Wylye, Wiltshire

Wylye is a small village about ten miles northwest of Salisbury, Wiltshire, in southern England. The river that flows through the village is the River Wylye, a Celtic name that is the origin of “Wil” in Wilton, the town a few miles downstream from which the county of Wiltshire took its name.

Evidence that this area has been inhabited and cultivated from ancient times was confirmed in 2012 by the discovery, close to the village, of the Wylye Hoard, consisting of 41 copper-based objects that date from the Bronze Age. The hoard can be seen in the Salisbury Museum.

During Roman times the Wylye Valley was an important food source for the legions. Extensive grain pits have been excavated at Bilbury Farm, a mile from the village. Edible snails can still be found in the Wylye Valley; these are the descendants of snails originally imported by the Romans.

The village is a bridging point of the River Wylye, although in earlier times there was a ford here. When a stagecoach, back in the 18^th century, tried to cross the ford when the river was running high, it overturned and a post-boy, whose task was to blow a horn to announce the arrival of the coach at its various stopping points, rescued several passengers but was himself drowned. A lead statue of the post-boy, blowing his horn, was erected in the river close to the village mill, to commemorate his bravery and sacrifice.

Many of the older cottages in the village are typical of this area in having been built from Chilmark stone and flint, and with mullioned windows – i.e. divided into separate panes by stone uprights. However, few of the houses in the main street have thatched roofs, which might have been expected. This is because of a fire in 1924 which started at a farm in the village and was fanned by a strong wind so that all the thatched roofs were lost. The replacement roofs were made from fire-resistant tiles or slates, although some more recent owners have reverted to traditional thatch.

The oldest cottage, which dates from the 14^th century, is Wylands Cottage which was originally two adjoining cottages, one of stone and the other of timber. It has a massive gable and steep red-tiled roof.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin was largely rebuilt in 1846 on the site of a 13^th century building. The tower, which is 15th century, survived the Victorian restoration. The richly carved oak pulpit dates from 1628.

In the churchyard is a large tomb surrounded by wrought-iron railings, which visitors might think contains the remains of a local dignitary. However, this is not the case, according to tradition. The story that is usually told is that a man named Popjay commissioned the tomb for his mother and sister. Before it was finished, Popjay left the village without having paid for the work. The rector decided to fund the work himself and it was his own remains that eventually occupied it.

Next to the church is the Bell Inn. Hanging above the fireplace can be seen the 19^th century bell clappers from the church. 

© John Welford

Southern Scotland: some natural wonders

Scotland abounds with natural wonders. Here are brief introductions to some those to be found south of the highlands.

Loch Lomond

This freshwater loch, famed for its “bonny, bonny, banks”, is 24 miles long, 27 square miles in extent, and marks the point where Highland and Lowland Scotland meet.

Geologically, this region is known as the Highland Border Complex where an ancient mountain range collided with lowlands composed of Devonian rocks, with a mixture of marine sediments thrown in. It is possible to see the corresponding fault line, running across several of the islands in the loch, from the summit of nearby Conic Hill.

Loch Lomond and its surrounds are very rich in wildlife, this being a sanctuary for many over-wintering wildfowl such as Greenland white-fronted geese. Over a quarter of all native British plant species can be found here.

There are many islands in the loch, most of which are privately owned, but access can be had to the nature reserves on Inchcailloch, Bucinch and Ceardach.

Arthur’s Seat

The area that is now Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, is the result of extremely violent volcanic activity in the distant past. Arthur’s Seat and nearby Salisbury Crags are prominences that were created when a volcano erupted some 335 million years ago.

The summit of Arthur’s Seat, 820 feet high, offers a stiff climb that is rewarded by magnificent views over Edinburgh and the surrounding area. There is evidence of occupation by people during the Bronze and Iron Ages, thus demonstrating the strategic importance of the area in past times.

Traprain and North Berwick Laws

“Law” simply means “hill”, these two being in East Lothian. They stand prominently above the surrounding countryside, Traprain Law being 734 feet high and North Berwick Law 613 feet high.

They are all that is left of ancient volcanoes.

Traprain Law, to the east of Haddington, was a fortified site during the Iron Age and may well have been occupied since the Stone Age. It is the largest hill fort in Scotland.

North Berwick Law overlooks the small coastal town of that name, and quarrying of the hill provided the red basalt stone that can be seen in many local buildings. From the top there are splendid views of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh and the Lammermuir Hills. At the summit is an arch made from the jawbone of a whale.

St Abb’s Head

This headland in Berwickshire is of great interest both to naturalists and geologists, as well as offering superb sea and coastal views.

There is evidence here of the continental collision, around 400 million years ago, that joined what is now northern Scotland to the rest of Great Britain.

This is one of the largest seabird breeding colonies in Europe, and the birds to be seen here in huge numbers include razorbills, shags, puffins and fulmars. St Abb’s Head was established as a National Nature Reserve in 1983 and is looked after by the National Trust for Scotland.

