The Castleton area of Derbyshire

If you are making a short visit to the Peak District of Derbyshire, you could do a lot worse than make the village of Castleton your centre of operations. Assuming that you are not an expert caver, but would nevertheless like to get underground, there are four cave systems within easy reach that are open to the public, and you also have a splendid castle to visit. Apart from that, this is an excellent starting point if you are a keen walker, with several strenuous routes heading off into the hills. One of the walks links all four of the show caves mentioned below. Castleton is also close to the southern end of the Pennine Way that could take you all the way to Scotland!

Peveril Castle

This is what gave Castleton its name. The castle stands high on the southern side of the village, and the approach is via a steep zigzag path that will test your fitness before you have even started to explore the castle! Peveril Castle was originally built by an illegitimate son of William the Conqueror, but most of the remains, including the prominent square keep, date from the late 12^th century. Apart from the circuit of the curtain wall, only the keep remains to be visited, but the views from the first-floor walkway are definitely an added attraction. The keep is built on top of a sheer limestone cliff at the side of Cave Dale, and you can appreciate what a strong defensive position this was as you look down. Looking around, you get magnificent views across the Hope Valley, with the bulk of Mam Tor rising on the other side.

Peak Cavern

This is approached via a riverside walk that takes you into a gash in the limestone cliffs, rising to 280 feet, that itself contains the entrance to the cavern. The cave mouth, the largest natural cave entrance in Britain, was once used by ropemakers who supplied local lead miners, and demonstrations of ropemaking still take place. The caves themselves, which are popularly known by the more colourful title of “The Devil’s Arse”, comprise a series of large chambers with water flowing through them, at one point forming a cascade. Given the “devilish” theme, it is not surprise that the stream is the River Styx and the chambers include Pluto’s Dining Room and the Devil’s Cellar. The guided tour takes about one hour.

Speedwell Cavern

This is not far from Peak Cavern, but the experience is a very different one. This is only partly natural, as it is mainly a disused lead mine. It is also very deep, at 600 feet below the surface, although the visitor has only 100 damp steps to descend (and then climb back up afterwards!). At the foot of the steps you climb aboard a boat and are taken along an underground canal through a narrow tunnel that was blasted by lead miners in the 1770s for a quarter of a mile. At the end of the tunnel you emerge into a vast chamber, the roof of which is out of sight. You can then look down into the “Bottomless Pit”, so called because the pool at its foot remained at the same level throughout the mine’s history, despite having 40,000 tons of waste rock dumped into it.

Treak Cliff Cavern

This is both a natural set of caves and a mine, although it was not lead that was mined here but the remarkable stone known as “Blue John” (which is not necessarily blue!). This is a semi-precious mineral, a variety of fluorspar that is coloured by various hydrocarbon impurities and which is found nowhere in the world but this small area of the Peak District. This material has long been highly prized for making into ornaments, jewellery and even vases and bowls, as it can be polished like marble. It is still being mined, although the quantities now available are very much less than they once were.

The first part of the Treak Cliff Cavern was dug by miners, although a number of natural caves were opened in the process. Further back, the caves are all natural, as the Blue John seams only go so far. The tour takes about 40 minutes, during which you will see a pillar of rock that contains a vein of Blue John that cannot be mined as the pillar keeps the roof up! You will also visit caverns that contain thousands of stalactites, some of which have been growing for 100,000 years. At one point a stalactite (hanging from the ceiling) is nearly touching a stalagmite that is growing from the floor. The gap between them is only an inch and a half; come back in a thousand years’ time and they will have joined up!

Blue John Cavern

As its name suggests, this is another Blue John mine, sited about two miles to the west of Castleton. This is a combination of natural and man-made chambers, notable for their rock formations and walls coloured by minerals and iron oxide deposits. At one point a stalactite formation looks like a frozen waterfall, and at another two streams met and formed a whirlpool that created a roughly circular chamber. The final chamber has a roof more than 200 feet high. Blue John is still being produced (in parts of the mine not open to the public) and pieces can be bought or ordered from the craft shop. If you buy an ornament made from Blue John it will be unique, because no two pieces are ever identical.

A visit to the Castleton area is well worth the trip, and a single day will not be enough. Also, bear in mind that this is only one small part of the Peak District, and there is a lot more yet to explore.

© John Welford

A short guide to Devon

Of all the counties of England, Devon must surely offer the most variety, and the traveller who makes Devon their destination must decide which part will interest them most and concentrate on that.

  

As a child, I spent several family holidays in Devon, mostly on the north coast around Ilfracombe and Combe Martin. As a teenager I once cycled around Devon, crossing both Dartmoor and Exmoor, and in more recent years I have spent holidays in the south of the county. The contrast is dramatic!

Dartmoor

Let’s start with the moors. Dartmoor (see photo) is wholly contained with Devon, to the south of the county, whereas Exmoor, on the north coast, is shared with Somerset. Dartmoor is noted for its eerie granite tors that stick up above the bleak, rain-swept moorland, populated mainly by sheep and the hardy Dartmoor ponies. This is where Arthur Conan Doyle set the famous Sherlock Holmes story, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, and also where the Army trains its soldiers to the peak of toughness. A day spent on Dartmoor in the rain will show you why! It will also explain why Princetown, at the heart of the moor, is home to one of Britain’s toughest prisons.

