Easby Abbey

Categories: Adventures · architecture · castles & ruins · Graves · History · landscape · medieval · Middle Ages · Nikon · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · · 45 Comments

Following on from our trip to Richmond Castle, Sophie and I went a mile and a half down the road to the ruins of Easby Abbey, and as you know, before we get to the pictures, we must first do The History Bit 🍪 ☕️ Easby Abbey, or The Abbey of St.Agatha is one of the best preserved monsteries of the Premonstratensian order. Premonstratensian is a bit of a mouthful, and I’d never heard of it so in case I’m not the only one here’s a quick run down of what it was/is. It’s full title is The Order of Canons…

Richmond Castle & Easby Abbey ~ 2013

Categories: Adventures · castles & ruins · History · landscape · Nikon · Norman · photography · Uncategorized · Victorian era · WW1 · WW2Tags: · · · · 39 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: · · · · 47 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…

Crook House & Gardens~ November 2019

Categories: Adventures · Anglo~Saxon · architecture · FujiX-T2 · Georgian era · History · medieval · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · 45 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: · · · · · · · · 50 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…

Wynyard Gardens ~ October 2019

Categories: Adventures · autumn · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · gardens · History · landscape · nature · photography · stately homes & estates · UncategorizedTags: · · · · 39 Comments

Sophie and I decided to visit Wynyard Gardens even though the flower season was over, we thought we’d do a recce and return in spring if we thought it worthwhile. The gardens are part of the Wynyard Hall estate, currently owned by Sir John Hall, a North East property developer ( and life president of Newcastle United Football Club). We only saw the hall from a distance as it is a very nice hotel now, but the gardens are open to the public all year round. The history bit . ( Cup of tea time 🙂 ) We’ll begin by…

Preston Tower ~ October 2019

Categories: Adventures · castles & ruins · Fuji · FujiX-T2 · History · landscape · medieval · photography · UncategorizedTags: · · · · · · · · 37 Comments

The history bit. Built in 1392, Preston Tower was built in a time of warfare between England and Scotland. By the time of Agincourt in 1415, it was one of 78 Pele Towers and Tower Houses in the county. One of its owners, Sir Guiscard Harbottle was killed in hand to hand combat with King James IV at the battle of Flodden in 1513. The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton (Brainston Moor) was a battle fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of…

Newcastle Upon Tyne ~ September 2019 ~ 2

Categories: Adventures · architecture · FujiX-T2 · History · landscape · photographyTags: · · · · · · · · 50 Comments

Part 1 HERE After our somewhat disappointing ‘tour’ around All Saints, Sophie and I went off to find an interesting building Sophie had spotted from a train. According to Sophie it wasn’t too far away, so we left All Saints and headed down to the quayside. We walked down the quayside and I was amused to see that a temporary beach had been set up for summer. You may notice an elephant in the middle of the picture, this is something that happens every year in the North East, and will have a post of it’s own next time.  In…