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Protected: Something a little different.
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Hello, hello, hello!
I’m sure you’re all suprised to hear from me after such a long time of radio silence but I am here to assure you I am still here!
There are a few reasons why haven’t posted in so long, and some of them I really wish hadn’t happened. So I’ll go into them a little and who knows maybe some of them might get discussed in greater detail later on! Here goes;
So, I recently lost someone very close to me, and their death came as a big shock if I’m honest. So that has really ground a few things to a halt while we all come to terms with what happened. More recently I’ve realised that I have a lot of happy memories and that goes a little way towards healing. But truthfully, it’s kind of shifted things and it’s taking some getting used too.
Secondly, I spent two weeks volunteering up at Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall, doing excavations in the Vicus and helping add to their ever-increasing collection of pottery and roman shoes. I don’t actually know how much I’m allowed to show/say, but in reality they run a blog on their website so you can follow the progress of the 2017 excavations from there. What I will say is that it was a surreal and gratifying experience. Whilst the cold and the rain were a little trying (and we on period 1 didn’t even have the worst weather) and the mud was less than appealing, finding things that no person had touched for nearly 2000 years was an amazing thing!
Whilst my own laziness and other small issues have also hampered my blogging, I think those were the main two issues. I just thought I’d check in to let everyone know that I’m still here and I still care about this blog, even if I’ve been terrible at posting!
Love love love,
El x
Little bonus: my lovely ditch ❤
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Beware!
THE IDES OF MARCH.
If you’re going to the senate, don’t stop to talk to any soothsayers and don’t stand with your back to anyone. Especially not Brutus. He’s shifty af. -
OTD – 2nd of March
Well well well.
Today I thought I would do another On This Day post, so let’s get straight on with it shall we? We don’t appreciate reams and reams of text on posts like this so how about a lovely bullet pointed list!? EXCITING.
So, we have a couple of things of note that happened on this day throughout History;
- In 1797, the Bank of England issued their first £1 and £2 banknotes (Money Money Money)
- 1807 – The U.S. Congress passes the ‘Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves’, an important step towards abolishing the Slave Trade (Though it’s enforcement was at times questionable)
- 1836 – The declaration of independence made by The Republic of Texas from Mexico.
- 1842 – The Grand National Steeplechase was ran at Aintree. (nothing more…won by a horse called Gaylad, just thought you’d all like to know that the Grand National was ran on this day in 1842)
- 1855 – Alexander II becomes Tsar. (Of Russia, in case anyone needed clarification on that?)
- 1861 – Tsar Alex abolishes serfdom in Russia with the signing of the Emancipation Reform.
- 1882 – Queen Victoria survives an assassination attempt by a man called Roderick McLean in Windsor.
- 1888 – Convention of Constantinople is signed, allowing for free passage through the Suez Canal. (And we all know that Istanbul is Constantinople)
- 1899 – Mt. Rainier National Park is established in Washington, USA.
- 1917 – In the Old Style Russian Calendar, Tsar Nicholas II abdicates the throne in favour of his brother. (Also abdicating on behalf of his son Tsarevich Alexei)
- 1933 – King Kong opens at Radio City Music Hall, New York. (Kong. SMASH. No, wait…)
- 1941 – German Military Units enter Bulgaria after it joined the Axis Pact.
- 1943 – Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
- 1956 – Morocco declares independence from France.
- 1969 – First test flight of Concorde takes place in Toulouse. (Well, what had they Toulouse! I am so sorry.)
- 1970 – Rhodesia breaks it’s final links with the British Crown, declaring itself a republic.
- 1992 – Moldova joins the United Nations.
- 1995 – This awesome blog author was born.
Well, that was longer than expected. Oh, yeah? That last one? Totally my birthday today! Now you see the reason that a totally random day in March became the topic for this post. I’m not just picking random days, see. I also share my birthday with countless other people in the world but here’s a few famous ones;
- Robert II of Scotland (1316 – First monarch in the house of Stewart)
- Dr. Seuss (1904 – And who doesn’t love The Grinch?!)
- Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – Soviet President)
- Harry Redknapp (1947 – Football Manager)
- Karen Carpenter (1950 – It’s yesterday once more)
- Jay Osmond (1955 – Of The Osmonds, this one is on the list for my mum)
- Jon Bon Jovi (1962 – Bon Jon Bovi)
- Daniel Craig (1968 – Craig. Daniel Craig.)
- Alexander Armstrong (1970 – As in ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG Alexander Armstrong)
- Chris Martin (1977 – Out of some band called Coldplay or something?)
- James Arthur (1988 – Singer, from my neck of the woods)
Cool Kids. ‘TIL NEXT TIME!
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Guess who’s back, back again.
Hello!
It is I, returning after all this time! May you no longer feel bereft and in need of a good historical enlightening (side note: if you’re looking for a good historical enlightenment then on this occasion you’ll probably have to look elsewhere – come back though).
I’d say things have been manic lately but to be honest that would be an exaggeration. Things have been going on since we last talked, which I will mention in a moment, but to say that I haven’t had time to go all historical on yo’ asses would be wrong – its been more a case of what to talk about rather than finding the time.
ANYWHO! We’ve ventured into the wonderful world of 2017 since we last spoke – thats exciting – and it’s been a whole (almost) 3 months since we all got briefly excited for about 60 seconds on the 31st of December! Just before Christmas I ventured on another European adventure, this time to Krakow in Poland, and I get the feeling you may be hearing more about that in the future, as well as previous trips I have partaken in. I’ve also been working hard in a regional archeological store, helping them out with the re-packing of artefacts (some really exciting, some really not) so that has taken up some of my time. I’ve only just finished getting through the enormous amount of dates that I was asked on on Valentine’s Day by my many suitors and admirers. I’ve also just lied about Valentine’s Day. So there you go…
And honestly, thats about all I can think of in terms of what’s been going on in my life currently. Not exactly the most taxing of months but still, I hope this goes some way to explaining why I have been possibly one of the worst bloggers around.
Watch this space in the near near future (No, honest) for you will be seeing a lot more from me from now on (No, really honest)
Adieu,
El x
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Local Legends!
Alright then folkels. An odd one this one but bear with me, I find it pretty interesting.
I’m gonna tell you all a story that I’ve been told since I was little, and one which plenty of other people in this particular part of North Yorkshire know. Now, this is not going to be an exercise in truth, as I’m sure there are many different interpretations of this story in the local area. So here we go:
We come to the Legend of Ralph and Fat Betty.
On the heather covered expanse of the North York Moors stand two seemingly innocuous stone monuments. The first of these is known as Ralph’s Cross. Generally pronounced ‘Raaf’, this solitary stone cross is hard to ignore as it is driven past, standing next to the road, and has no doubt sparked intrigue amongst most that have traveled past it. Only a short distance away, to the east of Ralph, lies the smaller monument known as Fat Betty. Betty is a small stone monument with a smaller circular cross at the top, which is also painted white. Unlike Ralph, Betty is easy to miss, not looking as obvious as the large cross on the moor top, yet she is equally as important in this story.
Anyway, you want to hear the story don’t you, in the modern times you can look at the North York Moors without leaving your house (or your tent/prefab/caravan/cave/treehouse…I don’t know how you live). So, the story I have been told since I was a young’un is as follows:
Many, many years ago, a nun and a monk were travelling from Rievaulx Abbey to Gisborough Priory (could possibly have been Whitby Abbey, but I remember Gisborough) by walking across the moor top. When they were around halfway across, a thick fog rolled in and they lost each other in the haze. The story goes that they could not find each other, no matter how they tried, and both eventually died of the cold. When they were found, they were only a small distance away from each other and in their memory, the two monuments were erected to commemorate them.
A touching story, even if it is not true, and one which gives some backstory to the two otherwise random monuments in the middle of the North York Moors.