Exmoor

Exmoor is gentler in its features, and is mostly covered in heather and gorse, but it still has the true feeling of a wilderness about it, and it also has its own breed of pony running wild across it. You can also see red deer here. This is the setting of R D Blackmore’s famous novel “Lorna Doone”.

Unlike Dartmoor, Exmoor has a coastline, with cliffs that are the highest in England, reaching to 820 feet. The coast road offers a fascinating drive but it must be negotiated with care, as it has the steepest gradients of any main road in the whole country. However, the true beauty of the coast cannot be appreciated from a car; you need to walk along the many coastal paths that twist through the woods to the west of Porlock, or you can explore the Valley of the Rocks near Lynmouth, where wild goats clamber about.

The rivers that descend from Exmoor are steep and wild, especially after heavy rain. In 1952, several lives were lost when the two Lyn rivers flooded and swept away a number of buildings in the coastal fishing village of Lynmouth. At the top of the cliff is the small town of Lynton, and there is a fascinating cliff railway that connects the two. This climbs 600 feet powered by the weight of water; one car with its tank full descends as a second car is pulled upwards and they cross at the half-way point.

North Devon

Further west there are magnificent, unspoilt beaches at Woolacombe and Saunton. These face west towards the Atlantic and are popular with surfers, while the sand dunes are havens for wildlife.

Further west still is the amazing village of Clovelly, where the main cobbled street is too steep for cars, and donkeys were traditionally used to haul goods up and down. The village is privately owned and a fee is charged to visitors. This helps to preserve the village as it was in the 19^th century when only fishermen lived here.

Central Devon

The central part of Devon, between the two moors, is rolling countryside of deep peace, laced by streams and the orchards of the cider industry. There are fascinating market towns, such as South Molton and Great Torrington (where you can see traditional glassmaking at the Dartington Crystal factory), and further west are the estuary towns of Barnstaple and Bideford.

South Devon

Devon shares with Cornwall the distinction of having coasts to both north and south, but the south Devon coast is of a very different nature to its north coast. For one thing, it has a markedly different climate, with North Atlantic gales being replaced by balmy breezes, especially in the sheltered area around Tor Bay. Palm trees and other exotic vegetation can grow here in what is known as the “English Riviera”, and it is no surprise that the adjoining towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham are very popular with tourists who seek sunshine and beaches. These are also excellent waters for sailing, both at sea and in the broad estuaries of the Exe and Dart rivers.

Children who get bored with sitting on the beach all day can also be entertained by visits to castles such as those at Dartmouth and Totnes, and river trips by boat.

Further south are the quieter beaches of Slapton Sands (where the D-Day landings were rehearsed and from where much of the invasion fleet departed) and the peaceful resort of Salcombe. The area is full of tiny, remote villages connected by narrow, winding lanes.

East Devon

In the far east of the county are quiet resorts such as Seaton, Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton, the carpet-making town of Axminster and the lace-making town of Honiton. An interesting attraction at Seaton is an electric tramway alongside the Axe estuary, which provides excellent views of wading birds at close quarters.

Devon cities

The only two places of any size in Devon are the cities of Exeter, to the south-east, and Plymouth, to the south-west. The ancient and compact city of Exeter boasts a splendid cathedral, founded in 1070 and rebuilt in the 13^th/14^th centuries. It is famed for its vaulted ceiling and its stained glass, although much of the original glass was lost during World War II.

Plymouth is renowned as a naval base, from where Sir Francis Drake sailed to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588 and from where the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to America in 1620. A visit to Plymouth Hoe is a must, not only to see where Drake insisted on finishing his game of bowls before tackling the Armada, but for the magnificent views over Plymouth Sound, the Channel, and westwards into Cornwall.

Transport

It has to be admitted that south Devon is better served by transport links than the north. The only airport of any size is at Exeter, the best roads into Devon lead to the south of the county, and the rail links also go to Exeter and Plymouth. On the other hand, this makes north Devon more attractive for people who want to avoid the crowds.

Accommodation

As far as accommodation goes, the largest and most luxurious hotels will also be found in the south, in places like Torquay and the two cities. However, for people who are happy with small hotels, bed and breakfast, self-catering cottages, or camping, the north is perfectly accessible.

Depending on the sort of holiday you prefer, whether touring from place to place or staying in one centre, you may decide that the north is preferable to the south, or vice versa. The thing about Devon is that not only does it provide you with a huge contrast of places to go and things to do, but you also have plenty of choices as to how to experience this most delightful of English counties.

© John Welford

Loch Ness: a brief guide for visitors

The chances are that the first time you get close to the waters of Loch Ness you will scan the surface eagerly, just in case a long snake-like neck should spring into view! Loch Ness will forever be linked to its supposed monster, which must have brought millions to its shores over the years.

