North-East History Tour

I can’t possibly leave the subject of the life of the 1st Duke of Northumberland without claiming a neat little piece of glory for the regi...

The previous blog entry concerned a Northumbrian beauty spot which held a special place in the hearts of the 1st Duke and Duchess of Northum...

© Copyright Ian Paterson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence This curious construction sits upon Ratcheugh Crag, ab...

In 1940, at the height of the German bombing raids during World War II, land was requisitioned from a local farmer by the War Department and...

Charles, 2nd Earl Grey, is famous for (a) being the architect of the Great Reform Act of 1832, (b) a blend of tea, and (c) having a thumping...

Craster (and Seahouses, for that matter) is famous for its kippers – herring (or salmon) fish cured by splitting open, salting, and drying i...

One stormy winter’s night as the skeleton of Dunstanburgh laboured through another of its strenuous battles against the wicked Northumbrian ...

William Thomas Stead (above) is generally regarded as the father of modern journalism – and, many say, of all its ills. He wrote widely, pro...

Among the rocky protuberances in and around Embleton Bay lies a famous lump of sandstone known as ‘The Vanishing Rock’. As the tides come a...

Many of you will have noticed large man-made, cave-like structures dotted around the British countryside, and perhaps even be aware that the...

When the tourist visits Bamburgh, Grace Darling is never far from their mind. I cannot believe that there is anyone reading this who isn’t a...

As you will no doubt know, St.Cuthbert spent a good deal of his time as a hermit living on Inner Farne. As he was somewhat in demand for one...

A famous local landmark, St.Cuthbert’s Cave is a large, natural sandstone feature 3½ miles west of Belford. It is not really a cave at all,...

I have a soft spot for dovecotes. But you don’t see a lot of them these days, especially up north. But there’s an ever-so-nice one sitting a...

Another classic quote, this time from Cobbett’s Political Register of 1832:- When at Newcastle I learned that Scotch vagrants were regularl...

[from A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen , 1835] Sir John Cochrane, being engaged in Argyle’s rebellion against James II [1685], ...

In 1966, a curious film entitled Cul-de-Sac passed through our cinemas. Best described as a black comedy-cum-psychological thriller, it was...

The ancestor of all fermented drinks, antedating the cultivation of the soil. Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, historian. One of Lindisfarne’s mo...

A little off the main drag linking Holy Island to the mainland are a pair of curious erections known as Snook House and Snook Tower. Locate...

The vast expanse of sand and mudflats which can be seen at Goswick Sands north-west of Holy Island contain a dark and dangerous secret. Wel...