had a few walks around Warwick town during our long weekend stay; we had the time to look at the two "gates", the Lord of Leycester's house and the castle. We also spent a long, leisurely day in nearby Stratford-upon-Avon where we went all Shakespeare by seeing his Birthplace, Anne Hathaway's House, and paid a visit to the RSC theatre to see a modern rendition of Measure for Measure.

Apologies for the lighting - it was a very sunny day

As this post is to be mostly about the medieval things we got to see on our visit to Warwick, I have only included photos, for my reference purposes, of Warwick Castle itself. The castle, and its grounds, is great for a family day (or two) out; we barely scratched the surface of what was on offer as there are plenty of things to do and see. We watched a rather spectacular falconry display that involved birds of prey from all over the world (the Andean condor is simply enormous), a trebuchet demonstration, and took part in a couple of guided talks which included a potted history of the castle and tales of a few of its ghostly residents.

Inside the castle - Guys tower, barbican and Caesar's tower

The castle started out as a typical Norman motte and bailey fortification completed in 1068. From an information post on the mound, it seems that it was built on or near the site of an Anglo-Saxon burh - I have yet to read up more fully on that. The wooden keep and palisades were rebuilt in stone at a later date and then fell into disrepair before the barbican and gatehouse were constructed in the 14th century. The castle was then added to, and left to go to ruin, at various times over the intervening centuries, culminating in what we see today. 

On this visit, I wanted to find out a bit more about Guy, Earl of Warwick. The reason being is that before I moved to where I currently reside, I lived in Kent. One of my local pubs was called the Guy, Earl of Warwick and there were several other pubs on, presumably, a similar theme - The Bear and Ragged Staff being one of them for instance. Unfortunately, I was unable to get around all of the exhibits, so missed out on that particular period of history. That said, I am assuming that one of the main towers is named after him - happy to be proven wrong if anyone knows if the tower is linked to the pub's namesake...

Guy's Tower

Zoomed in a bit

Guy's Tower from the castle battlements

Our walk around the walls, combined with the potted history tour, led to the other main tower, currently named after Julius Caesar (some kind of Victorian style renaming to make it sound more grand apparently). It was originally named after Poitiers, the site of a battle that one of the earls of Warwick was rather successful in and made a huge fortune in ransoms at, but that was deemed too much of a linguistic mouthful so was changed to something easier to say apparently.

Caesar's (or Poitiers) Tower

I have just noticed that most of these photos are on the wonk. That is my fault as they were taken with my phone camera and it was a very bright day, so I literally could not see my phone screen whilst taking them.

We didn't get to do our usual 4 hour marathon tours of each display and museum within the castle; that will have to be left for a return visit one day. As a result, a lot of the history that I normally pick up on did not get filed away in the old grey matter. So, apologies for the history-lite report.

It would be remiss of me to not include a picture of the rather spectacular trebuchet found within the grounds of the castle. There is a short interactive show about one of the sieges of Warwick castle that included the use of the great trebuchet. The show was a bit meh in terms of the acting, but I guess it was aimed at families with kids. However, the loading and firing of the siege engine itself was good to watch.

Trebuchet

Warwick is a very quiet town (well, it was whilst we were there), so it is a good place to visit for a relaxing weekend away. There is just enough to do to take up your time in an enjoyable way. As we missed a fair bit due to our trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, we decided to leave some of the things to do in Warwick until the Monday, but, unfortunately, almost everything was closed. There are a couple of interesting museums, a number of medieval gates/houses, as well as easily two days worth of perusing at the castle itself to fill your time.

Historical Holiday Interlude - Rhodes

During the first half of July this year, my partner and I decided to take a trip to Rhodes. We had already been to Cyprus in March and taken in lots of (pre)historical goodness in the way of ancient tombs and Greek and Roman remains, so this time would bring us a little more towards the present day with the most intact medieval city in Europe. It also linked nicely with the Knights of the Order of St. John.

Not knowing much about Rhodes other than the story of the persecution of the Knights Templar in 1307 and the subsequent fiscal attacks on the Knights of Rhodes in the aftermath of that act (apparently to break the financial power of the two orders), we decided to explore a bit of the old town to find out more.

From the couple of museums we visited we discovered that the city of Rhodes is one of the most intact medieval cities in Europe and that the old town and the Grand Master's Palace are the two main attractions in the north of the island - we didn't get to see any of the other fortresses and towers on the rest of the island as this was to be mostly a holiday of relaxation (sun, sea and sleep).

