Quite recently I traveled with my wife through the aforementioned places. Due to a bout of illness on the trip I missed the Vindolanda Fort, a mile fort on Hadrian's Wall and an active archaeological site. Next time. The really nice photos were taken by my wife, and massaged by me to reduce their sizes.
It began in Chester, a town that was first founded as the Roman fortress Deva Victrix. Later it was the HQ for Legio XX Valeria Victrix. Victrix Miniatures is based in the general vicinity. Makes sense. Our first day we got into town early in the morning after getting maybe 90 minutes of sleep on the plane. After stowing our luggage at the hotel, we staggered to Bridge Street to get some strong coffee. As we finished, loud shouting broke out on the street. Soccer fans so early? No, it was a walking tour. I knew you can get tours led either by a chap in full Roman armor or else Medieval chainmail. This was a Roman tour, with the leader shouting loudly. I didn't catch what he was saying but it sounded working class. The tourists were in a column of twos, each with a small legionary shield and a wooden sword. They responded to the leader's shouts with their own chanting, I suspect of mangled Latin. They got around the corner and out of sight before I could get a picture of them.
Chester city walls, first built by Romans and then rebuilt and expanded over the centuries. The last military use was during the English Civil Wars when Parliament blew a hole in the wall and stormed the town.
On to Wales and Conwy Castle, built by Edward I Longshanks to cow the Welsh. Mighty impressive castle on a big rock.
Skipped past Hadrian's Wall, taking the train to Edinburgh. Speaking of an impressive castle on a big rock, here's Edinburgh Castle. a Boer War monument to the Scots Greys is in the foreground.
Ensign Ewart is buried here. While still a sergeant, he captured the eagle of the 45th Ligne during the charge of the Union Brigade at Waterloo. They have the eagle and the flag in the Scots Greys museum. The flag is bleached out, no hint of the tricolor left. I have seen the King's color of the 69th Foot in the Invalides. Either the Brits had better dyes or the flag wasn't left out in the sun. There are three military museums in the castle: military, Royal Scots and Scots Greys. Yes, I was in all three. My wife is very patient.
There is also a memorial for the Duke of York and Albany. You've heard of him.
Oh the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men,
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
The National Museum of Scotland has many fine things in the collection. One is this modern reproduction of a Celtic Carnyx. I wondered about the way it is depicted as being played straight up.
Well, a link to it being played that way is here.
Now imagine hundreds of guys around him with shields and spears.
Next we were off to Kirkwall, capital of the Orkney Islands. We got in just before air traffic was shut down by Storm Babet, which took the lives of seven people in other parts of the UK. Once it passed, weather was decent. There is a large anchorage, Scapa Flow. It was the major base for the Royal Navy in both world wars. I used to play Jutland back when I was in high school. Scapa Flow was a dot on the map where most of the Grand Fleet's dreadnoughts lived. Who knew it was so pretty?
In 1939 U-47 snuck in and torpedoed the obsolescent dreadnought Royal Oak, killing some 834 crew. What are called the Churchill Barriers were built by Italian POWs to keep other U-boats out. Kirkwall has a lovely and venerable cathedral of St. Magnus. In it is a book that has the names of those lost on the Royal Oak.
A short drive from Kirkwall is the Neolithic site of Skara Brae, 10 stone houses that would serve quite well if roofed and electrified. It was built some 5,000 years ago. There are several standing stone circles nearby, older than Stonehenge.
The gift shop has some silly items for those briefly channeling Vikings.
Nearby is the home of the local Lairds, now a museum. I found this interesting item hanging on a wall.
We took the ferry back to the Scottish mainland. I was aware that part of the time we were in the channel that Jellicoe's dreadnoughts took on their way to Jutland. I hadn't known that the populace was upset with the result of the battle and were unkind to the sailors. They didn't sink the German High Seas Fleet, but then the Germans didn't come out again during the war.
We went to Inverness, a very nice place. I have this running joke that I won't paint up Jacobite warriors for the '45 until I find tartan paint. There's a pub in Inverness called the Highlander. It had a traditional music group named... Tartan Paint. Even got us up dancing. Not right away, but I guess some Highlanders for the '45 are in my future.
On the last full day in Scotland we took a half-hour drive to Culloden. The blue flag is one of the Jacobite line markers. I'm looking across at the Duke of Cumberland's lines.
Oh, it was a lovely trip. It would have been better without the bout of illness, but c'est la vie.
PS sometimes the background and text colors of this blog drive me crazy. Hope it's readable.
2 comments:
Looksa great trip , visited Orkney a long time ao , very beautiful but can be bleak in winter .
Looks like you had a great time! Glad you were able to make this trip.
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