By the numbers
15,007 steps
11.03kms
The original plan was to head out to Corbridge early in the
morning to visit the Roman ruins and hang around Haidrians wall and then head
back into town where I will spend an afternoon trying to get some family tree
research done. It worked out the other way round, although it was a good thing
as I got to lie in for a bit longer before heading out. I had woken up at 3am
to use the loo and looked at my phone, where I had to sort out information to
post my new travel cards. I will get them, but they will arrive before I leave
Dorset. You never know as they could always arrive sooner than expected as
planes don’t take weekends off. The last express post thing I did by accident
took two weeks to arrive home and it turned up when I arrived home, but that
was from Paris. I think I can give those guys heaps of credit for being slow
and do shoddy work. I was hoping that the weather would be nice when I headed
out. I had enough of eating a maccas breakfast. That would be something, I
might not get when I visit Dorchester, supermarkets and a few corner stores
sell ready made sandwiches. I found a shop that I had passed several days
before, well I actually looked at their menue I had been given days before and
it was on my bed. I seen English Breakfast that included baked beans and an
egg. I went with it and was cheaper than macccas and had a bigger coffee. Four
pound 90 pence, I think it was. Something like $12 AUD.
After refuelling, I walked towards the Discovery Centre and
I ended up having a look at the old town wall that had been built to keep out
the Scottish and it still existed in parts near China Town-. There was still a
little bit of a moat near the wall and there was three mill stones nearby that was to do with the
industry in the town in the early days. The wall was still pretty thick when
you look at ait and every so often there were information panels and even a map
showing you where intact parts of that wall was. I still haven’t had time to
trace any part of the Roman wall in Newcastle at all as I had been doing other
things. I visited the Archives to look at the cemetery records and I had
planned to visit the one cemetery that I had wanted to visit, but ran out of
time to get to the Sunderland area. I found one record, but I thought I would
look up some of the others to see if there was any indication of where they
would be buried.. I learnt one person wasn’t buried in three cemeteries unless
I was looking at the wrong type of cemetery, but the dates I had were too early
for the crematorium records, but at least I know where they are not. If I had
bought my laptop with me I could have looked at several more dates, but was
happy just to look. Have to learn how to use the records sometime. Next time I will have a better idea and I
will have to read more about the history
of the area as I don’t actually know very much to be honest at all. As New
Zealand and some of the Dorset area has been my line of research The burial
records told me a bit, but apparently they do not lead you to further
information apart from a death certificate. The records I am actually after are
in the National Archives.
I decided that I had enough and wandered out of the building
with all my things that I had walked in with. I was going to sort out the
second half of my day and head to the town of Corbridge where the Roman town
ruins were, which is another part of my Heritage Pass that I could use to get
in for free . Having the pass pays for itself. I had to catch the train at 1pm
and had to use the ticket office as the ticket machine confused me over the
ticket price. I sorted out the ticket and it was cheaper than the machine told
me. I had noticed lkater on you could get away with not paying with your card,
but pay in cash if you print off a notice that you intend to pay for the
journey. It was only a half hour trip to Corbridge from Newcastle and I still
had to walk towards a picturesque little village. It was strange as at some
point the footpath would vanish and you had no choice, but to walk on the road
or cross to the other side. The Roman town ruin was sign posted and I learnt
the wall was a little further up the road I had the times for the trains that
returned to Newcastle.. I still have no real idea what the wall actually looks
like.
The Roman village of Corbridge was around in the 100s AD
when Rome was pushing into England and took them around 10 years or something
to make their way to Corbridge, which was a frontier town. The town grew into a
trading town until the Roman soldiers started withdrawing. There have been many
discoveries when people had uncovered what was in the area including stone
carvings of Gods and other deities. There was even something what was classed
as the Corbridge Horde, which is a bunch of Roman soldier gear including
remains of armour, a scabbard for a sword and some trinkets that would later be
recycled. They even had evidence of where some of the pottery things were made
too like from down in York or somewhere near Dorset. The actual remains include
the bases for buildings including barracks and warehouses and the road that had
been built up over time. I wasn’t expecting that much and a few years ago the
remains of a stone bridge had been found as well. The audio guide seemed to
have come free with my tour, but I wasn’t complaining and there was a chill in
the air with the wind blowing. I hadn’t expected what I had come to see and I
was more than impressed, although two hours later I was back on a train to
Newcastle as I wanted to get back early enough that I could get a feed and pack
fort the next day, where I will be leaving for my next location and that was
York. I had a nice meal of Cambrian Sausages that included peas, snags, mash,
carrot and gravy.
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