City Walls (as seen from the harbour)

 

The Harbour defences

 

 

 

Grand Master's Palace (as seen from the harbour)

Anyway, without going into all the details, we explored a lot of the old medieval town, palace and city walls and learned a lot of the history of the island and the Order of the Knights of St. John. These details may come in handy for future gaming with knightly orders in their historical context, or for fantasy versions in an imaginary world. Often, a real institution's history and organisation can be a great place to start to base a fantasy one on.

Surprisingly, other than appearances on a few tee-shirts and fridge magnets, not much is made of the Colossus of Rhodes. I wanted to find out a little more about this Wonder of the Ancient World, but other than it fell to an earthquake in ~226/225 BC, I only really found out that it didn't straddle the harbour as I always thought but was situated to one side. It represented the sun god Helios, and was apparently 33 meters tall and made of bronze. It was raised to celebrate a victory over Demetrius of Macedon. Sadly, the remnants were gathered up in the 7th century and melted down. What a sad way to end its life.

Being a mostly fantasy game player, I thought that the machinations of the order and their enemies could make for a great political game, especially if I could use the iconography of the Colossus as part of the set-up. Then, when I found out that they had their own dragon myth I got even more excited about gaming possibilities. Apparently around the year 1332 a dragon terrorised the people of Rhodes. Many knights went to Mal Paso (Bad Pass) to slay the enormous, long-tailed beast with scales of metal that no arrow or spear could pierce, but none returned. As a result, Grand Master Helion de Villeneuve forbade anyone else from attempting to slay the monster, but, as always in these tales, a young knight, Dieudonne de Gozon disobeyed the order and set about defeating it. To cut a long story short, he took a year out from his knightly duties to fashion a replica of the dragon at his father's castle in Languedoc to get his horse and dogs used to the sight of such a beast. Having also learned of a small, vulnerable unplated part of its underbelly, he set off to slay it. When he encountered the dragon, he was knocked off his horse by its long tail. However, he was able to pierce its soft underbelly with a spear, but the monster's dead body fell on him, trapping him beneath. He was hauled out by joyous villagers and taken to Grand Master Helion de Villeneuve who was going to punish him for disobeying orders, but let him off due to the cries of the populace and promoted him to Grand Master instead. Apparently the dragon's head was on display on the Sea Gate until at least the 17th century when it was written about by two travellers!

Historical Holiday interlude

I haven't updated this blog in several years (not since 2020) with details about trips to archaeologically and historically interesting places I have been to whilst on my holidays. Over the last few years I have been to many fantastic sites around Europe and the UK but not blogged about them. They are of interest to me as I studied History and Archaeology at University and I love all things of this nature. I like to see, from the clues these monuments etc. give us, how ancient peoples resolved a variety of issues in their everyday lives. My main focus has generally been on the military, religious and cultural side of things and the impacts that the variety of artifacts, monuments and buildings had on people's lives.

Over the last few years, since I have updated this site with my archaeological visits, I have been to many interesting places, but as they are now too late to report on now, I thought I would start again, if and when I remember, to begin to blog about my latest forays.

Just last week, my partner and I visited Paphos in Cyprus. A short walk or bus journey from our hotel took us to three very interesting, and in some cases remarkably well preserved, sites that were of great interest.

First up we visited the Byzantine castle in Paphos harbour. It has had a very colourful history and was inhabited by a variety of cultures in their turn. There is a small moat around the castle, which cannot be seen from my photographs below, and it is situated on a very defensible spit of land that protects the harbour. It is basically just the shell that is left but most of it is explorable...

Just the other side of the harbour in the Kato Pafos Archaeological Park is the UNESCO listed Greek and Roman town of Nea Pafos. It was most likely built in Ptolemaic times and subsequently added to and/or overbuilt by various inhabitants of the island. It is world-renowned for its surviving mosaics and extensive ruins that can be walked around comfortably in an afternoon (take a sun hat and plenty of water though). I didn't take that many photos of this site as pictures of most of the ruins and mosaics are in a small guidebook that can be picked up for a few Euros in the visitor centre at the site, but thought I would share a couple of views of the amphitheatre as it is so well preserved...

 

Finally, for this trip anyway, we visited another UNESCO site in the shape of The Tombs of the Kings. It is an extensive necropolis, that takes a good few hours to get around if you want to see all of the tombs. Unfortunately, its name does not convey the truth that there were probably no kings interred here; most likely just important members of the more elite families from the area. Again, I didn't take too many photos as the guidebook has plenty. Most of the site looks like the last picture in the sequence below but there are nine (only eight are now labelled and have a QR code on a small post for more information by them) well-preserved sets of tombs that range in complexity from just holes in the hillside to full-on subterranean pillared mausolea...

