A New and Interesting Approach to Time Travel

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Ambleside Roman Fort.

       For many people their first visit to Ambleside Roman Fort can be somewhat disappointing. Their usual comment is; "There's not enough to see!" And in truth there isn't much in actual visible stonework on view and yet a better understanding of the site makes you realise how important the structure really was in those times past.

        Initially, very little was known of the Fort apart from a few mentions in early guide books  and by 1900 was more or less a bare "platform" surrounded by a couple of possible ditches. All this changed through the archaeological excavation led by R G Collingwood between 1913-20. Where they discovered the remains of a fort laid out in a set pattern of Commander's House, Granary, Headquarters and Barracks. The Commander's House, Headquarters and Granary, are the presently exposed remains. The fort was thought to have been constructed about 80AD by the forces of Agricola, whom supposedly passed through this area. The exposed remains are of the second fort built on the site, this and the first having been destroyed in various raids. There have been "digs" in recent years to expose some of the stonework and the East Gate, there are also a number of signboards on site, which give some information about the forts layout.

      Ambleside is an important junction for a number of roads and the lake, then as now and the fort is well placed at the centre of this junction. Currently there are two exposed gates, East and South, but it makes sense there would be a West Gate for access to Hawkshead and Hardknott and a North Gate for access to the Keswick and Kirkstone roads. Next to the fort site there is Borran's Park, Borrans is a Norse word for "piles of stones" or "field of stones" The first thing you notice about Borran's Park is, there are no stones, whatsoever, the site has been swept clean. Probably a good source of building material for the early progress of the modern Ambleside town. Ambleside Roman Town is thought to have stretch from here to as far North as Low Fold and there are some boundary lines still visible in the surrounding land, Ambleside Roman Town has never really been properly investigated and development in recent years as disorientated large parts of the potential town.

      To the North-West of the fort there is a small natural hill, which would be part of any military construction and part of one of the forts, possibly as a observation point or signal station.  

      In the 1950's the level of Windermere Lake was raised, only by inches, but made the small peninsula to the south a lot more moist even boggy. The most southern tip may well have been a likely candidate for a small harbour to receive goods by water transport, there is a known Roman slipway at Lakeside. Still traceable all the way along the east side of this land is the Roman Causeway., still largely intact.

      To the west side of the fort is the river Rothay, navigable as far as the Brathay junction. Also to the west and along side the fort, is a damp often in flood, stretch of ground which gives the impression of one time being a river or similar, but is also thought to have been a canal, Still easily traceable as far North as Rothay Bridge, then afterwards, further to Miller Bridge, beyond this, it's uncertain.

      At the fort there are clear signs of ditches along the north and partially on the west side, which still occasionally flood in damp weather, to the west there is the canal and the south, the lake. Apart from all this, Ambleside, both old and new, over time was a very damp and boggy region and large areas of the town are dominated by stone drains, which criss-cross the landscape. The Roman engineers laid many of these and they exist all over the township and well beyond.       

Viking Influences in Westmorland

    

      Cumbria is well known for the number of place names and areas associated with Viking or more particularly Nordic settlers and farmers. Less well known is the structure to be found about four miles West of the town of Ambleside, in the Little Langdale Valley. This is a natural hill which has been structured and layered into a recognised platform. This platform takes various names and I've always known it as a "Thing Mot" The interesting point about the Thing Mot, is that there are only two known examples outside Norway, the one above is much more famous at Peel Castle, on the Isle of Man. Whereas the one at Little Langdale is much less known. It's at the end of a valley with limited public access and there is little to be found in the way of ruins, homesteads or antiquarian buildings of any kind. Though at the time it was in use, it must have been very popular, with lots of people living in the near vicinity.

      It's long been supposed Thing Mots were a centre of local Government, or a place of judgement like a modern day court, where disputes may be settled by whatever means. There is the Roman Road to Hardknott and Ravenglass close by as well as the junction to Great Langdale.

      Maybe if you were to score a line from Peel through Little Langdale to Norway, you may well pick up some interesting and historical mystical ruin along the way.