The area has been occupied for at least 3,000 years and it was the site of an early Christian community. The ruins of a 7^th century monastery, founded by St Ebbe, can still be traced on the cliff edge.

Bass Rock

This is the most prominent of four islands in the Firth of Forth close to the shore near North Berwick. It is volcanic in origin, being the plug of a volcano that emerged in the Carboniferous Era around 300 million years ago.

It rises from the sea to about 350 feet, with sheer cliffs on three sides and a more gentle slope on the fourth. A castle was built here in the early 15^th century and a lighthouse in 1903.

The rock has world importance due to the fact that up to 800,000 gannets nest on its cliffs. It is home to about 10% of the world’s North Atlantic gannets. The gannet’s scientific name – Morus bassana – derives from its presence on Bass Rock.

Boat trips can be taken to the Rock from North Berwick, and visitors are likely to see gray seals swimming near the Rock as well as vast numbers of gannets during the breeding season.

The Grey Mare’s Tail

This is a spectacular waterfall near Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway. A small loch, Loch Skeen, which is one of the highest in Scotland, drains via a small burn (stream) into the valley below. It does so via a 200 foot (60 metre) drop, hence the waterfall.

This is the result of glaciation about 15,000 years during the last Ice Age. The valley below Lock Skeen was occupied by a glacier that excavated a typical U-shaped valley that was somewhat deeper than would have been achieved by a normal river, and with much steeper sides. When the glacier melted and normal drainage patterns resumed, tributary valleys, such as that draining Loch Skeen, would have been left “hanging”, with their streams plunging down the steep sides of the glaciated valley.

The waterfall is best seen when there is plenty of water coming down from the loch, and this is normally in late winter or early spring.

The Grey Mare’s Tail was described by Sir Walter Scott as “white as the snowy charger’s tail”.

The area around the waterfall is renowned for its rare upland plants, this being one of best places to find them in southern Scotland.

© John Welford

Worth Matravers, Dorset

Worth Matravers is a village on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, although the word “isle” is misleading because Purbeck is only surrounded by water on three sides.

The village owes its existence to stone quarrying, there being a number of quarries (active and disused) in the area from which Purbeck stone and marble has been extracted and used in the building of many houses, churches and cathedrals. The houses in the village were originally occupied by quarrymen and stonemasons.  These are grouped around a small pond that has a resident community of ducks.

The village pub, the Square and Compass, takes its name from two of the tools used by stonemasons.

The local fields, which are virtually treeless, are criss-crossed by dry stone walls, and it is possible to spot ammonite fossils (coiled cephalopods that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs) in some of the stones.

There are splendid views to be had along the Jurassic Coast from footpaths starting in the village. Also to be seen are medieval strip lynchets alongside steep valleys leading to the coast. These are terraces that were formerly used for agriculture.

Worth Matravers Church, dedicated to St Nicholas is Norman in origin, although much restored in the 19^th century. In the churchyard is the grave of Benjamin Jesty, a farmer who discovered the secret of inoculation for the prevention of smallpox some twenty years before Edward Jenner, who is usually credited with this.

On a nearby headland is St Aldhelm’s Church, a square building with only one small window, that dates from the 12^th century. It is said to be the only church in the country with no east wall, because the four corners are at the points of the compass.

© John Welford

Scarborough, North Yorkshire

Scarborough in North Yorkshire (35 miles north-east of York) has a good claim to being considered Britain’s first seaside resort, but it has a much older history than that.

There was a settlement here in prehistoric times and the Romans established a signal station here in the 4^th century as part of an early warning system against raiders from across the North Sea.

A massive castle was built on the Roman site in the 12^th century, with a keep 80 feet high, plus outer walls and other towers. The castle faced many sieges in medieval times and was even targeted during World War I when it was shelled from the sea.

The town of Scarborough grew up between the castle cliff and South Bay harbour.

The narrow passageways known as The Bolts were flushed by the sea twice a day during the 12^th and 13^th centuries and thus served as hygienic public lavatories! However, after 1300 a new quay was built and The Bolts became dry alleyways.

The church of St Mary is medieval but suffered serious damage during the Civil War. The Victorian restoration was not to everyone’s taste.  The writer Anne Bronte was buried in the churchyard.

Scarborough became somewhere to visit after a mineral spring was discovered in the 1620s. Local medical “experts” managed to persuade people that the water – despite its foul taste – had powerful medicinal qualities and could cure a whole range of ailments. People who could afford to travel to the town and spend several weeks there did so in considerable numbers and created a social circle of the well-to-do, leading to the building of elegant hotels, assembly rooms and ballrooms.

One innovation that later spread elsewhere was sea bathing.

Scarborough’s popularity grew considerably when the railway reached the town in 1848. Much of modern Scarborough is therefore a Victorian town, with its houses, hotels and terraced gardens. The Grand Hotel, which dominates the sea front on the south side, has 365 rooms on 12 floors.

The church of St Martin on the Hill is notable for its pre-Raphaelite work including stained glass by Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Ford Madox Brown. 

