the trojan bunny | 01 May 2019 12:16 p.m. PST |
I'll be in Northumberland for the first two weeks of June, and as it's a part of England I haven't been to before I'm wondering what interesting history related sites there are to see? I already plan on seeing Holy Island/Lindisfarne, a few castles, and some Hadrian's Wall sites. What else is there? Any interesting border reiver or civil war sites? And anything dark ages and medieval is of great interest to me as well. |
JimDuncanUK | 01 May 2019 12:24 p.m. PST |
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Redcurrant | 01 May 2019 12:33 p.m. PST |
Look at the Puffins and seals at the Farne Islands if you want non-wargaming things to see. Recommend Hadrians wall, there are enough sites worth visiting. |
De Berne | 01 May 2019 1:15 p.m. PST |
Flodden battlefield. Roman forts at Vindolanda and Housteads. Newcastle Keep plus lots of Roman artefacts in the Hancock museum. Berwick Castle .. Warkworth Castle. |
Bellbottom | 01 May 2019 3:01 p.m. PST |
Roman site at Arbeia (South Shields) has a reconstructed gateway, barrack blocks and commanders house. The site at Segedunum (Wallsend) has a reconstructed bath house and a nice museum and excellent bookshop. There is quite a tall section of the wall nearby. Vindoland and the Roman Army Museum at Chesterholm (further west on the Wall) care expensive but can be cheaper on a joint ticket. |
Swampster | 01 May 2019 3:05 p.m. PST |
I went to the Roman Army Museum a couple of weeks ago. Very good. Wallington has the toy soldiers collected by some of the children in the 19th century. They used them to repeatedly play Waterloo (though the soldiers are more 2nd Empire or later, despite what the guide told us). Some knitted toys too, wearing what looked like very accurate uniforms of various regiments. Bamburgh castle also has the Armstrong museum with various examples of engineering, including military. |
Herkybird | 01 May 2019 4:16 p.m. PST |
I agree with the above suggestions, for Border Reivers, go to Hexham Keep, some living history there. You can also visit Newburn church, where the Scot's covenanters set up their guns to fire at the Royalists over the river. Sadly, there is a power transformer station where the Royalist redoubts were. Lots of places to go…Northumberland is lovely! |
Whirlwind | 01 May 2019 6:45 p.m. PST |
Okay, for Border Reiver stuff, try this: link Add it to one of the good border reiver histories and you can follow this stuff around. Get this one too: link (it has locations of some quite obscure stuff, Heavenfield say: link Flodden is a good battlefield to visit. Homildon Hill is quite nearby and worth a look too. Halidon Hill is a bit further away, near Berwick. Vindolanda and Housesteads are excellent for things Roman. Lots of castles to see. Alnwick is good, but quite a big (and slightly expensive) tourist attraction (They put on events and so on sometimes, a bit like Warwick Castle). It does have the Fusiliers' museum (and covers military stuff more widely: there is a model of a Percy Volunteer there, IIRC). There is also a big garden to visit , if that is your thing. Bamburgh Castle and Warkworth Castle are very good too. |
4DJones | 02 May 2019 1:09 a.m. PST |
Morpeth Castle: occupied by the Scots and besieged by Montrose and Northern Royalists in 1644. If you stand with your back to the gate, you can just make out a faint line of trenches. |
Lord Sunderland | 02 May 2019 6:07 a.m. PST |
Not military but visit real beaches!- long miles of sand. Anywhere around Dunstanburgh castle is great just for relaxation. Craster is good for a visit and pint. Now if only the sea were warmer…. |
John the Red | 02 May 2019 12:10 p.m. PST |
Good choice! Its quite big mind, so suggest couple things grouped together. Berwick and Flodden. Berwick has one of the best preserved renaissance walls / fortifications in UK, which include interesting military museum. Travel up the Tweed to Flodden via the castles at Norham and Etal. The latter has a small museum on the border wars and a grand cafe and pub in the village. Flodden is one the battlefields which has changed little and you can walk it fairly easily. Very atmospheric. Hadrians Wall – get over to the Sill visitors centre which is next to Vindolanda. Good base to walk one of the better stretches of the wall to Housesteads fort. Vindolanda has an ongoing excavation and you can talk to the teams whilst they do the digs. The Sill and Twice Brewed pub good places for eating n drinking. Corbridge and Hexham are both nearby and worth a visit for borders and Roman history. Coast and Castles from Alnwick can take in Warkworth, Dunstunburgh, Bamburgh and Holy Island castles. Top place to drop by is Lower Newton by the Sea, where you can see three castles from a beautiful village with awarding winning pub and old fishing cottages. Enjoy |
Trajanus | 03 May 2019 11:49 a.m. PST |
All good recommendations. Too many to +1 but would definitely give a shout for the KOSB Museum at the Barracks in Berwick it's a gem! |