UK - Summer 2011

England and ScotlandSummer 2011:

history & archaeology of

Roman Britain

The North West: Chester

and the Lake District

Chester, originally founded as the

Roman city of Deva (plan of Roman

town below) – also known for its

Tudor buildings and cathedral

The Lake District, land of William Wordsworth & Beatrix Potter

Hadrian’s Wall, built by a Roman emperor in 122

a.d. to keep the barbarians out of Britain. It still

runs across the entire country, south of Scotland,

and was originally 20 feet tall. Look for the dark

line in the pics below. (The big sycamore tree was

used in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”)

Castlerigg Stone

Circle (schematic at

right for

engineers…)

North Wales: Caernarfon

and Snowdonia

Welsh castles, homes and signage – the

Welsh increasingly choose to use their

native tongue again

A half-day hike to a remote

Welsh hill fort in Snowdonia,

circa 480 a.d.

The North East and the

Yorkshire Dales

The coast of North East

England, much of which is

still untouched by modern

technology

Whitby, the tawdry seaside

village where elderly ladies still

come in droves to play bingo

and see the follies … Yes, of

course I had the famous fish

and chips at the Magpie :)

Ancient York, my favorite British city, where you can still

walk the city walls

Old York (not New York) and the “Shambles” (the old street of butchers)

Below left: The famous Roman emperor Constantine, born in Deva (Chester) and crowned in Eboracum (York). Bottom right: Remains of Roman tower.

Top left and right: City Walls

Time stands still in

Goathland, also

known as the setting

of Hogsmeade Rail

Station in “harry

potter”

Richmond Castle, another

Hogwarts setting. first built

following the “Harrying of

the North,” when William

the Conqueror basically

used ethnic cleansing to

conquer Northern England.

The ruins of Lindisfarne

Priory, home of St.

Cuthbert - destroyed by

Vikings. The ruins are

on an island that can

only be accessed during

low tide.

Yorkshire and the northeast coast

Flora and fauna of

England: Goats, sheep,

thistles and wild boar

½ day in lowland Scotland

(see last year’s album for much more

Scotland)

Left, top and bottom:

A Starbucks in

downtown Edinburgh.

(Seriously.) Right:

William Wallace

statue.

Below: Mary, Queen of

Scots.

London and the Heart of

England

Old meets new in London, like the remains of its long-lost Roman amphitheater, rediscovered in 1988 and opened to the public in 2002. It sits far beneath the foundation of the present-day Guildhall (bottom left).

Archaeological expeditions I attended or participated in throughout the London area, including one along the Thames at the Tower of London (far left).

I dug up a pipe stem there from the time of Jane Austen (above), some medieval roof tiles and Tudor pottery. Yes, they let me keep them.

The famous Portobello

Road street market,

London. Far better for

photography than for

purchasing anything.

Stratford-upon-avon: Shakespeare’s birthplace (below) and his wife Anne Hathaway’s childhood home (above). Shakespeare supposedly proposed to his wife on the “kissing bench” at top right. Tourists have since cut pieces out

of it.

The town of Lacock, where the BBC

miniseries of “Pride and Prejudice”

with Colin Firth was filmed

Lacock Abbey, a beautiful

stately home

The ancient portion of the Abbey, where several

“Harry Potter” scenes from Hogwarts have been filmed

The Roman Baths at Bath, the community center for the Romans of Britain more than 1,500 years ago

This was my first time visiting the Baths at night, and it was

stunning (relatively empty, too)!

Glastonbury Abbey, legendary

burial place

of King Arthur

Left: The “Long Meg” standing stone.

Bottom left: Joseph of Arimathea is professed to have

sailed to Britain and planted Jesus’ crown of thorns in the

ground. This thorn tree is the result.

Bottom right: Stonehenge, of course.

Cheddar Gorge, where Cheddar

cheese comes from! I tried the

real thing. Delicious.

Salisbury Cathedral

The South West: Cornwall

and Devon

My oceanfront Cornish hostel – the lady in

red is Kat, a new friend of mine. she’s a

doctor from New Zealand, and took most of

the pictures of me that you see here.

the famous seaside town of St.

Ives

The Minack Theatre, hand-

carved into the cliffs of Cornwall

in the early 20th Century

On the beach at St. Ives; 85°f and crowded!

St. Ives Harbour

The long, long walk to the cliff-top ruins of famed Tintagel Castle

Up the final set of stairs to the postern gate of the castle – most people

paused here to catch their breath!

In the ruins, and a view to the

sea caves below the castle

Awesome two-hour climb to the top of a manmade,

hilltop waterfall

Exploring Devonshire and a

9th-century Saxon bridge

(still functional)

The wild ponies of

Dartmoor, Devonshire –

friendly, but not tame!

However, they love ice cream… wherever the ice cream van parks in the desolate moors, the ponies

spend the day trying to steal free tastes…