Through a glass darkly
The castle at Dartmouth is situated at the mouth of the River Dart, a short walk out of the town centre. It's a great place to put a castle, looking out across the river to Kingswear, and out to sea - and the people who lived here clearly thought so too because there's a medieval... Continue Reading →
Last week we spent a few days away in the south Devon town of Dartmouth, for our first holiday for over a year. We last stayed in the town nearly twenty years ago, so it was interesting to see what had changed - and what hadn't. Obviously there are a few new things, but overall... Continue Reading →
Last time we visited the Museum of Lakeland Life & Industry in Kendal, we came across an old map of the shores of (Lake) Windermere between Windermere (town) and Ambleside. It dated from sometime in the 18th or early 19th century, I think - well before the area started to become more developed after the... Continue Reading →
Sorry about the pun - I couldn't resist. It's true though - there's a new museum right here in Windermere that is both beautiful and full of boats! This is Windermere Jetty (full name Windermere Jetty: Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories), which has appeared on the site of the old Steamboat Museum like a... Continue Reading →
Windermere town centre isn't particularly big, but it's well stocked with a selection of shops, cafes and restaurants - and more than a few interesting or unusual features if you know where to look. One of these is on Crescent Road, one of two main streets that form the town centre. At first glance, it... Continue Reading →
Last November we had the opportunity to gatecrash a fascinating talk by the Archaeology Department of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) on their ongoing summer excavations at Ribchester. For those of you who don't know, Ribchester is a pretty village in the Ribble valley to the east of Preston, and as the name suggests,... Continue Reading →
When we visited Grange-over-Sands the other week I was intrigued by one particular building. This was a fairly substantial stone-built barn or workshop, on a corner of Hampsfell Road just off the main 'drag' of the town centre but still close by. The building had me puzzled for a number of reasons. It was large... Continue Reading →
Anyone who's read my paranormal romance 'Got Ghosts?' will know that priest holes form an important part of the plot. Not sure what a priest hole is? Well, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the official religion in England swung between Protestant and Roman Catholic depending on which monarch was on the throne.Whichever religion fell... Continue Reading →
The local civic society has been busy in Grange-over-Sands, putting up lots of blue plaques to explain various bits of the town's history and/or interesting buildings. There's one for the church, another for the municipal clock tower, and also several celebrating more obscure nooks and crannies. One of these announces that a detached, relatively old-looking... Continue Reading →
