100w bulbs & Arthuret Church, Longtown

Longtown on the Scottish or English border, depending on your point of view, is one of those places where you normally just travel through on your way to somewhere else, unless you need 100w light bulbs that is.  More on the light bulb story later in our update.

Today however we stopped,  just outside of the town at St Michael’s and All Saints church, or Arthuret church as it is more commonly known.

Just  off the A7 around 15 minutes by car from Carlisle is the lovely church. It is the parish Church for the Longtown area and about half a mile from the town.

Cathedral

Parking the car in the large lay-by at the side of the road we crossed into the churchyard through a black squeaky metal gate.

Known as Arthuret church it is a gothic imposing building built in the early 1600’s. The tower was a later addition almost 100 years later.

Short leads were the order of the day as we kept to the paths and maintained good order as we made our way along the path that ran to the left of the church.

Alongside the path, to the left and stretched out in many long snake like rows, were hundreds of gravestones of all shapes, colours and age.

Dad commented that for a rural area the churchyard seemed tightly packed and unusual. It almost seemed as if it had cathedral status over the nearby land he said.

Excited to stretch our legs, we spotted a gate at the top end of the churchyard and we headed straight for it.

Oh Charlie

Mum and dad had trouble squeezing under the low branches overhanging the kissing gate and I found it a bit of a squeeze negotiating the swingy gate bit, but we soon got through.

We escaped the churchyard and exited onto the top of a steep slope. It was a good job it was dry and light otherwise we could have run straight ahead and tumbled down the hill.

Mum didn’t like this bit and held on to my lead very strongly. She needs to get a walking stick for dads adventures next time.

Whilst mum struggled to get her head in order, Charlie and dad turned right to see what they could see.

Following the narrow path they spotted a wooden seat overlooking the valley and the flat lands.

If they had gone off with a sandwich and a flask then we would not have seen them for days as they could contemplate the world from there.  Thankfully they returned after a few moments.

Turning right from the gate, Charlie started to pull on his lead.  This usually means one thing, water!

Charlie is something of a divining rod when it comes to water as he seems to be able to smell it or sense it in some way.

Roman Bath

Full length of his lead and straight down the stone steps, he hurtled pulling dad behind like an anchor loose in the sea he turned sharp left. The next thing you heard was a splash followed by, Oh Charlie.

This would be St Michael’s Well that he found as he paddled around in the icy cold water up to his tummy. On a warm day this could be an ideal Roman style bathing pool for pooches as the water and the layout were just in scale for us.

I could just imagine paddling in the pool looking out across the fields then sitting on the sun warmed stones to dry off.

Charlie, now soaking wet below his tummy, had sealed the next few hours of outdoor fun, as we would need him dry before returning to the car so dad decided we would walk in to Longtown.

Starting off down the hill, with the sound of hundreds of geese overhead, we walked in a zig zag pattern, ensuring between us every smell was accounted for.

Arriving on to a wide main street dad decided that we would take the left hand side of the road first then return down the other side later.

Dr Robert’s town

Houses, shops and the occasional side street or ally were passed, until we came upon quite a wide road with what looked like open space beyond.

On our way down the hill we passed a fading information panel explaining that this was Dr Robert’s Town. Seemingly Dr Robert Graham was the person who laid out the town with the wide streets and established the Graham Arms as a coaching inn.

At the bottom of the hill was a metal gate with a permissive path sign to one side. This was all we needed to know we were on another part of our grand day out.

Our path led alongside the River Esk and looking back towards the town we could see five arches of the road bridge over the fast flowing water.

Whilst doing some research after our walk it seems as if the River Esk is the only river in Scotland where you apply to the English Environment Agency for some fishing licences.

Our path was firm underfoot and ideal for a damp day when mum likes to keep us reasonably clean.

After a short while we passed a small United Utilities compound  then a little further we came upon a bend in the river and a few water ponds to our left.  You can see them here on the map.

Maybe these were fish ponds in the old days or maybe the remains of a quarry dad was unsure.

Cider

By now we were getting a little cool with walking in to the icy breeze so we decided to turn around and head back towards the town.

Flashing in the sunlight at the edge of the path we noticed that almost at regular intervals were discarded drinks cans. This spoiled the walk a little but interestingly they all seemed to be a popular cider brand.

Mum and dad wondered if a lorry had fallen off the bridge filled with cases of cider or maybe it was the cheapest brand on the shelves in the local store.  This became the topic of conversation for quite a few minutes.

Arriving back into the town we crossed over the high street just before the bridge and started on our way back towards the car.

Fish and Chips

Frozen paws and rumbling tummies were soon forgotten as the local chip shop, The Border Cod, came into view on the other side of the road.

Mum was quickly dispatched with some money to get a single portion of fish and chips for us to share four ways.

Somehow food eaten outdoors seems to taste really good and these were no exception to that rule, as we sat on a bench and tucked in.

100w light bulbs

Right back at the start of this update we promised to reveal the story of the light bulbs, well this is it.

Half way down the High Street in Longtown is the John Graham hardware store.

Written in big letters on boards outside the shop this morning are a number of notices advertising 100w light bulbs.

These kinds of lamp are being banned by the EU for not being energy efficient however many people are still wanting to use them. The BBC reports that many people are hoarding the lamps.

So if you want to get your hands on some old technology then Longtown is the place to visit it seems.

Until next time

Buster and Charlie.

