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The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure (Part 4) – Warkworth Castle & Tynemouth Priory and Castle

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Life, NatureNo Comments
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Simon (right) and me (left) at a services stop for dinner.

This is the fourth part in my Hadrian’s Wall Adventure with my good friend Simon. You can read and see the photos from Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

Yesterday Simon and I set out to do the last leg of our Hadrian’s Wall Adventure. It was my birthday. The day was gorgeous, sunny, around 19°C all day and not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky.

There aren’t many specific Hardrian’s Wall sites near the Newcastle end of where the wall would have been. So we decided to do Castles near Newcastle.

Our first castle was the magnificent impressive Warkworth Castle. Before you see the photos, first let me apologise for any fingerprint marks on them. The lens of my iPhone had fingerprint marks on, but I didn’t realise because of the bright sunshine.

Here is Essential Info and are some photos:

Essential Info:

  • A castle including remains and a keep with Duke room’s.
  • Highly recommended.
  • Admission Fee: Adult £7.50 with gift aid (£6.80 without). Free admission to English Heritage Members.
  • Opening times: View here.
  • Parking: Plenty in front of the Castle. However even English Heritage Members are required to pay (rather than the usual free parking with sticker in car). The shop does refund the cost of parking, but this was disappointing and we could seen no reason for this.
  • Toilets: Available in the carpark.
  • Has a very small gift shop. Free audible guides available.

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Entrance to Walkworth Castle.

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Outside of Walkworth Castle.

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The most well preserved keep.

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Remains of Walkworth Castle (1).

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Remains of Walkworth Castle (2).

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A selfie of Simon (right) and me (left).

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An iron fireplace in the Duke’s rooms inside the keep.

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The view from inside the Duke’s rooms.

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A view from an archway (1).

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A view from an archway (2).

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One of the many tunnels to rooms in the remains.

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Our next stop was Tynemouth Priory and Castle. Here is Essential Info and are some photos:

Essential Info:

  • A priory, castle and World War 2 defence station.
  • Highly recommended.
  • Admission Fee: Adult £6.50 with gift aid (£5.90 without). Free admission to English Heritage Members.
  • Opening times: View here.
  • Parking: Follow signs for free parking.
  • Has a small gift shop.

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The view from the top of the hill near the entrance to Tynemouth (1).

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The view from the top of the hill near the entrance to Tynemouth (2).

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Tynemouth Priory and Castle remains (1).

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Tynemouth Priory and Castle remains (2).

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Tynemouth Priory and Castle remains (3).

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Stone coffins.

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Simon (right) and me (left) in the stone coffins. I couldn’t believe that we both fitted perfectly.

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Tynemouth Priory and Castle remains (4).

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A carving that looked similar to The Green Man on the entrance to the priory.

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Tynemouth Priory.

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Tynemouth Priory stained glass window (1).

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Tynemouth Priory stained glass window (2).

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Tynemouth Priory stained glass window (3).

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Tynemouth Priory stained glass window (4).

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Inside the Priory, photo of Priory door. Reminded me of the door to heaven.

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Tynemouth graveyard and World War 2 defence tower.

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Tynemouth World War 2 defence gun.

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Shells for the gun in bunker.

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Tynemouth Lighthouse.

We had a great time. Next year we are going to visit the fine city of Newcastle including Newcastle’s castle.

Blog soon,

Antony

Edit: 16/05/18 18:30 – Used GIMP to remove some of the finger prints in some of the above photos. If you click on the photos for full size, you will see the updated photos.

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The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure (Part 3) – Haydon Bridge, Chesters Fort & Museum, Brunton Turret and Corbridge Roman Town

By Adventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Life, NatureNo Comments

My friend Simon and I went back up to Hadrian’s Wall to continue our adventure following the Wall from one side of the country to the other, stopping at various sites of interest along the way.

We started this adventure last year in Cumbria. You can read about and see photos from last year in the The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure Part 1 and Part 2.

The day was dry and sunny, but it did get colder in the late afternoon. So here’s where we went, along with photos:

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Haydon Bridge.

Haydon Bridge
Haydon Bridge is a village with an old bridge (photoed left) across River South Tyne. The village is very quaint and worth a short visit. Haydon Bridge is now a walk way, but would have been used as a crossing for people, horsemen and carts. Essential Info:

  • Free parking is available on roads in the village.
  • Public Toilets are free to use and on both sides of the bridge.
  • The village has several pubs, a chemist, a chippy, a Tandoori restaurant and some guest houses.
  • Recommended for a short visit. The bridge is the only thing of note that we saw.

We decided to stop at Hexham next. Hexham is a bigger village than Haydon Bridge, with an Abbey. However as we drove around the town centre looking for parking, all signage said Parking Disc Required, but no signage gave instructions or directions on how to get a parking disc. It was a busy Saturday afternoon, with some event on at the Abbey, so we decided to give Hexham a miss.

