I HAVE CLOSED DOWN THIS BLOG. Please click the photo above to be REDIRECTED TO MY NEW (continuation) BLOG.

Sunday 25 April 2010

Bamburgh Castle

(Best viewed large)
The third day's walking, from Belford to Seahouses, was, I think, my favourite. It took us through the Nature Reserve at Budle Bay, and then on to Bamburgh, a small village with a magnificent castle. (You could spend a week simply visiting all the amazing castles in Northumberland - Lindisfarne, Bamburgh, Alnwick, Dunstanburgh, Warkworth.) Bamburgh was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria. There has been a castle here since 547, initially a wooden one, and the present structure incorporates a Norman keep dating from 1164. Some of the castle is still inhabited (it has belonged to the Armstrong family since 1894) as well as being a major tourist attraction and wedding venue.


The village itself is attractive (one of its coffee shops provided a welcome stop for us!). St Aidan's Church has a memorial to Grace Darling, daughter of the Longstone lighthouse keeper on the Farne Islands, who, in 1838, helped rescue nine people from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire in a terrible storm, using only a coble (a large rowing boat). It's an interesting story and she became a celebrated Victorian heroine, much sentimentalised.

4 comments:

  1. I remember this view, from a holiday we took in the region some years ago. Am I imagining it, or doesn't Jools Holland have some connection with Bamburgh Castle?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Makes me think of Elizabeth Goudge's THE CASTLE ON THE HILL. Beautiful picture!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the composition of the photograph, with the grasses in the foreground.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can't even imagine seeing something so magnificient in person. What a great image! ~Lili

    ReplyDelete