Other places worth a visit include Scarborough Art Gallery, housed in a villa built in 1845, and the Wood End Museum of natural history in what was once the home of the Sitwell family (Edith, Osbert and Sacheverel).

The Rotunda Museum of Geology was built in 1829 to the design of William Smith, who is regarded as the “Father of Geology”. His idea was to display fossils and other geological specimens in a gallery built to a spiral pattern so that they could be seen in relation to the geological strata in which they were found.

© John Welford

Stac Pollaidh, Scotland

Stac Pollaidh (which is often anglicized as Stac Polly) is a craggy outcrop that rises above a desolate moor in the far northwest of Scotland (to the north of Ullapool). Bristling with rock pinnacles, it has been likened to a gigantic porcupine.

The mountain is composed of rocks that are extremely old, and those at its base are older still. It is composed of Torridonian sandstone that dates from around 1,000 million years ago – long before dinosaurs roamed the planet. 

The Lewisian gneiss that forms the plateau is one of the most ancient rocks known in the world, being some 2,800 million years old.

Very few people live round here. There are only about 12,000 inhabitants in an area of around a million acres in extent. The population was once higher, although life round here can never have been easy. The Highland Clearances of the 18^th/19^th centuries turned thousands of people off the land to make room for deer and sheep.

Despite the remoteness of this region, Stac Pollaidh is not difficult to reach and climb, although some of the pinnacles are only accessible to experienced and properly equipped rock climbers. The views from the higher slopes are magnificent and extensive – on a fine day, that is!

Stac Pollaidh is one of several sandstone remnants in this area, although the others look somewhat different because they retained their caps of quartzite, which give them a rounded appearance. Because Stac Pollaidh’s cap has been eroded away, the sandstone has itself been subject to erosion that has produced its jagged skyline.

The area has been designated a national nature reserve that includes wild moorland, scree slope and bog. The Inverpolly Nature Reserve is the second largest in Great Britain (after the Cairngorms). 

Plants to be found here at higher levels include dwarf azalea, starry saxifrage, cowberry, and alpine forms of club-moss, lichen and fern. Lower down one can find sea pinks, rock speedwell and alpine hawkweed.

Animal life includes red and roe deer and wildcats. Bird life includes golden eagles and – in the lochs - black-throated divers. 

This is a truly wild landscape that cannot fail to impress.

© John Welford

The Priest's House, Easton on the Hill

This two-storey stone building dates from around 1495. It is in the village of Easton on the Hill, which is in the top north-east corner of Northamptonshire. 

The rector of Easton at that time was Thomas Stokes, who came from a very wealthy family. In his will he left money to pay for the services of a chantry priest, the idea being that the priest would have the sole duty of saying masses and praying for the soul of the departed so that he would not have to spend too much time in Purgatory before being admitted to Heaven. 

The Priest’s House was the home of the chantry priest, who was appointed when Thomas Stokes died in 1495. After the custom was abandoned in 1545 at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the house was used by village priests until a new rectory was built in 1698.

Later uses of the building included a school and a farm building for the housing of livestock. In 1868 alterations were made so that hay could be stored in the upper room and passed through a trapdoor to the animals below.

The Priest’s House is now in the care of the National Trust and is open to visitors free of charge – as long as you can find the man with the key!

The two rooms, upstairs and downstairs, are a local museum devoted to local affairs, particularly the ironstone and slate industries that were once the mainstay of the local economy. The area played an important role during World War Two as the location of airstrips that were used by the Royal Air Force for missions against Nazi Germany. This activity is also featured in the displays to be seen here.

A question that must strike many visitors is how the exhibits on the upper floor got where they are, given that the two rooms are only connected via a narrow spiral staircase. Presumably the 19^th century trapdoor was brought into play for this purpose!

© John Welford

Knockan Crag

The road heading north from Ullapool, in the North-West Highlands of Scotland, passes beneath a mile-long cliff that dominates the landscape. This is Knockan Crag, which tells a violent story that dates from before the time of the dinosaurs.

The rocks that form this part of the British Isles are extremely old, dating back more than 1,000 million years. They comprise a complex mixture of ancient sedimentary layers and igneous and metamorphic rocks that were laid down during periods of intense volcanic activity.

They are also the result of the collision of ancient continents, and that is what can be seen at Knockan Crag, where older rocks overlie younger ones, which logic suggests should be impossible.

Some 400 million years ago an event known to geologists as the Moine Thrust took place. Deep underground, a layer of schist - a medium-grade metamorphic rock – was thrust over the top of younger quartzite and limestone rocks. Over millions of years, further earth movements and erosion by wind and rain exposed the Thrust to the surface, as can be seen today.

Today, Knockan Crag is a National Nature Reserve with well-marked paths and observation points. As well as being able to look at very old rock formations at close hand, visitors can see rare plants and animals, catch a glimpse of golden eagles wheeling overhead, and look across a vast, barren landscape of lakes, moors and mountains that has seen little change for an unimaginably long period of time.

© John Welford