Lime kilns, castles and scarecrows

Bank holidays spent at home and out of the rain seem to be a thing of the past as we manage to get into the big world once more.

Lime kilns and castles were on the agenda yesterday as we went in search for content for one of our other websites called heritageandhistory.com.

Our first stop for a sniff and stretch was a small village called Orton.

This village is situated a few miles NE of Tebay just off the M6 and is known in the area for the farmers market every second Saturday of every month and Kennedys chocolates.

Our approach to All Saints Church was greeted with flags as the annual scarecrow festival was taking place.

Whilst we shelteredf rom a slight rain shower in a pop up tent erected in the church yard, Mum went into the church to be greeted by many happy friendly folk. She emerged with a scarecrow trail map and small booklet about the church.

Scarecrow number one was easy, a big christmas pudding at the entrance to the church.

Now to find the other 30 scattered around the many streets and gardens. You can see some of the ones we spotted in the gallery below this article.

Half way around and Charlie spots water. Like a magnet to a can he is attracted to this stream and he goes for a paddle.

Dad notices that this bridge is very unusual as it has two gaps for the water to flow through. Further investigation reveals that on the other side of the bridge the water is diverted in two different directions.

One stream continues straight on the new stream heads off left alongside the road.

We are not sure why this diversion takes place so maybe someone can advise using the comments area below.

After spending a good few hours in Orton we return to the car and head off into the hills in search of lime kilns.

Dad now got lost.

The map came out and the usual comments of why don’t they put roadsigns on some of these junctions was heard. Things were not helped when we saw this sign warning of rhino.

We have noticed recently that although the M6 seems to be getting millions of pounds spent on new electronic signs the backroads, where it could be argued are in more need of signage, seems to be loosing out.

So we say please bring back the fingerpost roadsigns on our rural roads to stop Dad gettng lost.

Single track roads and quite a bit of reversing later we emerged onto a road know as the Tommy Road between the A683 and the B6259. Observing what looked like a lime kiln to our left dad parked the car and we got out.

We were glad of the walk as all the stream water we had swallowed in Orton was now in need escape and the last 10 minutes in the bumpy car had not helped. Oh such relief.

After a walk over the mossy tuffets to the top of a nearby hill to take a look at the view we returned to the now deralict kiln constructed into the hillside.

We kept well away from the kiln itself to ensure we didn’t get hit on the head by a falling rock however we did have a good sniff around.

Used now by the sheep as a place of shelter these structures were once used to produce quicklime by heating up limestone rocks.

Quicklime was used as an additive to building mortar and as a render on walls.

The tower of All Saints Church in Orton visited earlier would have had a lime render giving the white appearance which can be seen from miles around.

Looking back towards the car we became aware of this very confident sheep who tried to block our way.

Mum thought he must be guarding something, so we gave him a very wide berth and kept our distance.

He was very scary with his big horns and stance on top of a small hill, even dad looked worried.

Dropping further down the hill and over the Settle to Carlisle rail line we arrived at the ruin of Pendragon Castle.

According to legend, Uther Pendragon, father of King Arthur, is said to have built the first castle here and unsuccessfully tried to divert the river to provide its moat

Mum and dad are of a certain age that whenever King Arthur is mentioned they quote Monty Python and this was no exception. We climbed the hill to Spam, spam, spam… and a certain parrot sketch.

Walking around the base of the castle many holes, possibly former windows, just needed to be looked into.

The many sheep and lambs had left a number of trails through the ruin as they searched for shelter from the weather on this exposed spot overlooking the river Eden.

Measuring about 20m square the Pendragon Castle we see today is said to date from the latter part of the 12th Century and is built on a hill.

This offers a commanding view of the nearby countryside and with its walls over 2m thick in places, a strong defensive position.

Charlie investigates the many sniffs inside the ruin whils mum and dad try to work out what the building would have looked like all those years ago.

Many small plants have started to live in between the stones of this now giant rock garden giving the walls a pink and green look. More contents for mum for Naturearoundme.com during the next few months

Our investigations were being watched by a friendly lamb who seemed very interested in what we were doing in his back yard.

We left the site just as a minibus full of visitors arrived clutching cameras, tripods and rucksacks full of stuff.

Our final visit of the day was as the small village of Outhgill in search of the Jews Stone.

Not sure what we were looking for we parked the car in a road to our left just before the church and dad went for a look around.

Amazingly we were in the right place and ahead of us, surrounded by a wooden fence, was a single stone column with green lichen growing on it.

At the base was a large interpretation board explaining all about the monument and the history. Dad will write this all up later over on Heritageandhistory.com.

It seems that the stone is a replica of the “Jews Stone”, which was set up in 1850 by the eccentric William Henry Mounsey ( 1808 -1877).

It is over 2m high and about 10cm square and is made of a limestone known as Dent Marble.

With our challenges for the day accomplished we headed homeward relieved that we had not been caught by any bad weather .

As we past Appleby the signs had been posted warning of slow moving traffic.

Appleby Horse Fair starts in a few days time and with it comes a large number of horse drawn vehicles.

We return home safe and well after a very busy day. Dad downloads the pictures from the camera and mum gets the dinner ready.

Stew is on the menu with little trees . Mum has spent today, Sunday, planting loads of seeds to grow next years supply of turnip and little trees in the allotment.

We just love them fresh from the fridge. Trees are given as a general reward whilst a nice piece of cold turnip is favourite after a meal to clean our teeth.

Thats all for now

Until next time

Buster and Charlie

Gallery