However, even if they are disappointed by lack of a sighting, visitors cannot help but be impressed by the loch itself as it stretches away into the distance and the mountains rise on either side. There are more beautiful lochs in Scotland than Loch Ness, but few have the same savage grandeur on this scale.

Loch Ness is 24 miles long, up to a mile wide and more than 750 feet deep in places, so it contains a huge amount of water (more fresh water than is contained in all the lakes of England and Wales combined) that has been trapped there since the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago. It is of great interest to geologists because it lies in the Great Glen, the rift valley that separates the Grampian Mountains from the Northwest Highlands (the two sections once formed parts of different ancient continents).

The city of Inverness lies at the north-east end of the loch and is a good base for “Nessie watchers” and others who wish to enjoy the natural wild scenery of Loch Ness. The main A82 road to Fort William hugs the western side of the loch, but trees growing up from the edge of the loch tend to obstruct one’s view of the loch itself. There are, however, a number of viewpoints along the way that can be stopped at.

About halfway along is the village of Drumnadrochit where the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition can be found. It has to be stressed that this is not a tourist trap designed to sell tatty souvenirs to credulous visitors but a serious science-based venture that presents the results of proper studies into the geology, ecology and wildlife of Loch Ness. The exhibition’s use of interactive displays and special effects make it a fascinating place for young and old to enjoy.

Also at Drumnadrochit are the ruins of Urquhart Castle, which was built in the 13^th century on a promontory that juts into the loch. The castle is well worth a visit in its own right for the story it tells of the troubled and violent history of this part of Scotland. However, as was mentioned above, views of the loch from the road alongside are annoyingly limited, so the chance to take in the vista from the top of the castle should not be missed. The castle has a relatively new exhibition centre that includes a scale model of how the castle looked when in its prime.

A detour can be taken at Drumnadrochit to visit the remote, wild, and much less visited Glen Affric, which runs parallel to Loch Ness on the northern side. You can also take a cruise on Loch Ness aboard “Deepscan”, which is a boat that is used for scientific research purposes.

At the southern end of Loch Ness is Fort Augustus, where you can see the flight of locks that connect Loch Ness to the Caledonian Canal, which provides passage for shipping up to a certain size from one side of Scotland to the other. The fort buildings, which were later converted into an abbey and school, are now in private hands.

The road along the eastern side of the loch is much quieter than the main road on the western side and could be one’s route of choice if time permits. However, the road does not hug the waterside for the full length of Loch Ness and it also suffers from the tree problem that obstructs views on the western side. Being a narrow road it is provided with passing places, and these should not be used as stopping places for people wanting to view the loch.

The eastern road is the route to the village of Foyers, near which is a dramatic waterfall, especially after a period of heavy rain.

There is therefore plenty to see and do around Loch Ness, even if Nessie fails to make an appearance!

© John Welford

Scenic rail routes in England

What makes a train route scenic? Presumably it is one where the view from the window is more interesting than one’s book, crossword or fellow passengers! England, as distinct from other parts of the United Kingdom, has many rail routes than qualify in these terms, although the habit of railways to disappear into tunnels and cuttings can make life frustrating at times.

Settle to Carlisle

Probably the most scenic route, in terms of the proportion of the journey that has the “wow” factor, is the Settle to Carlisle line in the north of England. The line is 72 miles long, proceeding through the spectacular scenery of the Yorkshire Dales and the Cumbria Fells, which comprise part of the Pennine Range, the “backbone” of northern England. This line has been threatened with closure several times in its history, but its future now seems assured, especially as its tourism potential has been recognised in recent years, and steam locomotives are sometimes used to haul “specials”.

One of the most spectacular features of the Settle-Carlisle line is the Ribblehead Viaduct (see photo), which has 24 arches, carrying the line for 440 yards, 105 feet up. The view from the train is magnificent, as it is for mile after mile as the line climbs and descends through some of England’s wildest landscapes.

Other northern lines

There are many other stretches of line that offer splendid views of the hillier parts of England. Among these one could mention the lines between Manchester and Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield, and Newcastle and Carlisle.

The West Coast main line reaches its highest point at Shap Summit, 914 feet above sea level. This stretch of line, between Carnforth and Penrith, crosses the spur of high land that connects the Pennines to the Lake District, and the views from the train are as scenic as might be imagined.

However, a railway line does not need to run across moors and between mountains to be scenic. Some of the best views in England are of the sea, from lines that run close to the coast. One of these is also in the Lake District, running along the shore from Barrow to Maryport, before turning inland towards Carlisle.

Southern scenes

In the south of England, the most dramatic coastal route must be that along the south Devon coast, especially at Dawlish where the tracks run right along the shore with the sea on one side and cliffs on the other. The line sometimes has to close in bad weather when the waves break over the tracks, and the line had to be rebuilt in 2014 after it was washed away by a severe storm.

