This year's trip turned out to be a wet affair - but the inclement conditions could not dampen the enthusiasm of our dedicated band (including a contingent of potential new members), who turned out to brave the elements. Despite the weather, and a slight hiccup with our lunch arrangements, we all managed to enjoy ourselves - visiting a number of sites ranging from the Pre-historic, through Roman to early and late Medieval. First off, Brougham Castle, lying 2 miles east of Penrith. It was originally built by the Vieuxpont family in the late 12th century but passed into the Clifford family in the 13th century. It was Robert Clifford who built many of the extensions including the top storey of the castles keep. Those who ventured to the top were rewarded with impressive views of the adjacent Roman fort lying at the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Eden. The castle had a long life still being used in the 1600's when Lady Anne Clifford was in occupancy. She spent time and money rebuilding it, but when she died, at the age of 86, the castle was abandoned and quickly became a ruin.
We had planned to have lunch in the Crown Hotel at Eamont Bridge, which is directly opposite the first of our two Pre-historic sites. However, with no signs of life in this pub we quickly change to the Beehive Inn which was just across the road. Our troubles did not end there, however, as the slow service meant that our team got split up with stragglers having little time to view our first site before being shepherded on to the next.
Our first site, King Arthur's Round Table, dates to the early Bronze age and therefore has nothing to do with the legendary king. This henge is fairly standard consisting of a circular bank with an internal ditch and two entrances.
Our next site, Mayburgh Henge - lying just 400m away, is much more impressive. By this time however, the weather had set in and brollies were the order of the day. Mayburgh is unusual in that its huge circular bank is built entirely of stone cobbles. Also, it has only one entrance and no internal ditch. Just a single 2.8m high monolith survives in the centre.
By the time we reached our next site, Penrith Castle, the rain had really set in but fortunately for us there was shelter in the castle grounds, from which we could study the best part of the castle's remains.
After seeing enough of the castle our intrepid band made its way to our last site, Giant's Thumb and Giant's Grave, in the grounds of St Andrews Church. These are the remains of Saxon 'wheel' crosses dating to the 900's AD. Giant's Grave includes four hog-back stones and is believed to be the burial site of Owen Caesarius, King of Cumbria between 900 and 937 AD.
Next Meeting
Wednesday 5th September - in the Standish Suit at the Brocket Arms (7.30pm as usual).
This month we have Brian Grimsditch who is Senior Archaeologist at the Centre for Applied Archaeology (CfAA) at Salford University. He has been involved in the running of the Dig Greater Manchester project which included the dig at Etherstone Hall in Leigh earlier this year. His talk however will be on something a little different. Besthorpe is a project that Brian has been involved with over a number year now. Predominantly it's a Romano-British site, but evidence is starting to emerge of earlier occupation - from Mesolithic to late Iron Age. This takes the form of prehistoric pottery, polished stone axes, metal artefacts and lots of worked flint. I'm sure it will be another fascinating talk from Brian - hope to see you there – BA.
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