Pictures right? You want pictures. I took these when I was travelling home over the moors not too long ago. I took them at dusk so you’ll see that Fat Betty isn’t the best quality (but being nice I borrowed one of Wikipedia…so yeah, credits to Wikipedia)
So there you have it, another wordy post, but one that hopefully inspire some of you to do a bit more digging. Or at least spend some time on the North York Moors…they filmed Harry Potter there don’t you know.
ALSO!
I’ve decided on willy nilly posting for the time being. WILLY NILLY. Just means you’ll have to follow me.
Until next time my peoples. Adieu.
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Not wrong. -
I know what you’re thinking.
Funny ‘weekly’ blog right?
Well, here’s the thing, I’m not very good at this whole ‘I’m going to come up with new exciting stuff each week’ thing. And I’m sorry about that.
However. I know some people actually read this, so I’m not going to stop. I’m going to re-think how often I’m going to post here and we’ll go from there. It’s quality not quantity or something.
Alright. You can expect the next post pretty soon, and I’ll try and be my witty and interesting self…might even throw a meme in for good measure. (I’m so on trend)
Given that it’s 5 in the morning right now, ‘witty and intelligent’ will have to wait for now.
El x
(Fun fact: I have a magnet that says that my name means that I’m ‘witty and intelligent and never seem to tire’ – I can assure you the last sentiment is entirely inaccurate and the jury is still out on the other two)
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Monk-y business
HAHA!
Here I am with yet another instalment of Historicalness in which we come to talk about Monks. Or rather, Monk houses. Yeah, this is a post about abbeys (I know I said ‘awesome’, but they’re pretty cool places for you to go get your monk on) Not everything is about Gaols and Mills right? And besides, places always have tales to tell about sword wielding invaders and the like, why not a lovely calm post about places such as the ones I’m going to tell you about. As dull as this may sound, they are lovely places to visit if you’re looking to widen your knowledge of British history. And if that doesn’t float your boat: scenic places for a picnic…so…
Let’s not go on about the benefits which this post will bring you lucky readers, rather let’s turn to the excitement itself. ONWARDS!
Rievaulx Abbey.
- Founded in 1132 by St Bernard of Clairvaux
- Original abbey made of wood – more sensible stone buildings came later.
- Home to an order of Cistercian Monks.
- Interestingly, there is evidence of a forge – used by the inhabitants to make everything they needed (everything metal obviously…you can’t forge beer – though someone’s probably tried)
- At its height, Rievaulx became one of the richest abbeys in England.
- Which made dollar signs appear in Henry VIII’s eyes (or Pounds, or Sovereigns, or Crowns…you get the idea, no dollars for Tudor Kings)
- Rievaulx eventually became one of the casualties of ‘The Dissolution of the Monasteries’ carried about by the aforementioned King in 1538.
- Buildings dismantled, a significant portion of the ruins are still visible today.
- Excited yet?
Byland Abbey.
- Smaller than Rievaulx
- Founded in 1128 as a Savigniac Abbey
- Merged with the Cistercian order when the Abbey was offered to St. Bernard in 1147.
- That’s St. Bernard the dude from Rievaulx, not St. Bernard the big barrel carrying dog…just incase you were wondering.
- Though smaller, it still suffered the same fate as its arguably more famous neighbour – Byland Abbey was dissolved around the same time as Rievaulx.
- It too has significant ruins still visible.
- Built in the lovely Yorkshire countryside. SCENIC VIEW KLAXON.
- How about now? Excited now?
And thus, this is all I have to say about abbeys. Oh no, you’re all thinking. Short but sweet.
Fear not, dear reader people! Next week we will look at something more sword wielding, armour wearing, mayhem enduring historical places. Like castles and forts and stuff! Who doesn’t love castles and forts and stuff?!
But until then, Adieu.
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Oooops.
Hey people.
You’ve been waiting right?
Wait no more! (just a little bit more) THIS week I will post and it will be awesome.
El x
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HistoricEl. 