One thing I noticed about my visit to these sites in Paphos (maybe the same for the rest of Cyprus?) is that the entry fee and literature for these sites is extremely cheap compared to the equivalent of a UK based site. I think that the authorities who own these sites need to monetise them more (but not theme park them) to bring in more revenue to continue their work (there is a lot of excavation work still to be done at Nea Pafos and the Tombs of the Kings) and to maybe give more of a visitor experience - there are very few information boards (although there are QR codes available for more info, see above) which would help casual visitors to appreciate the sites more. On the other hand, those types of information boards can lead to the site being slightly "spoilt". Either way, more money would mean more excavation can be carried out and more could be learned from these fantastic monuments.

Mountfitchet Castle

Yesterday, we decided to take the kids to Mountfitchet Castle near Stansted in Essex. I had never heard of this historic monument until Saturday, so when my better half suggested we go visit, I jumped at the chance. It is only just down the road from our new home, so it is most likely going to be a well-visited site over the coming years. We were a little worried about the weather when we set out, but it turned out to be gloriously bright and sunny (if a little cold) and made for a grand day out.

The site comprises of a reconstruction of the castle as it may have been in around 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded, as well as a toy museum and haunted house to keep everyone busy. The main reason I wanted to go was for the castle reconstruction, but the kids loved it too, as well as all the other attractions.

The plan, found at the entrance, is not fully accurate to what lies within, but is near enough and gives an idea of what can be found within the bounds of the perimeter walls. We explored pretty much every part of the site that we could (although a little too quickly for my liking) and I managed to grab a ton of photos to use as source material (as well as picking up their little guide book as a keep sake).

I wasn't sure what to display here on the blog as a memento of my visit, as I have so many photos to choose from, so thought I would shine a light on some of the more grand stuff...

On the way up the hill from the visitor centre is the pallisade wall and a variety of watchtowers...

The most spectacular building was the Grand Hall where Robert Gernon, Duke of Boulogne, ruled his barony from...

And on the inside we can see that Norman residences were far from dingy and plain; starting with the banqueting hall...

...and the lord's chambers...

Most medieval professions are represented within the wooden walls of the fortress, but I thought that the blacksmith's was the most impressive building after the grand hall...

I took other photos of this building, but this one really shows how impressive medieval construction was. I really like the way that the roof is slatted/tiled with wooden planks, thatched and then topped off with more wooden slatting. The "dragon" decoration (head at the front of the building, tail at the back) really set things off for me.

What I found especially interesting about most of the buildings was the way they were finished and then allowed to age. The site has been standing for around 35 years and from what I can see, left to the elements. The white-washed buildings have begun to discolour, with many walls turning greyish, and the woodwork has aged especially, and faded to a light grey/sandy brown colour (like most aged wood). This made me wonder how often the Normans would have replaced the wood, and whether wood weakened with age and perhaps the weathering made things more brittle. This is something I will need to look into another day.

I would recommend a visit to this reconstructed motte and bailey timber castle if you are interested in history in action. Our visit was only a very brief one, with only a couple of hours actually looking at the site - the rest of the day was spent in the various haunted houses and the toy museum. Next time, I can spend a lot more of my day exploring each of the buildings in turn in a lot more detail.

Mountfitchet Castle, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex CM24 8SP  England
Note: Sat Nav - use the postcode CM24 8LY

Pevensey Castle

Pevensey Castle - Wednesday 12th April 2017

As it was the school holidays I decided to take some of the kids to an English Heritage site for a day out. As I am a member the entry fee is not charged and it is therefore a reasonably cheap day out (we took our own picnic lunch to save a few quid too). As I had not been there for at least 25 years and the fortification had been mentioned on a couple of TV programmes recently I decided it might be a good bet.

As we have been talking a lot about the Roman and 1066 Norman invasions at home recently, I thought that a trip to this particular castle was rather apt. The kids have been to Bayeux, Battle Abbey on several occasions (even watching the annual re-enactment a few times), and Hastings, but the only major place left for them to visit on William's tour of duty was Pevensey.

It was a rather bleak morning but the sun did pop out from behind the clouds on occasion to brighten things up a little bit. It is a rather small site still, but there is a very small museum on site now which wasn't there the last time I visited. It took us about an hour and a half to wander round and see all the sights, just long enough that something could be learned without the little ones getting too bored.

Other than one "modernised" walkway, none of the walls or towers can be climbed any more. The last time I was there I was able to get into some of the towers and sit in the arrow slits to enjoy some of the views that many a Norman soldier must have done. It didn't really detract from my enjoyment but it may do for some who are more adventurous (read: without worrying about kids taking a tumble).