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Chesters Fort & Museum
Chesters Fort & Museum is magnificent and is a site maintained by English Heritage. It has loads to see and do including: the remains of a Fort and Bath House, a picnic area, spy holes that show where Hadrian’s Wall would have been (including across the North Tyne river), a brilliant museum full of stone works (statues, altars, depiction of Gods & Goddesses) and tools, weapons and jewellery, a gift shop, a tea room and toilets. The only downside to this fantastic attraction is that the cost of parking along with its reasonable admission price makes it an overall an expensive experience.

The signs dotted throughout the attraction are really informative and is probably the best example of signage throughout my entire Hadrian’s Wall Adventure adventure. For example, one sign read that about 500 horses and men would have been stationed at this Fort. The next sign read that a horse urinates and defecates 12KGS of waste a day. This was my Fact of the Day. Just think of all that waste, along with that of the humans.

Essential Info:

  • Remains of a Fort and Bath House.
  • Also includes a Museum, Picnic Area, Tea Room and Gift Shop.
  • Toilets available.
  • Highly Recommended.
  • Admission Price: £7.30 for an adult with gift aid (£6.60 without).
  • Opening Times: Vary throughout the year. View here.
  • Parking: Pay and Display at £3.00.

Here are photos from Chesters Fort & Museum:

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Chesters Fort (1) – 500 Horsemen would have lived in this Fort.

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Chesters Fort (2) – Remains of Stables.

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Chesters Fort (3) – Entrance Gatehouse.

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Chesters Fort (4) – Hadrian’s Wall will have run across the North Tyne river at this point. You can see the continuation of the Wall on the other side of the bank.

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Chesters Fort (5) – The Roman Baths.

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Chesters Fort (6) – The Roman Baths Porch.

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Chesters Fort (7) – The Roman Baths.

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Chesters Fort (8) – Presumably a trough for the horses to eat/drink from.

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Chesters Fort (8) – The Roman Baths, a cold bath.

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Chesters Fort (9) – The Roman Baths.

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Chesters Fort (10) – The Roman Baths Steam Room.

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Chesters Fort (11) – South East Angle Tower.

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Chesters Fort (12) – Possibly a storage room or stronghold.

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Chesters Fort (13) – A well in the main villa, which still had water in,

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Chesters Fort (14) – Flooring.

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Chesters Fort (15) – More flooring.

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Chesters Museum (1) – The Clayton Museum was a brilliant museum full of stone works (statues, altars, depiction of Gods & Goddesses), as well as tools, weapons and jewellery.

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Chesters Museum (2) – Entrance. Inside stone works lined each of the walls.

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Chesters Museum (3) – A headless statue of Juno Regina (Queen Juno). Apparently Queen Juno was one of the most important deities in Roman Religion, known as the protector and special counsellor of the state.

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Chesters Museum (4) – Various altars.

Then we drove through a village called Wall. After passing through Wall we saw signs for Brunton Turret.

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Brunton Turret
Brunton Turret is remains of a Turret that would have been one of many along Hadrian’s Wall. It’s in a famers field and there is a designated Parking place at the side of the road. It is a quick site to visit that will take you all of 5 minutes to walk to and see. Photos are below.

Essential Info:

  • Remains of a Turret and some of Hadrian’s Wall, in a farmers field.
  • Free parking is in designated space at the side of the road.
  • Well signposted.
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Brunton Turret (1) – Hadrian’s Wall.

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Brunton Turret (2) – Where the soldiers would have been stationed.

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Corbridge Roman Town – We chose not to go in, as it looked very similar to Chesters Fort & Museum which we had visited earlier in the day.

Corbridge Roman Town
Corbridge Roman Town is another Roman Town, maintained by English Heritage. We opted not to visit this site, as it looked very similar to Chesters Fort & Museum. Essential Info:

  • Remains of a Roman Town.
  • Also includes a Museum, Picnic Area and Gift Shop.
  • Toilets available.
  • Admission Price: £7.20 for an adult with gift aid (£6.50 without).
  • Opening Times: Vary throughout the year. View here.
  • Free Parking on site.

Next year Simon and I plan to visit Newcastle to complete our tour across Hadrian’s Wall from one side of the country to the other.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Photos from Astley Hall Park Today

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Inspiration, NatureNo Comments

Today my good friend Simon and I went to Astley Hall park. Here are some photos of the beautiful park, click on any photo for full size image:

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Astley Hall

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Astley Hall Park/Grounds (1)

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Astley Hall Park/Grounds (2)

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Astley Hall Park/Grounds (3)

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Trees that Simon and I nicknamed ‘Teardrop Trees’ (1)

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Tree that Simon and I nicknamed ‘Teardrop Trees’ (2)

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Art installation (1)

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Art installation – Close up (2)

Essential Info:

  • Free parking is available in a reasonably-sized carpark.
  • A super-expensive cafe is on site. Avoid due to costs and take your own food/drink.
  • Toilets on site.
  • A Chorley Remembers Experience, guided tour of Astley Hall, as well as various events are on throughout the year. For more details including Opening Times, Admission Prices, etc. See Astley Hall’s website here.
  • Has facilities for children such as play area/park.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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