British history and our visits...

Just discovered this superb website…
British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/

Below are some of the superb places visited in the last few days:-

Piercebridge Roman Bridge, Yorkshire (Sept 24th 2006)
Richmond Castle, Yorkshire (Sept 25th 2006)
Fountains estate (Sept 26th 2006)
Escomb Saxon Church, County Durham (Sept 27th 2006)

The Roman bridge remains at Piercebridge are well worth a look, if only to see how the River Tees has altered its path over the centuries. The remains of the roman structure are a good 25 feet away from the current river, probably more with my sense of distance!
Richmond is a lovely town to explore with some beautiful buildings; not least the fine Holy Trinity Church in the market place and the spectacular remains of the castle. I visited Richmond Castle in 2001 but this time I was with Mart who had never been. The views from the keep are stunning and look over the Georgian town. We had a lucky day weather wise for late September and the castle looked even more stunning in the sunshine.
The Fountains estate near Ripon is always worth a second, third or more look, there is just so much to see. The abbey itself is a spectacular ruin with its well known landmark tower, the viewpoint near Anne Boleyn’s statue (headless by design or by deterioration?), St Mary’s church and also the wonderful deer park. We saw a stunning young stag..
Another amazing find was the Saxon church in the village of Escomb, County Durham. The church has to be one of the most well preserved Saxon churches in England. It has some lovely features; the small windows, the stone carvings on the outer walls, the sun dials, the freeze on the archway from the nave to the alter. Interesting to read about the history surrounding the North Door of a church and the superstitions related to it, one being that the North Door ensured the devil would leave a baby when christened. Many churches have bricked up this entrance but Escomb’s is still as it was.