A favourite seaside route of mine, however, is the stretch of line close to where I grew up at Poole, in Dorset. As the train descends from Bournemouth it passes through Parkstone station and suddenly emerges on to a causeway that swings round with Poole Harbour on one side and the town of Poole, with its park and boating lake, on the other. All trains stop at Poole, so as the train slows there is time to admire the view across to Brownsea Island and the Purbeck Hills beyond.

After leaving Poole, the line cuts across Holes Bay, an inlet of the harbour, providing more views across water (or mud, if the tide is out!) and, again, the Purbeck Hills.

Preserved lines

Many of the most scenic routes are to be found on lines that have been preserved after closure, having been re-opened by private organizations, often so that they can be operated by steam traction. These are often routes that went to nowhere important, so they were not commercially successful, and have only become so as tourist attractions, using their scenic advantages as a main selling point.

There are many notable railways of this kind in England, amongst which one could cite the Severn Valley Railway in Shropshire, the North York Moors Railway, the Bluebell Line in Sussex, the Watercress Line in Hampshire, and the Swanage Railway in Dorset.

Mention should also be made of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway running between Kent and Sussex. This is a narrow-gauge railway, 13.5 miles long, that uses scaled-down steam locomotives to haul passengers across Romney Marsh to the desolate shingle bank of Dungeness, with its lighthouse. This is a scenic English railway if ever there was one!

The Victorians built railways to virtually every corner of England, although the routes still operated are far fewer than in the heyday of rail. However, many of the old routes are still accessible, having been converted into footpaths and cycle routes. They are no less scenic for not being traversed by trains.

© John Welford

The statue of Achilles, Hyde Park, London

The statue of Achilles in London’s Hyde Park has several unusual features, not least being that it has nothing to do with Achilles!

The “Achilles” statue in Hyde Park

London’s Hyde Park features a number of statues, some of which carry interesting stories. The Achilles statue certainly counts among the latter.

This statue stands in the south-east corner of the park, close to Hyde Park Corner at the southern end of Park Lane. It is an enormous bronze of a naked warrior, armed with a sword and holding a round shield. A cloak is draped over one arm and his armour has been set upright on the ground next to his right leg.

Why Achilles? That is a good point, because there is nothing Greek about it. The armour is that of a Roman legionary and the statue was copied from one in Rome of a horse tamer on the Monte Catallo.

Another interesting thing about “Achilles” is that it was set up as a monument to honour the Duke of Wellington (who was very much alive at the time), although it does not bear the slightest resemblance to the victor of Waterloo and was never intended to.

This is the “Ladies’ Trophy”. It was sculpted by Sir Richard Westmacott and erected in 1822, having been paid for by subscriptions collected from the women of Great Britain. It was cast from bronze that had been melted down from cannons captured during the Peninsula campaign of the Napoleonic Wars.

The statue is appropriately located close to Wellington’s London home, Apsley House, and the Wellington Arch, which was originally sited closer to Apsley House than it is now.

There is a story to the effect that a French military veteran, who was upset by all the Wellington tributes that appeared in London following the Napoleonic Wars, breathed a sigh of relief when this particular offering was put in place. Referring to his hero Napoleon, he exclaimed “At last! He is avenged!” when the “Iron Duke” had apparently metamorphosed into “Bronze Achilles”!

There was some embarrassment caused when the statue was first unveiled, in that the Ladies’ Trophy featured a strong young man in all his naked glory, although with a close-fitting fig leaf to hide his most obvious masculine feature, if only just! Did the ladies really know what they were going to get when they ordered this statue? Maybe they did!

© John Welford

Aberystwyth, Wales

Aberystwyth is a Welsh town that I used to know quite well, as I was a student there on two occasions, a decade apart.

Situated half way along Cardigan Bay, Aberystwyth is almost on the line that divides North Wales from South Wales, in cultural and linguistic terms. A Welsh-speaker who moves across the line is soon spotted as a “foreigner” because of the markedly different accents and word use north and south. Aberystwyth is thus something of a “melting pot” in this regard.

There is something about the name of this town (population about 16,000) that might raise an eyebrow or two, given that the river that flows to the south of the town and reaches the sea via the small harbour is the Rheidol and not the Ystwyth, and the town name translates as “mouth of the Ystwyth”. Surely it should be “Aberrheidol”?

The reason for the name is that the original settlement was located a mile and a half south of the current town, being a fortress built in the early 12^th century by a Welsh-Norman lord known as Strongbow. This fortress was on a hill near where the River Ystwyth reached the sea, thus the name Aberystwyth was entirely appropriate. However, when the English King Edward I rebuilt Strongbow’s castle in 1277 he did so on a promontory that overlooked the Rheidol, but the name stuck.

The story does not end there, because natural processes built a sandbank across the mouth of the Ystwyth and cut off its route to the sea. It was thus forced to flow north, and it now joins the Rheidol at the southern tip of Aberystwyth Harbour. So the name Aberystwyth is now just about correct!

The castle built by Edward I is now a ruin, although there are fairly substantial remains of several towers and the curtain wall. Much of the damage was done during the Civil War, when it was slighted by Cromwell’s troops, but it had been in poor repair long before then.

