Places, people or events associated with Queen Victoria, or the Victorian period in Britain,
Imagine a simpler, hate-free, monochrome world, where you know your doctor, civil servants are both civil and servile, politicians benign and dogs only ever bark happily. You are secure in the womb of grim, factory-stained, buildings. There’s a footbridge over a railway and a train is coming. You gaily dash to cross just as the
The chuffing romance of Haverthwaite Read More »
North West England
Finally – A Bit About Britain’s History (From a long time ago until quite recently) is available as both an e-book and paperback on Amazon. A Bit About Britain’s History is a light introduction to Britain’s fascinating story. It could be a selective reminder of what you might have learned at school; or if you
A Bit About Britain’s History repeats itself Read More »
Books History News
The walk to Aira Force, a small but beautifully formed waterfall alongside Ullswater in England’s Lake District, is a favourite. It’s great if you’re not feeling like struggling up a serious fell, or walking too far; so you certainly don’t need to be Sherpa Tenzing to get to it. You do need decent footwear, working
The small south coast town of Gosport is an interesting, rather than a pretty, place. Optimistic residents may believe it was once known as ‘God’s port’, though the Oxford Dictionary of Place Names’ more prosaic and likely explanation is that the name derives from ‘Goose port’. What we do know is that Gosport developed as
Some corner of a foreign field that is forever Turkey Read More »
South East
A neighbour was taking a short break in Northumberland, and told me that one of the reasons she was excited about it was because, growing up, she had a picture of Grace Darling on her bedroom wall. She would not have been alone; Grace Darling was a perfect Victorian heroine who braved a violent North
The Grace Darling legend Read More »
North East England
Ribblehead Viaduct is one of the wonders of Victorian construction. It also provided the inspiration for a UK TV drama Jericho, which premiered in January 2016. It’s not hard to be impressed by Ribblehead. Not just because it’s quite big – it is a quarter of a mile long – but also because it seems
From Ribblehead to Jericho Read More »
Yorkshire and the Humber
We stepped down the lane in the dappled sunlight of a still frosty winter afternoon. It has an ancient, lived-in, feel to it, does the hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale. Sitting astride a Roman road, evidence of long-vanished communities are shown on the Ordnance Survey map with the word ‘settlement’ printed over various places close-by, in old
St Leonard’s, Chapel-le-Dale Read More »
Yorkshire and the Humber
Regular watchers of TV news will be familiar with the scene outside the Houses of Parliament, where journalists interview politicians on a patch of grass opposite Old Palace Yard, against a backdrop of Gothic architecture and the appropriately barbarian howls of protestors. While you’re hanging on every sage sound-bite tripping off the tongues of our
London’s medieval Jewel Tower Read More »
London
The Needles, enormous 100-feet (30-metre) high chalk and flint stacks off the most westerly point of the Isle of Wight, are part of the Island’s iconography, and one of Britain’s most recognisable coastal features. They are an exposed eroded section of a folded east-west band of chalk running through the Island, the remains of which
The Needles – a tale of shipwrecks, Victorian forts and Cold War Read More »
South East
For some, Lacock Abbey will always be associated with the invention of photography; for others, it is the Tudor-Gothic-Victorian house that gets the juices flowing; for me, the real pleasure was in wandering through cloisters and gardens. It was September and a stroll beyond the inevitable National Trust shop took us past pastel-shaded cottage-garden style
Through cloisters and gardens – a visit to Lacock Abbey Read More »
South West
Trafalgar Square is one of those places that have always seemed to be there. It is so famous, such a focal point, and featured in so many news clips and photographs – including those taken by most of London’s tourists – that it’s easy to take it for granted. Its name commemorates, as most people
Exploring Trafalgar Square Read More »
London
Who was the third Brontë sister? It’s a good question for quiz night down at the Olde Rupturede Ducke. There was Charlotte and Emily, of course – the authors of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights respectively. But who wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall? Tracy Brontë, perhaps? Or Chelsea? No – if you’re a literary
Our Brontë tour begins in Haworth Read More »
Yorkshire and the Humber