Listings

The remains of Isurium Brigantum, a significant Roman town between the 2nd and 5th centuries AD, lie largely under the charming village of Aldborough ('old borough'). Little of the Roman town is visible - small sections of town wall and a couple of good mosaics. There's a small museum, and it's a pleasant stroll round the site, but people expecting to see a great deal might be disappointed.

A lovely Tudor town hall, dating from c1550, and a symbol of Aldeburgh's prosperity at the time. The ground floor would have been occupied by shops, with meetings taking place on the first floor. Greatly restored in Victorian times, it now houses a good local museum. The building would once have been more at the centre of town - now it is close to the beach, an indication of shoreline erosion in this part of the UK.

All Hallows by the Tower was founded in 675AD - it is the oldest church in the City of London. An arch from this original church remains and, beneath that, a fragment of Roman pavement. The church has looked after the bodies of those beheaded on nearby tower hill, including Thomas More's and, from the tower of the church, Samuel Pepys watched London burn in 1666. The founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn, was baptised here and notable weddings included those of John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the USA, and Judge Jeffries, famous for his 'bloody assizes' in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor of 1685. All Hallows survived the Great Fire, thanks to the efforts of Pepys' friend Admiral Penn, but was fairly comprehensively bombed during WW2 and rebuilt in the 1950s. A long-serving vicar of the church was 'Tubby' Clayton, founder of 'Toc H', the rest and recuperation centre for troops in Belgium during WW1.

All Saints' Burton in Lonsdale, with its tall spire, is a prominent landmark across the valley of the River Greta. It is relatively new, replacing an earlier chapel of ease , dedicated to St James, that stood somewhere to the east of the current building, probably on ground that is now part of a closed churchyard. It was designed in 'early English style' by the Lancaster partnership of Paley and Austin, was funded by Thomas Thornton, nephew of the millionaire trader Richard Thornton, and constructed between 1868 and 1876 partly on the site of his grandparents’ cottage. All Saints is an attractive church, with an interesting lych gate - probably erected at the same time as the church - located in the adjacent closed churchyard.

The church contains some fine stone details,a wonderful font, an impressive barrel-vaulted roof and has a ring of 6 bells. The first vicar of All Saints' Burton in Lonsdale was the Rev Frederick Binyon, father of the poet Lawrence Binyon, author of the poem, 'For the Fallen'. An original WW1 battlefield burial cross is on display inside the church, as well as a selection of renowned Burton in Lonsdale pottery - a specialist industry between the 17th and 20th centuries. Outside the south wall is the font from the old chapel of ease, which has been converted to a sundial and, at the east end, a screen to protect the modesty of choirboys needing a pee. Occasional concerts and events are held inside the church, including the widely popular 'Concert and Cakes' featuring musicians from the Royal Northern College of Music and locally baked goodies.

All Souls College, Oxford, was founded by Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry VI in 1438.  It doesn’t have any students.  Its purpose is to allow graduate fellows to undertake further studies and pray for the souls of all the faithful departed.  The entrance exam is said to be one of the hardest in the world and is followed up with an interview.  Past fellows include Christopher Wren, TE Lawrence, Leo Amery, Cosmo Lang, AL Rowse, Keith Joseph and John Redwood. Many college buildings, including the chapel, date from 15th and 16th centuries. The Codrington Library was completed in 1751.

Every hundred years, All Souls holds the ritual of 'hunting the mallard', in commemoration of the chase after a huge wild duck which flew from a drain during 15th-century building works. Archbishop Chichele is said to have had a premonition about the duck in a dream - as you do. The last commemoration took place in 2001, late at night and allegedly after much drinking and eating, when some of the finest minds in the world marched around their college behind a wooden duck held aloft on a pole.