Castle Hill is a good spot from which to view the coastline as it sweeps dramatically north and south. Also to be seen from here is a strange-looking building that is key to Aberystwyth’s prosperity in more recent times. The building in question has a wedge-shaped end with a rounded “nose” and circular turrets on its roof. As you walk along on the seaward side you can see that it is a complete mish-mash of styles, some of it in two storeys, some of it in four, with round bits and square bits and possibly triangular bits as well. 

This started life as a hotel that went bankrupt in the 19^th century and was acquired by the new University College of Wales in 1872 as its first building. It is still part of Aberystwyth University, although the bulk of the University’s buildings are a mile or so inland at a purpose-built campus.  “Old College” has to be one of the most unusual university buildings to be found anywhere, and it is just as bizarre on the inside as the outside.

If you continue past Old College and Aberystwyth’s apology for a pier you will see the impressive sweep of Marine Terrace, comprising a continuous row of three- and four-storey buildings that look out over the beach (sand and shingle) to Cardigan Bay. Many of these buildings are hotels and guest houses, although there are a number that have been converted into student accommodation.

At the end of the terrace is a cliff railway that operates during the summer months. From the top there are excellent views out to sea and along the coast.

As mentioned above, the main campus of Aberystwyth University is a little way inland, up one of the hills that surround the town. Just below the campus is one of the most important buildings in Wales, namely the National Library of Wales. It contains more than two million books and three million other documents, including priceless items relating to the history and culture of Wales. As well as the 12^th century Black Book of Carmarthen, which is the oldest surviving manuscript in Welsh, it has a copy of my 1989 Master’s dissertation – two treasures indeed!

A little further inland is what used to be the College of Librarianship Wales, formerly an independent college affiliated to the University of Wales but now part of Aberystwyth University. This was where I studied for my Diploma in Librarianship in 1975-6 and returned to take a Master’s degree in 1988-9. I therefore have many fond memories both of the college and the town of which it is a part.

Another attraction not to be missed is the Vale of Rheidol Railway. This is a narrow-gauge steam-hauled railway that takes passengers from Aberystwyth to Devil’s Bridge, 12 miles inland. The scenery that these “great little trains of Wales” pass through is absolutely stunning. The locomotives used today date from the 1920s, although the line has been operating since 1902.

Aberystwyth has a main line rail link that brings passengers from Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. This has helped to make the town a holiday destination as well as a centre of learning.

© John Welford

Tower Hill, where many heads rolled

Visitors to the Tower of London may not be aware that many victims of the axe who were executed here did not die within the confines of the walls but on Tower Hill, which is just to the north of the Tower walls, on the other side of what is now a busy main road (but conveniently close to Tower Hill Underground station).

Tower Hill

A small paved area marks the spot where the scaffold stood on which non-royal victims met their end – it was “legitimate” royals, such as Ann Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey, who were beheaded privately within the Tower walls. The site was used between 1388 and 1747 for this purpose.

A plaque on the site reads: “To commemorate the tragic history and in many cases the martyrdom of those who for the sake of their faith, country or ideals staked their lives and lost. On this site more than 125 were put to death, the names of some of whom are recorded here.”

The names include those of Sir William Stanley in 1495, Sir Thomas More in 1535, and the Duke of Monmouth in 1685.

Sir William Stanley was a noted turncoat. He had supported the Yorkist cause during the Wars of the Roses but changed sides at the Battle of Bosworth and, by so doing, ensured the victory of Henry Tudor who then became King Henry VII. Henry heaped many favours on him but was astounded when Stanley later threw his weight behind the claims of Perkin Warbeck to be one of the “Princes in the Tower” and therefore the rightful king. Stanley was therefore executed for treason.

Sir Thomas More lost his head because of his opposition to King Henry VIII over the king’s desire to divorce Queen Catherine and marry Ann Boleyn.

The Duke of Monmouth was an illegitimate son of King Charles II who launched an abortive rebellion against his uncle King James II. Being the child of a royal mistress rather than a wife meant that Monmouth did not have enough royal blood to qualify for a private execution.

The last person to lose his head on Tower Hill was Lord Lovat, who was condemned in 1747 for his part in the 1745 Jacobite rebellion. He achieved a grim sort of revenge when a temporary stand, set up to give spectators a better view, collapsed under the weight of around a thousand anti-Jacobites. At least a dozen people were killed. Lord Lovat was reported to have been amused by the incident, remarking “The more mischief, the better sport”.

© John Welford

Some prehistoric sites in Oxfordshire

The chalk downlands of southern England have been occupied by humans for thousands of years, and evidence of their presence is still there to be seen and wondered at today. Everybody knows about Stonehenge (on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire), but there are many more examples that are worth a visit.

  

The sites mentioned here are all in the county of Oxfordshire, which includes part of the Cotswold Hills to the north and part of the Lambourn Downs to the south.