Saint Eanswythe of Folkstone

      Saint Eanswythe, the daughter of an Anglo Saxon King and one of England's earliest Saints is also understood to have founded the first Nunnery in England in 600 AD. She was made a Saint shortly after her death, thought to be in her late teens or early twenties.
      It's only now 1300 years later, a number of bones found in a wall of a Kent church, located close to the original nunnery, have been formally identified. Carbon samples taken from both tooth and bone fragments can now be positively classified as those of Saint Eanswythe.
      The discovery at the church in Folkstone is being hailed as of national importance, as they are thought to be those of not only a saint but also the only surviving bones of a member of the Royal Kentish Household. The remains were found as long ago as 1885. But only now can they be identified with any real certainty.
      Saint Eanswythe, the granddaughter of King Ethelbert, who was the first British King to convert to Christianity under Saint Augustine.   

The Portland Vase

      The Portland Vase, quite possibly the rarest and most important piece of Roman Cameo Glass in the world. Thought to be from the period at the end of the Republic and is currently owned by the British Museum.

Can We Afford The Future

          The modern lifestyle and "living beyond your means" is an old adage, though many people do just that with spending up to the hilt and are quite happy to "put it on the card" and run up a series of loans, with banks all too happy to exploit this weakness.
      Most people in Britain face the major problem of paying high rents or increasingly expensive mortgages, coupled with Council Tax payments which seem to be rapidly increasing to almost the level of a secondary rental payment. Not forgetting all the old additional payments of Gas, Water, Electricity, etc.
      Set the Coronavirus to a close, if the country isn't facing bankruptcy by then, will HS2 be allowed to continue beyond the initial stages and deeper into the black-hole of cost. There are a few other similar areas of expense which may need postponement or more likely, total and final abandonment. 
      Speaking of HS2 and the transport network in general, there are already many areas of road and rail crying out for improvement and upgrade. Not forgetting the overriding and long awaited process of taking all petrol and diesel engines off the roads and replacing them with the electric powered engine, with a technology still in it's infancy. How close are we really to producing a sustainable electric vehicle with a long battery life and good range at a consumer friendly price and second hand value, rather than merely some throw-away luxury item? 
      What about the subject of housing and the demand for new building? In this day and futuristic age, your modern house comes off the back of a wagon and can be ensembled in a day. The main problem is the land on which the house is built, not always in such a plentiful supply. And the modern house has come a long way in just a few short years, in electricals, plumbing, insulation and of course costs. Not forgetting the existing housing stock, mostly in need of insulation and upgrading.
      The NHS often said to be the envy of the world and we all like to think we deserve and should be given the best medical treatment if and when we need treatment. But there are a multitude of expenses in such an operation, we always seem to be pumping a few million, billion in here and there, never seems to make any difference. 
      The armed forces, Britain has always had a long tradition of an independent military combined services, but with ships which can't always be at sea, aircraft which must remain in the hanger and mixed levels of recruitment, to put it mildly, everything is kept to a tight budget.
      On the subject of the free television licence for the 4 million over 75's which equates to an annual sum of £750 million and is a hard pill to swallow for the BBC. So you can no doubt realise there is very little prospect of there ever being a free television licence for the rest of us. 
      There is the matter of the Welfare State and running it is a very expensive business, where as funding it is quite another, it is supposed to provide an acceptable living standard for the elderly, the disabled and the unemployed, which currently equates to approx. £200 billion.
      When you start talking and thinking in millions and billions, it becomes all too easy to become dismissive of physical costs and the norm soon becomes trillions.
      The Government plan to limit spending upon the infrastructure and leave such matters to the private sector, leaves Britain exposed to foreign companies, who in return demand high payments for their services and to pay zero corporation tax.

All At Sea

      The close of World War Two, saw 158 German U-Boats surrendered to the Allied Forces. Of this number, ten were deemed seaworthy and allocated to the UK US and USSR Navies and one to the French Navy. Four were given to Norway, who scrapped a further three which had surrendered in Norwegian ports, a further two were sunk by the US Navy, the remaining total, some 116 vessels were sunk by the Royal Navy, to the North West of Ireland in an operation known as "Deadlight."
       The original plans for captured war materials was that they should be divided up between the three major allied powers, in the case of the U-Boats, this was decided to be too much of an expense, at the time to move the vessels from the UK so they were sunk rather than dispersed or scrapped. There was also a question of manpower, needed in matters of scrappage, as many ports were already laden with such war damaged ships. A further matter considered by the UK and US was their not wanting the USSR to gain too much naval hardware.
      As it turned out, the scuttling of so many craft proved a difficult and time consuming task, with 36 boats ending their days as gunnery targets for The Royal Navy.