Richmond ~ August 2013 ~ part 2

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Following on from seeing Richmond Castle in Part 1, Sophie and I went into the market place The church in the market place is the former Holy Trinity church. The tower is 14th century, and was originally detached from the nave, but they are now linked by a more modern, possibly Victorian block. At the east end shops and houses are built against it. Since 1938 it has been home to the Green Howards Regimental museum, tracing the history of that regiment, which was inaugurated back in 1688. As well as other stuff it houses 3700 medals awarded to members…

Richmond Castle & Easby Abbey ~ 2013

Categories: Adventures · castles & ruins · History · landscape · Nikon · Norman · photography · Uncategorized · Victorian era · WW1 · WW2Tags: · · · · 36 Comments

I am going back in time now, to places Sophie and I went before BWP (before wordpress) as we can’t go anywhere as yet. But back on a sunny day in August, 2013, we set off to visit Richmond Castle and Easby Abbey just down the road from the castle. My camera was a Nikon D700, a bit of a gorgeous beast, but my treatment of my photo’s was a bit on the bright side, nevermind, we all have to learn and grow! But first, of course, we must do… The History Bit 🍪 ☕️ (long post alert!) Richmond Castle…

Bishopwearmouth Cemetery ~ March 2020

Categories: Adventures · cemetery · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · Graves · History · photography · uncategorised · UncategorizedTags: · · · · 42 Comments

This was Sophie’s and my last outing this year, just after the keep 2 meters apart advice and just prior to the total lockdown. Because we couldn’t go anywhere in the car, we met up near where Sophie lives, at the Bishopwearmouth Cemetary. A quite appropriate visit for the time, as we will see in The History Bit. ☕️ 🍪 Between 1817 and 1860 the world had 3 cholera pandemics, but for our purposes we are looking at the 2nd one. After dying down by 1824, historians believe the first pandemic hung about in Indonesia and the Phillipines having started…

Bishop Auckland & Auckland Castle~ February 2020 ~ Part 1

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · architecture · castles & ruins · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · Middle Ages · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · · 45 Comments

A cold yet sunny day out in February had Sophie and I visiting the newly refurbished castle at Bishop Auckland, so get your ☕️ and 🍪 and we’ll do The History Bit *LONG POST ALERT* There’s 1,134 years to get through, and a lot of Bishops,so this will be a potted history (again) and here we go! In 886 King Alfred (last seen forgiving Uhtred in The Last Kingdom series 4 🙂 )created the See (area of a bishop’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction) of Durham when he gifts “all the lands between the Were and the Tine to Saint Cuthbert, and to…

Howick Gardens ~ February 2020

Categories: Adventures · cemetery · Church · flower · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · gardens · Graves · landscape · nature · photography · snowdrops · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · · 50 Comments

Sophie and I have visited Howick Gardens a couple of times prior to this post, in October 2015 and July 2017, but there’s something different happening there all year round, and this time we went to see the snowdrops. If you want the history of the gardens it’s in the first link there, if not, on with the pretty pictures! Although it was quite cold, we had a clear blue sky, and the snowdrops were out in force. I had my FujiXT2 + my 16mm fujinon & my helios lens, with me and my Canon EOS 100 FN with a…

St. Wilfred’s Church & Kirkharle ~ Dec 2019 ~Part 2

Categories: Adventures · architecture · Church · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · medieval · photographyTags: · · · 37 Comments

Part 1 HERE is where you’ll find the history of the church and Kirkharle. The church itself is quite small but has some interesting features. Stones with mason’s marks Windows with reticulated tracery (the stonework fills the head of the arch with repeated forms creating the appearance of a net-like pattern- wiki) which you can see at in this shot of the interior taken from the entrance. The font of course, which we originally came looking for, originally from All Saints church in Newcastle, it dates from late 15th or early 16th century, and was installed at St.Wilfreds by George…

Crook House & Gardens~Nov 2019~part 2

Categories: Adventures · architecture · autumn · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · gardens · History · medieval · nature · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · 37 Comments

Part 1 HERE In spite of the weather being meh, we had a wander around the gardens. Not many flowers at that time of year, but nice to see some garden features,foliage & berries. So, a nice day out, the pictures as always are embiggenable with a click, and there are more photo’s of Crook House HERE Stay home, stay well, stay frosty and stay tooned for our next adventure!

Crook House & Gardens~ November 2019

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · architecture · FujiX-T2 · Georgian era · History · medieval · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · 42 Comments

On a rather miserable showery day, Sophie and I went off to Framwellgate in County Durham, to visit Crook Hall. As always, I will edumacate you firstly with…. The History Bit ☕️ 🍪 Crook Hall was built around 1217 and is one of the oldest inhabited houses in Durham City. The oldest part is an open hall, built in sandstone and with a Welsh slate roof. In the 17th Century the hall was extended forming a Jacobean manor house, and in the 18th Century a large brick Georgian house was appended to the Jacobean part. A fair hotchpotch that. Originally…

Tynemouth Castle & Priory ~ November 2019

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · castles & ruins · Church · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · Graves · History · landscape · medieval · Middle Ages · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · · 46 Comments

A cold but sunny day had Sophie and I opt for a short outing nearby to Tynemouth Priory. Get your cuppa ready, here comes The History Bit. *Long post alert* skimmers and those of you with short attention spans should move right along to the pictures 🙂 Firstly, as fabulous as I am, condensing 2000 years of convoluted Northumbrian history in one blog post is not an easy task, so bear with me and a potted version will have to suffice. The Priory stands on a headland known by ancient Britains as Pen Bal Crag, the literal translation of that…