(Follow this link for some other places of interest in Oxfordshire that are more recent in date)

The Rollright Stones

Maybe less impressive than Stonehenge, but certainly more accessible, these mysterious arrangements of stones have been the stuff of legend for many centuries. They lie close to the minor road that connects the A3400 near Long Compton to the A44 between Salford and Little Compton. The road in question marks the border between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.

The stones are in three groups which date from different times.

The main circle of “The King’s Men” (see picture) comprises many stones of various sizes that have been weathered into strange shapes. Just across the road is a single large stone, protected by iron railings, that is named “The King Stone”.

The myth is that the stones represent a king and his courtiers who were turned to stone by a witch, but a more likely explanation is that they were set up as funerary monuments or for ceremonial purposes. The circle dates from around 2500 to 2000 BC but the King Stone is somewhat younger, having been erected at some time between 1800 and 1500 BC.

A short walk away are “The Whispering Knights”, a Neolithic burial chamber that is much older than the other Rollrights, having been placed there at around 4000 to 3500 BC. Several of the stones stand on end and lean towards each other as if whispering secrets that are still being told some 6,000 years after they started!

The Rollrights can be visited at any reasonable time. They are on privately-owned farmland and a fee of one pound is requested.

Wayland’s Smithy

This is a Neolithic chambered burial mound, surrounded by beech trees, on the Ridgeway to the west of Wantage, on the southern edge of the county. It was probably built in two phases, at around 3700 and 3400 BC. What you can see today are the internal stones that formed the chambers of the barrow, originally covered by a mound of chalk. Several skeletons were discovered when the mound was first excavated.

A certain amount of restoration work was done in the 1960s, but this stopped short of trying to rebuild the barrow to its original state. It is therefore possible to get a close look at the structure of the barrow and appreciate its development.

The name comes from a Saxon legend of a smith who made invincible armour. Local legend has it that if your horse has thrown a shoe and you leave it there overnight, together with sufficient silver as payment, Wayland will take your money and shoe your horse!

Wayland’s Smithy is free to visit, but access is on foot along the Ridgeway path.

Uffington White Horse and Castle

Not far from Wayland’s Smithy, and also on the Ridgeway, is the oldest “white horse” in Great Britain, dating from around 1000 BC, although it could be 400 years either older or younger. It is very “modern” in its depiction of a running horse, indeed almost abstract in design. However, as with all such chalk figures, it is best seen from a distance and this can be done from many vantage points in the valley below. At 374 feet in length, the horse is hard to miss.

Uffington Castle is an Iron Age hillfort close to the White Horse, and there is also a natural mound called “Dragon Hill” that is part of the English Heritage site.

On a fine day the views from the downs in this area are magnificent. It is well worth the effort to leave the car at one of several small car parks and walk along a downland track for a couple of miles to commune with nature at its best!

© John Welford

Eynhallow, Orkney

An otherwise unremarkable small island in the Orkneys has a sinister tale to tell, if you believe that sort of thing!

Eynhallow

This is a small island, less than a third of a square mile in area, that sits in the narrow channel between two much larger Orcadian islands, namely Mainland and Rousay. It only rises a few feet above the level of the sea and has a generally flat landscape.

The name Eynhallow means “holy island”, which probably comes from having been the site of a monastery many centuries ago. The ruined church, of 12^th century origin, is all that is left of the monastery. The only other buildings on the island are a few crofts that are used by researchers who study the birdlife; otherwise the island is uninhabited.

The Fin Folk

The island’s reputation for mystery begins with its traditional ability to disappear and reappear. Whether this has anything to do with how much whisky has been consumed by the person reporting this event is not on record!

However, according to Orcadian folklore Eynhallow was once the summer home of the mysterious Fin Folk. This was, apparently, a race of amphibious shapeshifting sorcerers who spent the winter under the sea in the legendary city of Finfolkaheem but came ashore in summer to the island of Hildaland, which was renamed Eynhallow after they were sent packing by a farmer from the Orkney Mainland.

The Fin Folk had a nasty habit of abducting mortals. Young men and women would be spirited away to become husbands and wives of Fin Folk, and their offspring would be mermaids. Female Fin Folk took mortal husbands as protection against turning old and ugly.

However, various versions of the stories have been told, and the relationships between Fin Folk, mermaids and mortals vary depending on which account you choose to read or listen to.

The return of the Fin Folk?

An incident in 1990 gave rise to speculation in some quarters as to whether the Fin Folk had disappeared after all. The island of Eynhallow has for many years been a bird sanctuary, being open to public visits only once a year by an expedition organised by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and the Orkney Heritage Society.

During the 1990 visit, 88 people were taken to the island, but only 86 came back. A huge search was organised for the two missing people (both men) but no sign of them was ever found.  The story soon got about that the two men were actually Fin Folk who had made their way back to Hildaland after centuries of exile. An alternative tale was that they had been abducted by Finwives.

Of course, there is always the possibility that somebody got the count wrong and actually nobody went missing at all!

©  John Welford

Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

It’s a bit off the beaten track in terms of London’s art scene, but the Whitechapel Art Gallery is not difficult to reach and it offers a fresh perspective on contemporary art.

