Preparedness for when

Karmacat

Loving the history. Absolutely wonderful! There's nothing in my town - it was a village till the 1840s, and once the railway got here, it got suburbs and that was that!

mardatha

Nuatha - how far up did the kingdom of Northumbria stretch? I know I live on the frontier of two Iron Age tribes, the Selgovae and the Votadini. We got that drummed into us in school and now I live next to a hill with an enormous fabulous hill fort on it. Local shepherd told me every one of the higher hills in a line due south, has a hill fort on top - so this was the border.
Then there's a gap in my knowledge, until the 1300s when the castles were being built, lots of castles around me. Lots of stories of the Border Reivers and battles with the English. Bad and dangerous times!

nuatha

mardatha wrote: »

Nuatha - how far up did the kingdom of Northumbria stretch? I know I live on the frontier of two Iron Age tribes, the Selgovae and the Votadini. We got that drummed into us in school and now I live next to a hill with an enormous fabulous hill fort on it. Local shepherd told me every one of the higher hills in a line due south, has a hill fort on top - so this was the border.
Then there's a gap in my knowledge, until the 1300s when the castles were being built, lots of castles around me. Lots of stories of the Border Reivers and battles with the English. Bad and dangerous times!

At one point Northumbria was the North of Lincolnshire to the Firth of Forth and crossed the Pennines below Cumbria to the West coast (Merseyside).

There's some stunning Iron Age stuff around our part of the world, one of my favourites being Yeavering Bell, but I don't know the Lowlands as well as I should. I carry the name of one of the Riding Families (East Marches, North of the Border).

I've some fairly large blanks in my history knowledge, I've been trying to fill in the pre and post Roman stuff (round here you get lots of Roman at school and Bronze and Iron Ages are ignored) and I'm fairly rusty on the early Norman stuff. We do fairly well on the castles and fortifications front (Warkworth was my playground as a kid)


Pulling things back on topic a bit, its interesting to see a whole history of solutions to SHTF scenarios, much as I love castles, the Pele Houses are one of my favourite solutions. Stone houses with animal housing on the ground floor and human accommodation on the upper floors, accessible only from fairly narrow stairs up the outside of the building.

RAS

Warkworth is amazing; spent a good session there when I stopped at Alnmouth. Really loved the way the "main rooms" on the first and upper floors were all reached by little stair cases from the relevant stores at lower levels.

Not sure I would have been happy as a page though; although I suspect that being a page was considered a big step upwards for a lot of lads.

Loved the riverside walks there too.

pineapple

Karmacat wrote: »

Loving the history. Absolutely wonderful! There's nothing in my town - it was a village till the 1840s, and once the railway got here, it got suburbs and that was that!

We have the Brontes. I'm constantly beset by tourists wanting to know the way to Bronte this and Bronte that. How should I know? I only live here!

thriftwizard

I'm a huge fan of castles, too - my favourite being the tiny Manorbier Castle in Pembrokeshire - and it's fascinating to think of the very different social structure & opportunities that living in one entailed. Also monasteries/convents, but I think the set-up I'd have fitted into best would be a smallish medieval market or port town, with its Guilds and independent traders, its hostelries, hospitals and apothecaries, all gathered around the central marketplace where raw materials came in & were dispersed. And by coincidence, I live in one now, though the social structure, such as it is, now revolves around retired accountants and a vague old-boy business network. But in a post-SHTF situation, it would be quite easy to make it "work" well again, provided no more of the core layout is lost to the developer's greed & the planners' bright ideas.

RAS

pineapple wrote: »

We have the Brontes. I'm constantly beset by tourists wanting to know the way to Bronte this and Bronte that. How should I know? I only live here!

I went to university in York when it really was a market town in practice even if it was officially a city; the market was occupied by farmers from the local area who brought their own produce in to sell. The tourist season was Easter to September whci meant most students missed most of it.

When I went back it was a major tourist destination with a quiet period between the end of the January sales and the pensioner coach trip s in March,

Now..........

Well at least I know most of the little alleys that allow one to dive out of one entrance and squeeze across the road and dive into the entrance opposite. Could not live there now.

mardatha

This is my own pet castle - I spent most of my time at high school skipping it here lol - sitting up in the battlements with my best pal telling each other spooky stories and waiting to see the ghost!
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/pathhead/crichtoncastle/
And this one too - my pal used to work as a waitress here
http://borthwickcastle.com/

[Deleted User]

OK. Time to wheel out my big guns.

Sir Robert Peel, who was Prime Minister and Home Secretary, and, in his role as the later, created the modern police force (hence their nickname "Bobbies"), was born in Bury.

And here's a photo, of part of the foundations, of the castle, which stood on the site of the current Castle Armoury/Drill Hall.

jk0

Afternoon folks.

I thought you might be interested to hear about my makeshift shaver repairs. Since 2000, I have bought four of these Panasonic Shavers:

http://www.shavers.co.uk/product.php?product_id=802

The mechanics on the third one packed up, and no amount of oiling or persuading could get it going. Before I discarded it, I salvaged the rechargeable batteries, and the foil & cutter. The foil and cutter have already been deployed on shaver no. 4. However, a fortnight ago the battery light remained on after charging, and it ran slowly.

It took me a while to get it open, but sure enough the batteries were only 1.2 volts each. I dug out the salvaged batteries, fitted them, and recharged it. Success! I have now been using it with the salvaged batteries for over a week, and it is back to full strength.