The castle has seen quite a bit of action throughout its life as a Roman fortress, Saxon fortified village and Norman castle. There are four recorded sieges and it was also modified with gun emplacements to help fight against the Spanish and the French several centuries later, as well as a pill-box looking emplacement for World War Two use. The bay in which the castle stands has been drained over the years for land reclamation, so rather than seeing green fields, the Roman and Norman forces would have seen the sea and lots of coastal marshland.

In all, it was a good morning out. The kids enjoyed themselves and hopefully learned a few things. I recommend the castle for a morning or afternoon visit if you are ever in the area, perhaps alongside a trip to Battle Abbey and Hastings Castle? It was also useful for thinking about castle usage from a gaming perspective. I bought the guide book whilst there, but have not got around to giving it a good read yet, but I daresay I can glean lots of great information from it.

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas...

A Week Away

Last week Mrs Odo and I took the brood away for a bit of RnR. We visited Ambleside in Cumbria again. We have been to the Lake District on several occasions now as we all love it there and it is good for our household budget (renting a cottage is a lot cheaper than staying in hotels).

We did all the usual stuff for the kids including the boat ride on Windemere, a train journey on the Haverthwaite steam railway and so on, but for entry onto the blog my little historical/archaeological days out are more appropriate.

Luckily Mrs Odo was 'into' the historical stuff more this time around and I got two days out to visit sites. On the first of these two days, we managed to visit Brougham Castle (see new blog photo), Mayburgh Henge and Arthur's Round Table. On the second day we visited Lanercost Priory, Banks Tower (on Hadrian's Wall) and Birdoswald.

Brougham Castle proved to be very popular with the children as they could run around and explore the remains of a well preserved castle. Originally built in the 12th Century, it served as a border castle well into the 17th Century. Just down the road from here were a couple of Neolithic sites that I had wanted to see for decades.

Mayburgh Henge has a very impressive bank but only a solitary standing stone left in the centre. It is wierd for not having any ditches associated with it. Henges are named so because of the bank and ditch systems; Stonehenge is not actually the rings of impressive standing stones but the ditch and bank around it - the stones are supplementary to rather than the actual henge monument. That said, common parlance says that the whole monument is the henge  - who am I to argue with such impressive structures and their designated nomenclature? I will be visiting Stonehenge soon as they are redesigning the whole site for a totally new experience. Anyway, back to Mayburgh Henge, here is a picture of the standing stone that also gives some idea of the bank's size in the background. Even more impressive considering it was made of pebbles from teh local river as opposed to being dug up from the surrounding earth.

 

Here is a photo of the blurb associated with the site. I am not sure if I am allowed to reproduce it here, but I am using it purely for eductaional purposes - more of you out there should go visit these wonderful sites. Hopefully some of my non-UK readers will find the data of interest too.

Just down the road from the castle and henge mentioned above is Arthur's Round Table. This is a henge in the true sense of the word - banks and ditches. I am not sure if the photo below does it any favours, but I found it a fantastic monument even though it is just a series of earthworks. The large circular flat area in the centre (left of picture) was assumed to be where King Arthur jousted with his fellow knights. All poppycock of course, but a wonderful story about how people try to explain unusual formations in the landscape or stories from their past.

Lanercost Priory on our second day's worth of visits proved to be popular with the kids again - lots of room to run around and explore. It was an interesting site in that so much of it was preserved following the devastation imposed on religious houses during the reign of Henry VIII, and the fact it had the local parish church still operating within its grounds. Continuity at this site is very impressive.

Leaving the priory behind, we drove a little further up the road and called off at one of the better preserved towers that are still extant along the length of Hadrian's Wall. Banks Tower is so called due to its close proximity to Banks village a few hundred yards down the road from it. It is very small, but would have provided a small contingent of troops to patrol the wall as well as being a possible site for a signal beacon to warn of the approach of potential enemies. From a mock up of a wall tower at Birdoswald, the height of the wall and tower would have provided a difficult challenge to any who tried to cross the border at this point.

Our final destination was Birdoswald - another Roman fortress situated along Hadrian's Wall. We have been here before (last time we went to The Lakes we saw a Border Reivers show put on by English Heritage and a re-enactment society - in fact one of my previous blog title photos was of a couple of the chaps from the society having a barney). I didn't take any photos this time around as I have plenty from the last time, and I only wanted to put up details of new places I had visited. Maybe I will run some galleries at a later date of my historical and archaeological travels.

We have stayed in Ambleside on three occasions now and every time we go I try to visit the Roman remains there. Each time I always seem to miss out on them. Perhaps if we stayed somewhere else next time we visit Cumbria I would find the opportunity to go visit - it seems that if something is on your doorstep, you are less inclined to visit it as you have "plenty of time" and it is "just around the corner". I can say the same for sites local to where I live too!