A potted history of the Whitechapel Art Gallery

The Whitechapel Art Gallery, in London’s East End, was the result of a well-meaning attempt to bring culture to the working classes at the turn of the 19^th/20^th centuries. This was a desperately rundown area in which it was thought by some people that the low morale of the population was because they were deprived of the finer things in life that people in other parts of the capital took for granted, including art and culture.

The developing Arts and Crafts Movement, led by William Morris, had a local presence in that C R Ashbee set up his Guild and School of Handicraft in Mile End Road, which is the eastward continuation of Whitechapel Road. It seemed an obvious step to set up an art gallery in the area, and this was done in 1901, in a building designed in the Arts and Crafts style.

The gallery was hugely popular from the outset, with some 200,000 people attending the original exhibition that included works by John Constable, William Hogarth and the pre-Raphaelites.

The gallery had a major extension in 2009 when the next-door Passmore Edwards Public Library closed and the Art Gallery was able to take over its space (the frontage remains as it always was).

Visiting the Gallery

Access to the Whitechapel Art Gallery is very easy, given that one of the entrances to Aldgate East station, on the District Line, is literally next door to the Gallery. Access is also made easy by the fact that admission is free, just as it always has been, although donations are gladly accepted!

One huge difference between the experience of today’s visitor and that of an original 1901 patron is that there are no Constables or Hogarths on show. For one thing, the gallery is devoted to contemporary art, and for another it does not have a permanent collection, being instead a set of display spaces for temporary exhibits.

The Whitechapel Art Gallery consists of a linked set of rooms of different sizes, with the usual arrangement being that an artist can exhibit their work in an appropriately sized space that is not shared with that of another artist.

The visitor who is used to galleries such as the National Gallery will find their expectations challenged when visiting the Whitechapel Art Gallery. That is because the media on display go beyond just paintings on walls or free-standing sculptures. Images may be displayed on screens, or videos looped on TVs or smaller display units, with the sound available via headphones. When you stop to watch and listen to a video you may become part of an art installation yourself, as your presence will then be visible to other visitors as you sit in the middle of a gallery floor or on a dais.

The exhibitions generally remain in place for several months at a time but do not change all at once. This means that there is always something new to see if you visit at different times during the year.

The experience of visiting the Whitechapel Gallery will certainly be memorable, especially if it challenges the visitor to revise his/her assumptions about what constitutes art. It is unlikely that one will leave the building without having had one’s perceptions challenged, even if one has not fully understood, or even liked, everything that one has seen.

© John Welford

The statue of Peter Pan, Kensington Gardens, London

The much-loved statue of Peter Pan in London’s Kensington Gardens looks out over the northern end of The Long Water, not far from Bayswater Road.

  

The location of the statue is significant, because the writer James M Barrie (1860-1937) lived in nearby Bayswater Road and often took walks in Kensington Gardens. It was on one of these walks that he met the children of the Llewelyn Davies family, with their nurse. He became friends with the boys and began telling them stories, which eventually turned into Barrie’s famous play “Peter Pan” (1904).  The story of these encounters was the main theme of the 2004 film “Finding Neverland” which starred Johnny Depp as J M Barrie.

The statue dates from 1911 and was commissioned by Barrie himself. The sculptor was Sir George Frampton (1860-1928). The model for Peter was the actress Nina Boucicault (1867-1950) who had played the character of Peter in the first production of the play (traditionally, Peter has always been played by a woman).

Barrie stipulated that the statue should be placed in position overnight so that it would appear to regular walkers in the Gardens that it had sprung up “as if by magic”.

The figure of Peter stands, blowing his pipe, on top of a rough-looking plinth that closer inspection shows to be populated by a number of fairies, rabbits, squirrels and mice. It is therefore a “fun” piece of sculpture that children love to visit in order to spot all the animals and fairies and count how many there are. The ears of the creatures have been rubbed smooth by the small hands of generations of youngsters, which is exactly what Barrie would have wanted.

Visitors to London can therefore walk along the same paths that J M Barrie and the “Lost Boys” walked more than a century ago and experience a little bit of magic of their own. It is undoubtedly one’s of London’s best-loved pieces of street art.

© John Welford

The Albert Memorial, Hyde Park, London

The monument to Prince Albert in Kensington Gardens, London, is one of the finest and most elaborate to be found anywhere in the country, let alone London. It is a splendid piece of Victoriana that is as much a memorial to the spirit of that age as it is of the Prince himself. It complements the nearby Royal Albert Hall, built at around the same time, towards which the statue of Prince Albert faces.

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the husband of Queen Victoria. They married in 1840 but Albert died of typhoid in 1861 at the age of only 42. Perhaps unusually for an arranged royal marriage, the couple were very much in love with each other from the start and Victoria felt his loss very deeply indeed. When the time came to propose a permanent memorial to him, it was clear that no expense would be spared, with the actual cost of £120,000 being met by public subscription.

Likewise, the recent restoration of the Albert Memorial to its original state, after more than a century of exposure to the elements, has been an expensive business. More than eleven million pounds were spent on an 8-year project that ended with the Memorial’s unveiling in 1998.

At the heart of the memorial is a seated statue of Prince Albert, three times life size. He is dressed as a Knight of the Garter and he holds a catalogue of the 1851 Great Exhibition of which he was a prime instigator and organiser. The whole memorial reflects the ethos of that Exhibition (which took place in Hyde Park, very close to the site of the Memorial) and illustrates Albert’s wide-ranging interests.

The statue was the work of John Foley, who was commissioned personally by Queen Victoria. Although the Memorial was, as mentioned above, funded by public subscription, Victoria paid for the actual statue herself. A model of the statue was first placed on its plinth in 1870, but the full gilt-bronze version only appeared in 1875, three years after the Memorial was opened. It was painted black at some time before the First World War, probably to mask the pitting of the gold by atmospheric pollution, but the recent restoration included a full coating of gold leaf.

However, the Memorial is far more than the statue of Prince Albert. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and takes the form of a “ciborium” or canopy that acts as a roof to the statue – a very upmarket gazebo, one might say. Scott was a leading exponent of the Gothic Revival – he designed St Pancras Station for example – and it is no surprise that the Memorial has many Gothic features, including church-like composite pillars, pointed arches and an emphasis on height – the cross at the top is 176 feet above ground level.

One can spend a long time taking in everything that the Memorial has to offer. For example, below the plinth on which the statue rests is a frieze, on all four sides, that depicts 169 practitioners in the arts. The south side features musicians and poets, on the east side are painters, to the north are architects and on the west side are sculptors.

On the corners of the canopy base are sculptural groups representing Agriculture, Commerce, Engineering and Manufacture, and further out, on the corners of the wider platform, are groups to represent the continents of Asia, Africa, America and Europe – which is a bit tough on Australia!

Further up the canopy are mosaics that feature Poetry, Painting, Architecture and Sculpture, and there are statues to represent the practical arts and sciences, and the cardinal and theological virtues.

The friezes and sculptures were created by a number of different artists.

Around the canopy are inscribed the words: “Queen Victoria And Her People To The Memory Of Albert Prince Consort As A Tribute Of Their Gratitude For A Life Devoted to the Public Good”.

All in all, one can spend a considerable time looking at everything that the Albert Memorial has to offer – it is a veritable museum of sculpture all on its own. However, in order to do so one should take a pair of binoculars, not only to see the features high up on the structure but because there is no public access closer than the outermost “continent” sculptures. Highly ornate railings keep people at bay, which is understandable given that some of them might be tempted to scrape the gold off Albert’s statue!

© John Welford

Winchester Palace, Southwark

This is the great hall of Winchester Palace – not in Winchester and not much of a palace these days, but the height of luxurious living when it was first built in the 12^th century by Henry of Blois, who was the Bishop of Winchester and younger brother of King Stephen of England.

Henry’s diocese of Winchester was rich and extensive, and included Southwark on the south bank of the River Thames, directly opposite the city of London. By building a palace here, Henry was right at the heart of things, in terms of politics, when he wanted to be, but also within his “patch” as a bishop.

This part of Southwark, known as the “Liberty of the Clink”, was also exempt from the laws that restricted certain activities north of the river. This meant that gambling, theatres and brothels could flourish here, and the Bishops of Winchester happily collected the rents from these less than holy pursuits.

There is not much to be seen of the Palace today, which is on the Thames Path close to London Bridge, but the great hall, with its magnificent rose window, was clearly a substantial building. It took a 19^th century fire and 20^th century building work to reveal the surviving walls and nearby foundations. The remains are now in the care of English Heritage.

© John Welford

Stokesay Castle, Shropshire

Stokesay Castle, near Craven Arms in Shropshire, is a remarkable survival from the 13^th century. It was built by Lawrence of Ludlow, a wealthy wool merchant, who bought the manor of Craven Arms in 1281 and wanted to combine safety with luxury in what was still a moderately dangerous part of the world, being near the Welsh border.

The result was a fortified manor house, built partly of stone and partly of timber. It contains spacious accommodation with high roofs and shuttered windows, in which Lawrence and his family could live in comfort, but there is also a self-contained stone tower with a stairway that could be blocked off if necessary should danger threaten and the rest of the property be burned to the ground by marauding Welshmen.

The castle was completed by 1291, with the same team of carpenters being used throughout. Subsequent owners have made very few changes, and it even survived the ravages of both the Civil War (the inhabitants simply surrendered rather than putting up a fight) and the Victorians, who were notorious for wanting to “improve” old buildings.

There is every possibility that there were other “Stokesays” in the region that were not so lucky, so Stokesay Castle could be an example of a typical mode of living at the time.

As it is, the visitor can admire the open-hearthed great hall, with its cruck-framed roof, the “solar” accommodation (which is the only “modern” part of the castle, having been remodelled in the 1640s), and the splendid timber-framed gatehouse with its carvings of Adam and Eve.

Stokesay Castle is now in the hands of English Heritage who make it open to the public from April to October.

© John Welford